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 below

Marketing-related:

Trademarks

Trade names

Service marks

Trade dress

Newspaper mastheads

Internet domain names

Artistic-related:

Plays

Operas

Ballets

Books

Articles

Other literary works

Musical works

Pictures

Photographs

Video

Audiovisual material

Contract-based:

Licensing agreements

Advertising or service contracts

Lease agreements

Construction permits

Operating and broadcast rights

Employment contracts

Technology-based:

Patented technology

Computer software

Unpatented technology

Databases

Trade secrets

Secret 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.