IP laws can seem overly complicated or restrictive, but it’s essential to have correct down the road

Navigating complex intellectual property laws can be a real nightmare, yet most startups inevitably have to grapple with IP laws sooner rather than later when they eventually hit the open marketplace.

For many startups, their founder’s inability to grasp the complexities of IP laws can be considered the leading cause of why they failed, so it’s important that you wrap your head around this issue unless you want your aspiring business to crash and burn shortly after takeoff.

Here’s everything that startups need to know about IP laws, and how you can navigate this dizzying legal arena as your company forays into the competitive market for the first time.

Identifying your IP

Identifying and protecting your intellectual property could be a necessary step in turning your scrappy startup into a real economic contender in the market.

Nonetheless, many aspiring entrepreneurs and struggling startup leaders are finding it difficult if not downright impossible to accurately identify their IP because they don’t want to make a strict claim to something that someone else has a claim to.

The complexities of IP contracts can also drive even the most intelligent of business owners insane, as specialized legal expertise is often required when navigating IP laws.

It’s important that you don’t get too lost in the maze of legal expertise being presented to you by patent specialists who have some skin in the game, however. As a recent analysis in Forbes pointed out, you don’t always want to take business advice from your patent attorney because they can lead you astray and into deep IP waters without you first having an understanding of how you’re going to effectively leverage your new patent.

Many startups endure a costly and tiring legal process to attain a patent only to end up seldom if ever using it for profitable purposes, after all, so be sure that you’re not wasting your company’s limited time, money, and creative energy chasing a wild goose.

This is why it’s so crucial that your startup’s leading figures don’t take a backseat when it comes to IP laws. You may think it’s the easiest thing in the world to leave this issue to your hired legal experts, but if you’re not taking a hands-on approach to IP law when launching your startup you’re effectively asking to wander into a legal minefield.

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Nevertheless, many startup owners avoid anything having to do with IP because they lack legal expertise in this area and thus throw up their hands, arguing that it’s helpless.

In order to prevent yourself from making a huge investment into a patent that you know nothing about, it’s worthwhile to review the common mistakes that other startups have made before you. If you’re not familiar with what caused other startups to crash and burn, it’s very likely that you’ll suffer a similar fate to them and witness your commercial empire come crumbling down around you. Set some time aside to read about the five biggest IP mistakes startups keep making to their own detriment.

You need an IP assignment agreement

Many people who lack legal expertise or experience dealing with IP law are unfamiliar with IP assignment agreements, but as a startup owner you’ll soon find it necessary to master this legal agreement if you want to endure for long in the market.

Tech startups in particular find IP assignment agreements to be utterly essential for their long-term survival, as ensuring that your workers, senior employees, and owner of the company are all on the same page when it comes to IP law is an important part of making a company run smoothly for years on end.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your close-knit startup is beyond the possibility of a fierce legal dispute that could pin some of your original workers or founders against one another. Many prosperous startups have crumbled into dust precisely because their leaders didn’t take an IP assignment agreement into consideration ahead of time, resulting in an IP feud that tore the company apart from the inside out.

Unless you want to suffer a similar fate, contact a solid legal expert and have them help you drag an IP assignment agreement that will ensure your startup stays in safe legal waters for years to come.

This is another example of how crucial leadership is when it comes to startups and navigating complex IP laws. If your startup’s leader doesn’t take steps to ensure everyone on the team is on the same page when it comes to product liability, for instance, every other worker in your company will think you have no official policy and take few steps to educate themselves on IP laws.

Unless every member of your team is at least mildly familiar with the complexities of IP law, however, you’re going to suffer from a legal crisis, so lead by example unless you want your team to ignore the importance of patents.

IP laws aren’t a good place to cut costs

Finally, startups are always looking for a way to cut the costs of doing business, but you need to understand that there are some areas where cutting corners can be downright deadly for the long-term viability of your startup.

Don’t mess around with patents, and don’t think that you can skate by with shoddy legal experts who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of patents. Go the extra mile and pay what’s necessary for good legal representatives, and your startup will be sleeping soundly when it comes to IP laws.

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Startups who ignore IP laws are asking for a crisis to occur, as they’re going to wander into another company’s legal territory sooner rather than later if they’re not looking where they’re going. Your startup’s leaders should be constantly updating themselves on the ins and outs of IP law and may even want to consider hiring a dedicated legal expert to help them navigate the patent process.

