With over 8,000 attendees, 40 newly launched companies, and 3 days of non-stop action, the LAUNCH Festival in San Fransico has provided lots of networking and learnings. I have not attended a startup event in the Bay Area before and it has been an extremely fun time. You really can feel the energy and passion from the presentors and the attendees. Here are a few of my random observations:
- While there may be a general knowledge of Intellectual Property (IP), the same insecurities and cost-prohibitive fears still haunt these entreprenuers.
- For a community that embraces failure, I found it interesting that many were uncomfortable to talk about IP mistakes “on the record.” Some “off the record” IP infringement stories included unauthorized screen scraping of data, filing trademarks in the wrong class, people filing patents on their own, or disclosing inventions in trade magazines before any protection.
- Entrepreneurship is the same regardless of the location. Many states and countries were represented in the 8,000+ attendees including Estonia, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, and more. It was amazing to see how the passion and tenacity translates in all languages.
- There is a growing and amazing community of female-led organizations. A dinner on Monday night provided an opportunity to learn more about these companies and the people behind them. Again, the trials and tribulations are very similar. Struggles with finding the right team-fit, getting the technology development needed, and still trying to keep the work/life integration.
It has been a while since I have attended a conference and while it is always important to learn what is going on in the world around you, it is also very nice to learn that you are not alone in the problems and insecurities you face in your daily interactions.
Traklight makes it their mission to educate entrepreneurs on the imporance of identifying their Intellectual Property and empowering them by providing cost-effective online tools and resources to help protect their Intelectual Property. For more information on how to educate and empower yourself, start with our Free Risk Quiz or Contact Us.