Technical feasibility gates
Define a minimum demonstration, dependent datasets, compute budget and failure cases. Explain how the founders will distinguish genuine capability from a curated example.
Solutions by buyer type · Global consulting
Pre-seed startup
Pre-seed founders need credible proof of a problem, a technical path and a differentiation thesis. Research should produce evidence that potential users or investors can inspect, while making untested assumptions clear.
Evidence-led consultingCommercial and IP researchDefined work products
Buyer decision
Why this decision needs structured research
Pre-seed founders need credible proof of a problem, a technical path and a differentiation thesis. Research should produce evidence that potential users or investors can inspect, while making untested assumptions clear.
For pre-seed founders and angel-backed teams, the relevant challenge is to resolve technology feasibility, proof points, market differentiation and clean investor disclosures. A useful assignment should separate the client’s preferred outcome from what the available evidence can genuinely demonstrate. That means fixing the scope before collecting documents, and identifying which comparisons would have practical consequences for investment, contracting, research or implementation.
The project should clarify who can authorize each action, how long an assumption remains valid and which external evidence or independent specialist is needed. Source-based research helps a decision maker compare credible options while leaving formal legal, technical certification, clinical or financial determinations to their proper authorities.
Decision architectureRESEARCH QUESTION 01 RESEARCH QUESTION 02 RESEARCH QUESTION 03
Three questions to resolve first
Novelty and market substitutes
Compare patents, competitor products, open implementations and buyer alternatives. Record which claims are distinct and which remain ordinary category features.
Investor-ready evidence
Tie each material claim to a source, demo, customer test or financial assumption. Separate team hypotheses from independent facts and future milestones.
Source integrityREQUIRED EVIDENCE 01 REQUIRED EVIDENCE 02 REQUIRED EVIDENCE 03
Evidence worth examining
A source register should record document ownership, date, geographic scope, available reproduction detail, conflicts and access limitations. This prevents a comparison of unlike documents from being presented as a verified conclusion.
Versioned Product Demo And Test Cases
This evidence stream should be supplied or independently located, dated and tagged to a responsible owner. For pre-seed founders and angel-backed teams, the reviewer should record version differences, missing permissions, dependencies and material contrary evidence before relying on it for the proposed decision.
Competitive Landscape Evidence
This evidence stream should be supplied or independently located, dated and tagged to a responsible owner. For pre-seed founders and angel-backed teams, the reviewer should record version differences, missing permissions, dependencies and material contrary evidence before relying on it for the proposed decision.
Customer Discovery And Assumption Register
This evidence stream should be supplied or independently located, dated and tagged to a responsible owner. For pre-seed founders and angel-backed teams, the reviewer should record version differences, missing permissions, dependencies and material contrary evidence before relying on it for the proposed decision.
Defined consulting outputsILLUSTRATIVE OUTPUT 01 ILLUSTRATIVE OUTPUT 02 ILLUSTRATIVE OUTPUT 03
Example work products for pre-seed startup
These are illustrative outputs for a possible engagement and are not assertions about previous client projects, regulated representation or guaranteed performance.
Pre-seed research diligence packet
A structured pre-seed research diligence packet would identify source material, decision assumptions, options considered and unresolved questions. It should state what was actually examined, which conclusions depend on management inputs and what requires an external specialist. The format can be adapted to the decision, evidence maturity and geographic scope.
Patent competitor scan
A structured patent competitor scan would identify source material, decision assumptions, options considered and unresolved questions. It should state what was actually examined, which conclusions depend on management inputs and what requires an external specialist. The format can be adapted to the decision, evidence maturity and geographic scope.
Evidence-first investor FAQ
A structured evidence-first investor FAQ would identify source material, decision assumptions, options considered and unresolved questions. It should state what was actually examined, which conclusions depend on management inputs and what requires an external specialist. The format can be adapted to the decision, evidence maturity and geographic scope.
Interested in a defined scope? Send an enquiry describing the decision and the records available for review.
Illustrative engagement
A decision scenario
A founder is preparing an investor memo for an AI workflow product. The work produces an evaluation plan, technical comparator table and claim-by-claim source register before financial storytelling.
The scenario illustrates how a research assignment might be scoped. It does not describe a named client, actual transaction, verified operating result or completed engagement. An initial assessment should include at least one adverse hypothesis and specify what evidence would lead the decision maker to postpone, narrow or abandon the proposed step.
Compare alternatives
Signals that make the research actionable
The right measures are those that connect the proposed work to a decision. Each should identify an observation period, a method, an accountable owner and reasons why the indicator might be misleading:
- Critical hypotheses independently tested
- Technical failure cases documented
- Competitor differences validated
- Fundraise claims linked to dated evidence
Use a baseline comparison where possible. Preserve missing information as missing rather than converting it into a positive score. If different evidence sources cannot be normalized fairly, report them in parallel with an explicit explanation of the trade-off.
MethodSTEP 01 STEP 02 STEP 03 STEP 04
Four-stage research and decision workflow
Frame the decision
Agree the exact pre-seed startup decision and its accountable owner; describe available resources, countries, time horizon and which outcomes would justify changing course.
Create an evidence ledger
Record sources, dates, ownership, permissions, uncertainty and negative evidence. A slide, product claim or patent family alone is not sufficient to establish operational or commercial suitability.
Compare alternatives
Compare a conservative baseline, an achievable pilot and a more ambitious alternative for pre-seed founders and angel-backed teams. Write down assumptions, costs, failure conditions and the evidence needed to discriminate between them.
Deliver a decision memo
Provide a concise source-linked research note with confidence grades, identified handoffs, action owners and next tests. Update the register as material facts change.
Professional boundaries
What this page does not establish
Investment materials and financial projections need appropriate verification. A patent search does not guarantee patentability or freedom to operate.
Scope, staffing and use of third-party materials must be agreed for the actual engagement. Advice that involves a regulated activity, professional opinion or independently certified outcome requires separate assessment by appropriately qualified professionals. Nothing on this page asserts that a particular credential, authorization or prior client result has been established.
Sources and navigationRELATED RESEARCH RELATED RESEARCH RELATED RESEARCH
Primary reference and related consulting areas
Primary institutional reference: https://www.wipo.int/en/web/patent-analytics
The institutional reference provides background context, not a certification of this consulting practice. Its applicability to a particular project must be checked against the source date, context and jurisdiction.
Related consulting or research: Explore further
Related consulting or research: Patent Intelligence Competitive Research And Valuation
Related consulting or research: Startup Formation And Venture Lifecycle
Practical questions
Frequently asked questions
Where should a defined project begin?
Begin with the decision owner, a one-page statement of the decision, its deadline, a description of the available records and an explicit list of questions that would change the result. This avoids commissioning research that cannot affect an actual investment or operating choice.
Can a briefing replace a statutory or independent opinion?
No. The work products described here are research and commercial decision-support formats. Patent filing, regulatory approval, securities advice, audit certification, jurisdiction-specific legal opinions and other reserved activities require qualified professionals and separate authorization.
What information is needed for a first enquiry?
Share a short, non-confidential summary of the technical or commercial problem, the countries involved, the decision date and the form of output needed. Sensitive source material should be exchanged only after an appropriate confidential intake process is agreed.
Contact
Discuss a defined pre-seed startup question
Send a non-confidential outline of the problem, decision owner, intended deliverable and timing. We can clarify a research-first scope and identify where specialist professional involvement is necessary.