Ensuring that you’re putting your business priorities first without violating someone else’s patent is imperative for startups, so don’t be afraid to embrace IP laws rather than living in fear of them.

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Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

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The Singapore startup has already secured a total of US$6 million as part of the first closing of this round

H3 Dynamics, a startup that automates remote security and industrial asset inspection drone operations, is in the process of closing its ongoing US$16 million in Series B financing round, led by existing investor SPARX Mirai Creation Fund (a Japanese fund backed by Toyota, SMBC and SPARX), its Group Founder and CEO Taras Wankewycz told e27.

A total of US$6 million has already been secured as part of a first closing, and the final closing of US$10 million is now in progress.

Existing Series A investors including Capital Management Group (Seychelles) and ACA Investments (Singapore) have joined the round.

“Due diligence is in progress with several corporate VCs of global multi-nationals as well as VCs from Singapore, Europe, and Silicon-Valley. We expect to close our Series B round by the end of August, and this will be our final private round.” he said.

Also Read: Singapore startup H3 Dynamics wins Echelon Asia Summit 2019

H3 Dynamics was founded in 2015 by Wankewycz, who was later joined by Shaun Koo (CTO), and Cher Chuan Lee (VP Engineering). The company is building both a software platform and a multi-purpose hardware platform so that the full cycle of complex, dangerous, or remote data acquisition and processing can be automated using robots/drones, and AI (Machine Learning) on cloud.

The startup’s robotics hardware platform is designed to work with its software platform, forming a closed loop. H3 Dynamics doesn’t make drones, instead it automates existing drones and partners with specialist non-commodity drone makers to provide specific solutions.

The firm mainly offers two products – a digital micro-services platform called H3 Zoom, and a field-deployable tele-robotics system called DBX – both of which are designed to work with each other in what the company envisions to be the future of industrial drone services.

H3 Zoom is an online platform that uses Machine Learning and built-in inspection workflows to turn scanned image data into inspection reports supporting industrial or commercial facilities. The whole process is fully automated. H3 Zoom applies its proprietary machine learning engine to identify, qualify, and map out quantities of surface defects across 3D models or 2D blueprints of the inspected structures – whether buildings, ships, or solar PV farms to name a few. It automatically generates a health-check report that match the paper reports that are currently in use by the industry, and can be conveniently downloaded by operators or contractors from anywhere in the world. In its first test of a building scan in Brazil, the system yielded a 1,400 page inspection report within minutes, claims the firm.

Anticipating a future without pilots, the company has also created DBX, a tele-robotics base station for drones which offers an automated scanning solution for commercial assets located in faraway, uninhabited locations, while also providing a responsive surveillance and security solution for its client sites.

According to Wankewycz, opportunities for H3 Dynamics are global and encompass the entire commercial drone services space. Singapore is a reference market with immediate opportunities in the fields of real estate, maritime, and oil & gas. In his view, there is already a significant need here for robotics, automation, and AI to come and fill the gaps from local foreign labour reduction targets, as well as worker safety and productivity goals.

“Singapore has all the ingredients that can make us successful in our first commercial phase. Our core technology blueprint can easily translated from local use cases to other types of large-scale infrastructure that doesn’t exist in Singapore, such as large hydro-power dams, or large-scale solar PV farms – calling for further deployments of our solutions outside Singapore,” Wankewycz added.

The company has already gained traction in the real-estate sector with a first micro-service focused on high-rise façade inspection, which was the model for many more services planned. The ambition is to host the entire infrastructure inspection industry onto a single platform and deploy it via pilot-assisted solutions, or fully autonomous pilot-less systems such a DBX.

Photos from Echelon Asia Summit 2019 grand finale

Talking about other future plans, Wankewycz said that the company is going to grow its team to scale up revenue and new products. “We intend to partner with world leaders in each industrial vertical to make sure we build towards a world-class standard every time. Our data collection ecosystem will also migrate from making use of drones to other forms of robotics from additional third parties, to cover more use cases.”

Last month, H3 Dynamics won Echelon Asia Summit 2019 and received S$50,000 in grants from Enterprise SG.

In February 2017, the company had bagged US$7 million in Series A round from ACA Partners and Capital Management Group.

