Ask HN: Do provisional patents matter for early-stage startups?
I am a solo founder building in AI B2B infra. I am filing provisional patents on some core technical approaches so I can share more openly with early design partners and investors. Curious from folks who have raised Pre-Seed/Seed or worked with early-stage companies: - Do provisionals meaningfully help in fundraising or partnerships? - Or were they mostly noise until later rounds / real traction? I am trying to calibrate how much time/energy to put into IP vs just shipping + user traction at this stage. Would love to hear real world experiences. 1 comments on Hacker News.
I am a solo founder building in AI B2B infra. I am filing provisional patents on some core technical approaches so I can share more openly with early design partners and investors. Curious from folks who have raised Pre-Seed/Seed or worked with early-stage companies: - Do provisionals meaningfully help in fundraising or partnerships? - Or were they mostly noise until later rounds / real traction? I am trying to calibrate how much time/energy to put into IP vs just shipping + user traction at this stage. Would love to hear real world experiences.
I am a solo founder building in AI B2B infra. I am filing provisional patents on some core technical approaches so I can share more openly with early design partners and investors. Curious from folks who have raised Pre-Seed/Seed or worked with early-stage companies: - Do provisionals meaningfully help in fundraising or partnerships? - Or were they mostly noise until later rounds / real traction? I am trying to calibrate how much time/energy to put into IP vs just shipping + user traction at this stage. Would love to hear real world experiences. 1 comments on Hacker News.
I am a solo founder building in AI B2B infra. I am filing provisional patents on some core technical approaches so I can share more openly with early design partners and investors. Curious from folks who have raised Pre-Seed/Seed or worked with early-stage companies: - Do provisionals meaningfully help in fundraising or partnerships? - Or were they mostly noise until later rounds / real traction? I am trying to calibrate how much time/energy to put into IP vs just shipping + user traction at this stage. Would love to hear real world experiences.
Hacker News story: Ask HN: Do provisional patents matter for early-stage startups?
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February 09, 2026
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