The moment you start selling your invention, the clock to losing your patent rights starts ticking.

Anthony Franco, Chris Franks, and Stephanie Hayes break down intellectual property for early-stage founders — from why investors won’t sign your NDA (and what that signals about you) to the difference between patents, trade secrets, and doing nothing at all. They cover when to file a provisional patent (before your first pitch), why patents are defensive tools rather than competitive weapons, and the uncomfortable truth about enforcement: a patent you can’t afford to litigate isn’t protection, it’s theater.

The episode unpacks the Dippin’ Dots case, the on-sale bar that can destroy your patent before you file, and why for most founders, the best IP strategy starts with building a great company rather than filing expensive paperwork for an idea still looking for a market.

Keywords: intellectual property, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, provisional patent, startup IP, NDA, patent filing, founder strategy, intellectual property protection

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Anthony Franco Entrepreneur and Chief AI Officer

Most AI advice comes from people who have never built anything. Anthony Franco has built seven companies and exited six, including Effective Inc., a UX consultancy that served 40% of the Fortune 100, grew to $50M in revenue, and was acquired by WPP. The rest spanned consumer products, AI platforms, wireless networks, marketing software, and real estate. That track record is why he approaches AI differently: he has seen how organizations actually adopt technology, where they break, and what it costs when they get it wrong.

He coordinates contributions to AI First Principles, an open-source framework that gives teams a shared foundation for AI decisions. He wrote The WISER Method to turn those principles into something practitioners can run in the field. As Chief AI Officer of First Strategy, he works directly with companies on AI automation and go-to-market strategy.

He also co-hosts How to Founder, a podcast about building companies without the mythology.