Lutsch: Speed and relationships matter more than patents for hardware startups
Dr. Yvonne Lutsch · Inside Semiconductor Investments: AI-Driven Innovation with Lam Research Capital · Aug 13, 2025 · at 23:37
Dr. Yvonne Lutsch, Investment Director at Lam Capital, explains why patents alone are insufficient defensibility in competitive deep-tech markets.
0:00 / 0:37exact quote · 37.3s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Speed is actually, after all, speed and relationships are, after all, more important. Like the leadership team, and it comes back to the team. Do they have the right advisors? Do they have, or do they have experienced people in the leadership team who help them open doors? Because it's, you know, we are, it's always a B to B investment we do. So these tiny startups, they have to have ways to find, or they already have established connections to their customers and into the ecosystem. And that is, I think more important than just the patents.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Dr. Yvonne Lutsch
Lutsch: The AI data center space is probably overhyped
“And of course, the whole AI data center space, for example, is probably Overhyped.”
Lutsch: Billion-dollar hardware valuations make target venture returns unthinkable
“For me, it's unthinkable of, you know, how, how do I get a good return on a hardware technology company that is valued already at a billion? Who is buying them for 10 or a hundred billion? It's beyond my, Imagination.”
Lutsch: Copper interconnects are reaching physical limits inside data centers
“People are talking about optics now, not only between data center, but also within the data center, because copper comes to its limits how much power it can deliver at what energy that is power that is lost.”
Lutsch: The view that corporate VCs lack financial sophistication is outdated
“Unfortunately, there's also still the perception of Strategic VCs, CVCs. They don't know what they are doing. They don't have any financial expertise. They price companies too high, or they make, you know, funny terms. I don't think that's the case. I think th…”
Lutsch: Semiconductor fab tools must become autonomous, self-maintaining robots
“So that means that our equipment, our machines have to become self aware. Like, a tool is not a stupid tool anymore, it becomes its own robot, like, it can maintain itself, it can change, it change, like, spare parts by itself and it also observes, you know, h…”
Lutsch: Corporate VCs leading funding rounds can sometimes harm startups
“Because as a larger corporate, you always have to be cautious whether you are helping or hurting the startup with your brand name and leading a deal, and it can sometimes rather hurt, and then we are cautious and tell the startup, we think it's a better idea i…”