UPDATE: the slide decks from the March 12 WTIA Cohort Legal Workshop are now available!

“Bar Date Dangers, Provisional Applications, and NDAs 2021,” presented by Brooke Quist, can be viewed here.

“Inventors and Ownership of U.S. Patents 2021,” presented by Jim Baunach, can be viewed here.

Seed IP Law Group LLP is a proud sponsor of the 5th WTIA Founder Cohort Program. The program helps 15-20 venture-scale, seed-stage startups grow and scale over the course of 6-9 months. WTIA and its partners provide founders with a roadmap that will help guide them through their next milestones as they navigate increasing revenue, securing investment, and growing the team. Each startup is headquartered in Washington, has at least one product in development, has an annual revenue of less than $1 million, and passed a rigorous application process. Led by a committee of seasoned tech founders and entrepreneurs — including Dave Parker of 6 Month Startup, Susan Preston of SeaChange Fund, and Leslie Feinzaig of Female Founders Alliance — the program will support each company and guide them through the crucial stages of fundraising, corporate governance, and customer development. The program aligns with WTIA’s effort to support entrepreneurs in Washington’s booming tech industry.

“Launching a startup can be a lonely journey, but it really shouldn’t be,” said Michael Schutzler, CEO of WTIA. “Founders need relevant support and resources to help their companies grow, but securing those resources and connecting to relevant folks usually doesn’t happen organically. So, we’ve gathered the relevant resources and experts for them, building the village to support them on their journey.”

Specifically, those selected for the WTIA Founder Cohort Program will learn:

·   How to fundraise (running a fundraising process, term sheets, cap tables, etc.)

·   How to manage a board of directors

·   Corporate governance (accounting, legal, etc.)

·   Customer development and go to market strategies

WTIA's goal is to help invest in its ecosystem and use its connections, sponsors, and partners to support the next generation of companies via mentorship, education, coaching, and connections. WTIA's also wants to connect early stage entrepreneurs with similarly staged peers to build cohorts of connected founders that grow together.

The program is completely virtual and kicks off with a boot camp spread out over 3 days focused on all things fundraising. From there WTIA will have workshops every 2-3 weeks on stage appropriate topics that you can implement in your company right away. This program is free to apply for, free to participate in, and there will be no equity exchanged.

On March 12, Seed IP participated in a virtual WTIA Cohort Legal Workshop for the 22 tech startups who were selected for the 5th WTIA Founder Cohort Program. Attorneys from Seed IP delivered a workshop focused on patent inventorship and ownership, bar date issues, provisional applications, NDAs, and other topics related to protecting IP.

The following Seed IP partners participated:

Jim Baunach | Partner, Seed IP Law Group

‍Kevan L. Morgan | Partner, Seed IP Law Group

‍Brooke W. Quist | Partner, Seed IP Law Group

To view the complete list of the 22 tech startups selected for Cohort 5, click here and here.

Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) is a trade association unifying the voice of the technology community in Washington state.

Learn more about the WTIA Founder Cohort Program

Learn more about WTIA