 

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Thai government through the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) plans on e-sport promotion throughout the country

The Thai government seeks to upgrade system for e-sports and to promote it as a promising new business given its THB22 billion (US$701 million) revenue last year, which puts Thailand in the 19th position in the world, The Bangkok Post reported.

“E-sports has increased in popularity over the past decade in Thailand as the local game market and e-sports are growing steadily,” said Chutinat Wongsuban, deputy secretary-general of NESDC.

In 2017, the record showed that there were 18.3 million gamers in Thailand, which accounts for one-fourth of the population. Wongsuban said that the government should support game developers by offering them assistance and tax measures.

Within the same year, the Sports Authority of Thailand also approved e-sports certification as a registered sport type by official regulators, according to the Sports Authority of Thailand Act 2015.

Aside from the gamers tally, there were 2.6 million viewers of e-sports competitions in Thailand last year, a figure that’s expected to increase by 30 per cent by 2021.

Also Read: (Exclusive) Singapore startup H3 Dynamics to close its US$16M Series B round in August

E-sports business is said to create careers and related occupations such as game casters, game reviewers, commentators, referees, and competition organisers. The survey noted that the respondents believed that it creates opportunities and motivation for children and teenagers to be more creative.

However, at the moment, Thailand does not yet have a law on e-sports and there’s only a ministerial regulation on the permission and operation of video stores under the Film and Video Act 2008. It controls game cafes by defining the duration of the play time and the use of children in the cafes, not age ratings for gaming content.

In foreign countries, there are measures that help determine the type of game (ratings), control advertising, and public relations, as well as supervise e-sports participants and competitions.

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An economic boost on one side, but a potential addiction inducer on the other side. The study also warned that children can be exposed to negative health effects, mood, and behaviour, such as back pain, body aches, and eye problems as a result of gaming addiction, and adults may be prone to gambling and career instability.
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In today’s world of remote working, it’s important to price-in some time for teams to meet in person

Culture. We hear this word often, but what does that mean? It is the personality of an organisation; the way that things are done. These behaviours and practices are supported by values that are mutually embraced and continuously reinforced by the team members.

Huge established organisations have developed cultures over decades and stood the test of time; these can be difficult to change, as they have become rooted in the organisation’s DNA.

Culture is formed by the values that all members within the organisation embrace. It is impossible to replicate and is unique to an organisation, the leadership, the team members and the shared history. As a young startup, we have the privilege to focus on and develop the culture to set the stage for StashAway’s future.

Since culture is largely nurtured by team members in an organic fashion, the most important sub-process where we could play a hand in driving the culture is through recruitment:

Who do we want on our team to contribute to our culture? As the company grows, the culture will be more entrenched and prominent. Candidates who resonate with the culture are drawn to submit an application. Those who do not should not; otherwise, if they are hired, they will feel like a fish out of water and leave in no time.

Having joined StashAway with a team of 18 in July 2017 and growing to 41 today, we made mistakes and have a lot more to learn about nurturing a healthy culture that works for us.

For now, I would like to share the main values we uphold and practices that have contributed to StashAway’s culture.

Build a positive and collaborative team

Similar to lions and wolves, human beings move in packs and are social creatures. We like to feel safe, and tend to surround ourselves by people whom we trust and interact well with. An environment of trust and collaboration can affect employees, customers and the success of our business.

Trust and collaboration can be fostered especially by leaders, when they act more like a nurturing parent instead of an authoritative boss.

Like parents would for their children, leaders provide their employees with opportunities to thrive and fail, education, feedback and encouragement.

Although our employees are unimpressionable adults who are able to think for themselves, they subconsciously looks to leaders’ words and actions to understand the social mores of the organisation. With an eye for the company’s goals rather than individual objectives, employees see the big picture as they identify and prioritise the goals required to propel the organisation.

At StashAway, we approach problems with transparency, especially through our monthly townhall and weekly standup meetings in which all team members participate in.

We want every team member to be aware of the highs and lows StashAway is going through, and proactively contribute to the solution. Every idea will be considered. As a team, we work together to find the most ideal solution.

For example, in August 2018, we convened a meeting with all our 31 employees at StashAway when deciding among 3 office locations. Was an office move an important topic? Was this meeting an efficient use of everyone’s time? Probably not. However, we wanted to hear everyone’s perspectives, in addition to the advantages and disadvantages we had considered, before we made an informed decision.

