Corporate Venture Capitalists and the Sale of Patents by High-Tech Startups
Startups are often creators of important inventions, yet they lack resources of their own and must prioritize their commercialization effort into a few promising technologies. We explore how corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) influence a startup’s likelihood of selling its patents. We find that, compared with startups backed solely by independent venture capitalists (IVCs), those backed by corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) are less likely to sell their patents. We further consider various factors, including complementary assets provided by corporate investors, competitive dynamics between corporate investors and startups, as well as other patent-, investor-, and startup-specific characteristics that further corroborate the theoretical mechanisms on how corporate investors influence a startup’s likelihood of selling its patents. Our results provide novel insights into how the resources and preferences of corporate investors can play important roles in a startup’s intellectual property (IP) management strategy and its participation in the market for technology.
H. Dennis Park
H. Dennis Park is an Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. He conducts academic research on how external resource acquisition strategy of technology-based ventures influence their development and performance. He currently serves as an Area (Associate) Editor of the Journal of Business Venturing and on the Editorial Review Board of the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Sciences, Economics, and Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, a Master of Business Administration from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D. in Technology Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management from the University of Washington. Prior to pursuing his Ph.D., he worked as a corporate venture capitalist, business development manager, and management consultant in the wireless telecommunications sector in Asia and the US.