Georgina Wilkins is Head of IP Strategy at Hitachi Energy.  Over a number of years she has been involved in due diligence around IP before investing in or acquiring a tech business.Georgina tells us how to build your IP portfolio and present it in due diligence to maximise your valuation.Do you understand what your investor/acquirer wants?Do you know what IP you have?Do you know its value?Does you IP align with the value in your business?What if you’ve done nothing with your IP?Is IP respected in your business in contracts with suppliers, customers, collaborators and employees?Do you manage unregistered IP?Have you understood and managed IP risks, in particular freedom to operate?  This is probably a bigger risk for the acquirer than it is to you.The views Georgina expresses in the show are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer, Hitachi Energy.

Kelvin King is an IP valuation expert of some experience.  He has been valuing intangible assets for around 40 years and is one of the foremost experts in the world.  In this episode of Where's the Exit, I ask Kelvin about What is IP valuation?Why should SMEs be bothered with it?How do we go about valuing IP?Does the valuation depend on who it’s for? If you want to talk more about any of the points raised in the podcast then you can contact me via LinkedIn and I'll put you in touch with Kelvin, or you can contact him directly through LinkedIn or the website for his business, Valuation Consulting.The list of intangible assets mentioned by Kelvin and identified by the US Financial Standards Accounting Board is copied belowMarketing-related:                TrademarksTrade names               Service marks             Trade dress                 Newspaper mastheads                       Internet domain names                        Artistic-related:                     PlaysOperasBallets             BooksArticlesOther literary works                Musical works             PicturesPhotographs                Video Audiovisual material                        Contract-based:                    Licensing agreements            Advertising or service contracts                     Lease agreements                  Construction permits                                       Operating and broadcast rights                      Employment contracts                        Technology-based:              Patented technologyComputer software                 Unpatented technology                      DatabasesTrade secretsSecret formulae                       Customer-related:                Customer lists                                     Customer contracts Customer relationships                       Customer agreements 

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) is one of the biggest challenges currently facing the legal sector in Europe and the USA.  Many partnerships are dominated by white males,  are not reflective of the diversity that we see in the world around us and they can also create cultures where it's harder for non-dominant groups to get ahead.  The legal sector has struggled with this more than most and has been sluggish to see real change.  IP firms are no exception.  In this episode of Where's the Exit, I speak to Meredith Struby, Managing Partner of Meunier, Carlin & Curfman LLC, an Intellectual Property firm in Atlanta, Georgia.  Meredith has been working with her team to create a new type of law firm where everyone can feel free to speak out and feel psychologically safe at work.  What is DEI?What are the benefits to firms of working on this?Why should clients care that the firms they're using are more diverse, equitable and inclusive?Why it's important to talk about this even if it's hard and scary?How can law firms start to get better at DEI?Whose responsibility is DEI?What have Meredith and her team been doing to implement this at their firm and what benefits have they seen? You can hear more from Meredith and reach out to her on LinkedIn or through her firm.Otherwise feel free to contact me and I'll connect you.

Donal, one of the world's foremost experts on trade secrets, takes us through practical tips on how tech companies can unearth and manage their trade secrets effectively to generate value for their businesses.Donal takes us through What are trade secrets?Business information that is secret, has commercial value and that you've made reasonable efforts to keep secretWhere will you find them in your business?Why should tech leaders bother with trade secrets?  What's the risk if you don't manage them?Managing trade secrets is a journey and a change projectBut there are key steps to takeGive basic trade secrets education to your staff, starting with the leadershipGenerate a trade secret policy setting out how you want to handle themHave a process to identify, assess the value of and protect your trade secretsDocument and catalogue your trade secretsMake sure its someone's responsibility within your businessA great episode that really helps businesses understand the path to getting their trade secrets under control and generating maximum value from them.If you want to chat about any of these issues more then contact me on LinkedIn, or you can reach Donal on LinkedIn.  You can also check out Donal's business Chawton IP Solutions http://www.chawtoninnovationservices.co.uk/

Alan Chapman gives us his view on the benefits of getting in-house IP support and what tech start-ups should be doing with their IP.

Sandy Reid is Deputy Fund Principal at Mercia Asset Management, a VC with around a £billion of assets under management. She talks to us about what VCs really care about when it comes to Intellectual Property.

Jane Galsworthy is the MD of Oxford Innovation Advice, which provides publicly funded support to UK startups and SMEs. She helps us understand the national picture of what support is available to UK businesses. What does good look like and where can you get it.

How do you use trademarks when you're starting or growing a tech business? Like all IP, this can be a confusing for business leaders. Matt Sammon takes us through everything you need to do from start-up to exit.

Angela takes us through what CEOs and business leaders need to know in order to get the most out of your R&D Tax Credit and Patent Box claims, how the position at HMRC is constantly shifting over time and what you can do to keep on top of things.

The best learning comes from doing and David Park has been there and done it. In this first 'War Stories' episode, David shares his experiences of starting and running 3 different technology businesses and eventually exiting with a £multi-million licensing deal