On a lighter note, collaboration can be best forged through casual interactions and bonding among team members. We encourage everyone to hang out together during various company-organised events, such as weekly team lunches, fortnightly coffee chats with a randomised colleague, and bi-annual off-sites with team members from Singapore and Malaysia.

Also Read: Thai government to endorse e-sports a new industry focus

Ground-up initiatives have also been made by team members to utilise their S$50 quarterly team-bonding budget with at least 6 other colleagues: we have ridden the waves when we went wakeboarding, escaped from swarms of ruthless zombies in a virtual reality game, and challenged one another by numbing our taste buds at a Sichuan cuisine restaurant.

Communicate Authentically, Clearly and Effectively

At StashAway, we encourage our employees to courageously voice or pen their opinions. Respectful debate and candid feedback can lead to stronger decisions and growth.

That being said, candour should not stem from malice and negativity; it comes from a place of trust and genuine desire for others to be better.

Good communicators show respect for others, and keep their cool in tough circumstances. This can be witnessed when employees receive organic or formal feedback from others, including their peers and team members who report to them.

Though uncomfortable, we remain open and receptive, instead of avoiding our weaknesses or punishing people who point out these flaws.

Communication goes both ways: encoding (i.e. delivering a created message in writing or speech) and decoding (i.e. reading or listening to a message). Insufficient or untimely communication could cause inaccurate decisions to be made.

We can pay more attention to our actions, words and subtle cues during communication, as these could suppress alternative views. For example, we could pause to listen and understand opinions before responding to them.

If we fear being unheard, appearing foolish, or offending others, we are disincentivised to share our ideas and opinions with others.

We complement frequent feedback by rewarding all full-time employees on a timely basis. These bi-annual incentives come in the form of salary increments, performance bonus and employee stock options. The value of performance bonus and employee stock options are heavily driven by company performance, hence it helps reinforce the need for long-term collaboration among all team members.

Keep Learning and Improving

In today’s knowledge economy, employees want more than salaries; they crave for creation, challenges, ownership, identity and pride.

At StashAway, we select our candidates based on their attitude towards work, resilience and if they have a growth mindset. You can equip determined and hardworking employees with the skills required for the job; it is challenging to instill resolve and a great work ethic in employees who do not possess a similar mentality.

We do not handhold or spoon-feed our employees. We want them to be resourceful and seek help from their helpful and humble team members when needed.

We attempt to assign people their “most engaging” work and provide them with challenges that might not feel the most comfortable. We trust our employees with freedom and responsibility to generate ideas and make decisions. There is a sense of pride that hands-on action and deep involvement can create.

Give them some work that they are not quite ready to handle, so they risk failure and learn from it. Even when we hit a roadblock, we want our employees to know that they are here to innovate and learn.

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As we hire young, talented and hungry individuals, we are responsible for their growth. Each full-time employee receives an annual budget of S$1,000 (US$730) to purchase learning resources that could enable them to be professionally and personally better.

Resources could range from overseas conferences and offline courses, to e-books and mobile applications that help with sleep and meditation.

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This article was written by Siewyee Bay, StashAway’s Head of People & Culture

Join the future of Investing

At StashAway, investors gain access to institutional-level investing at incredibly low cost. Our fee structure is simple and transparent and range from 0.2% to 0.8% p.a. depending on the value of your assets under management. There is no minimum balance required and you have full control over your deposits and withdrawals at no additional charge. If you’d like to try a sophisticated investment product at a low cost, you can do so by signing up with this link (www.stashaway.sg).

We are also actively hiring and you can click here (https://www.stashaway.sg/careers) to learn more about some of our current openings”

Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

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Grants are a priviledge, not an entitlement, which is an important mindset

The Singapore tech ecosystem is one of the few ecosystems that promote entrepreneurship and offers startup grants to its citizens, especially at an ideation stage.

Being part of the ecosystem for the last eight years, TRIVE has supported over 75 Singapore startups via the Startup SGFounder Grant and defunct iJAM.Reload grant programs, which we have seen a number have raised follow-on funding and seen some exits as well.

In our experience working and coaching many startup founders, we realised that there has been a number of misconceptions about obtaining a startup grant.

