The Pre-Raise IP Stack: Records, Filings and Answers to Have Ready
By James Borzilleri | September 15, 2025 | Updated October 2026
Every financing or acquisition process eventually reaches the intellectual property folder. Companies that have it organized move through that stage quickly. Companies that do not tend to spend weeks reconstructing records while the deal clock runs.
Here is the set of materials I suggest technology companies assemble before the process starts.
Layer 1: Ownership
- Signed invention assignment and confidentiality agreements for employees and contractors.
- Agreements covering any jointly developed technology with partners or customers.
- A list of open source components in core products and how they are used.
Layer 2: Filings
- Every pending and issued application, with status and upcoming deadlines from counsel.
- A one-line explanation for each filing describing the product or roadmap item it supports.
- Notes on any provisional applications approaching their conversion window.
Layer 3: Trade secrets
- An inventory of what the company treats as secret.
- Who has access, and what controls are in place.
- How departing employees are reminded of their obligations.
Layer 4: Risk awareness
- Summaries of any prior-art or third-party patent searches.
- How any concerns were addressed, with counsel involved where appropriate.
- Any correspondence asserting patents against the company.
Layer 5: The pipeline
The last layer is the one most companies skip: evidence that new inventions keep arriving. Recent invention records, candidates under evaluation and new product or service concepts in development. It answers the question every investor eventually asks, which is whether the advantage will still be there in three years.
This list is a starting point. Your counsel and deal advisors will have their own requirements based on the transaction.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Idea Partnership is not a law firm and does not provide legal opinions. Patentability, inventorship, filing strategy and disclosure questions should be reviewed with licensed patent counsel for your specific facts.