Migicovsky: Patents are not a critical initial step for startups
Eric Migicovsky · YC SUS: Michael Seibel and Eric Migicovsky discuss How to Launch an MVP · Y Combinator · Jan 24, 2020 · at 50:00
Pebble founder and Y Combinator partner Eric Migicovsky responds to a question on whether early-stage startups need patent protection before releasing an MVP.
0:00 / 0:31exact quote · 31.5s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“This is, like, one of those things that people who are not in the startup world think is a critical piece of starting a business, because they may have heard of, like, someone else who got screwed out of their idea or something like that. But if you're starting a startup, which is kind of defined as a technology company that's designed to grow rapidly, then The number one thing that you need to do is find something that people want, and sell it to them, and then iterate and grow. Patents are not a critical step necessarily in this path.”
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 Eric Migicovsky
Migicovsky: Oculus' iterative hardware approach beat Magic Leap's secretive, mega-funded R&D
“Magic Leap raised lots of money and spent just 11 years working on a product, versus Oculus, which raised two million dollars on Kickstarter, shipped a, you know, an early development kit that was not amazing, but they iterated and they got through, and now th…”
Migicovsky: Pivot to building end products if customers won't buy your technology
“If you're in a situation where you're building something that's, like, mind-blowingly cool and revolutionary, but you're finding that customers don't want to buy it, pivot your company so you're actually doing what your customers would have done, and just use …”
Graham and Andreessen's product-market fit definitions are lagging indicators
“Paul Graham's definition for product market fit is when you've made something that people want. Marc Andreessen also has an amazing blog post about product market fit where he describes it as when the product is just being pulled out of you, when you no longer…”
Migicovsky: Overhyped hardware crowdfunding campaigns usually fail to ship
“Most of those campaigns, even if they do succeed at raising money, usually fail to produce and actually ship their product.”
Migicovsky: Early hardware startups cannot pay contractors enough to care like founders
“Some of the most painful moments of my early career were, ah, not having full-time co-founders, and having to work with contractors or consultants who, honestly, like, you can't pay someone enough to care. I mean, firstly because you probably don't have that m…”
Migicovsky: Hardware startups should hack existing products instead of hiring design firms
“Don't hire, like, An industrial design firm to build you some new design. Don't hire, like, an engineering firm that promises to do a custom design for you, because that'll cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it probably will be the wrong product, versu…”