Below are some anecdotes I hope to share with you on the purposes of startup grants before you consider applying for them.

1. A privilege, not an entitlement

A few years ago, I recalled once having a startup founder telling me off. Reason being was that I could not allow for her application of the iJAM.Reload startup grant to proceed. Her business idea did not make sense as it was very short-term focused and didn’t seem able to scale.

She huffed at me, saying that “this grant is meant for Singaporeans and I should have it regardless.” I had to correct her that the startup grants are a privilege, not an entitlement. I prompted informed her that and had to discontinue the discussion.

Also Read: (Exclusive) Singapore startup H3 Dynamics to close its US$16M Series B round in August

One must be clear that startup grants are a privilege issued by the government to support the startups. It is then decided by the respective incubators and government agencies to decide whether the startup qualifies for the grant. Incubators share a duty of care and proper diligence in ensuring that the grant is issued to deserving entrepreneurs.

2. Not to offset operational costs

A case was mentioned to me where a startup founder requested for a speedy approval for the SGFounder grant. The reason: he needed to pay for operational costs for rent and his team that was coming up at the end of the month.

The grant is clear about building new capabilities to grow the company, not to pay for existing operational expenses. After going deeper, he was unable to articulate how he could build new products or core assets development. We had to discontinue the grant application.

3. Not to pay a cushy salary

There was a grant application a few years back who was a mid-career executive. He was applying for the iJAM.Reload $50k grant and asked the weirdest question, “What is the maximum that I can pay myself using the grant?”

I was taken aback and asked why the question. He mentioned that he already had a certain standard of living. He also justified that he is valued at the last drawn amount and ‘could not accept any lower salary’ which might affect his future chances of employment.

I am sure you can already start hitting out at the many potential points of this statement! Suffice to say, this person did not receive a grant.

Entrepreneurship is about risk-taking and not a step up in one’s career. If one is not able to financially afford being an entrepreneur, it is best to reconsider this path.

4. Grants are not immediately disbursed

I am sure everyone who has worked with the government agencies on grants, one can attest that the funds take some time to be disbursed.

Some entrepreneurs time their cashflow based on immediate disbursements. And soon after suffer from severe cashflow issues.

Allow me to explain. Grants are essentially Singapore taxpayers money and they have to be accounted for before disbursing. Hence it clears through a number of layers to be approved to ensure that the grant application is done properly.

So with all these considerations in mind that I have mentioned, so what should grants be used for?

1. Building up long-term capabilities.

One must clear that the grant should focus on investing activities, rather than operating activities in your cashflow statement. During the iJAM.Reload application, the grant were very specific to only allow the development of new technologies and product. Items like rent and electricity were not allowed as part of the budget.

In the Startup SGFounder Grant, it is also clear that you need to be focused on building a product.

2. A stepping stone to show MVP to potential investors and clients.

I am quite proud to see a few of my Startup SGFounder startups managed to create a MVP and demonstrated them to investors and clients. One admitted that without the grant of developing the product, it would have been very hard to convince his client and close the deal.

Use this chance of obtaining a startup grant to gain more traction or development to convince clients and investors to hop on board.

3. A good testing process to have clarity on the project scope.

Sometimes, being in a very young startup, it is difficult to formulate proper processes and structure. It is also hard to get going a clarity in direction.

Our Startup SGFounder entrepreneurs appreciated using TRIVE’s unique 14-point pitch deck to flesh out their idea. When applying for the grant, the guidelines gives a good direction and structure to aid newly minted entrepreneurs in their thought process.

4. Obtaining non-cash benefits.

Different Accredited Mentor Partners of Startup SGFounder Grants have their varied benefits when a startup founder applies. At TRIVE, those who apply get a variety of added S$80k in business benefits, free co-working space and access to over 100+ NEXT50.sg mentors.

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There is also a credibility benefit when one obtains their StartupSG Founder grant from a known incubator. So look and access carefully to all the different AMPs which have their strengths in certain industries or specialities.

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The author is a pro-Singapore startup evangelist who has spent 8 years advising over 1000 1-to-1 advisories with startup founders. This is part of the Startup Advisory series. TRIVE is an AMP of the SGFounder Grant and runs a pay-it-forward incubator to support Singaporeans in their dream to build a startup.

Photo by Lily Banse on Unsplash

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