The Truth About IP & AI: What Founders Ignore Until It’s Too Late

Описание: Most of us founders treat IP like something we will deal with “later” and then we dive headfirst into AI without a plan. The result? Lawsuits, losing ownership of what you built, getting blocked when you try to scale, or watching the next big model wipe out your edge overnight.

In this honest chat, my longtime advisor Patrik Kägu (25 plus years helping startups at ALMI) lays out the tough truths he sees every day: why slapping “AI company” on your pitch is now a red flag in 2026, how skipping early intellectual property (IP) mapping (trademarks, copyright, patents) quietly kills your growth, why free pilots usually waste everyone’s time (but paid ones actually prove real traction) and why shipping an ugly MVP is smarter than chasing perfection.

I pull from my own messy founder journey to break down the things that trip us up: demand creation pitfalls, smart pilot strategies, intellectual property essentials, the real risks in this AI gold rush and those founder mental health traps we rarely talk about.

If you are building in the Stockholm ecosystem or anywhere as an early stage founder, this episode gives you a no BS blueprint to protect your idea, validate demand fast, get real traction and avoid the IP and AI mistakes that shut down most startups before they even get going.


00:00 Intro & Patrik’s background as an innovation advisor
02:42 How did he end up helping inventors and startups?
05:35 What did the 1999 internet boom feel like?
07:01 How has startup culture changed since the dot-com era?
08:59 What actually counts as innovation (and who decides)?
10:32 Why does the market determine if something is innovative?
12:48 Why do founders overestimate novelty and underestimate demand?
14:59 Why do founders fix the idea before proving the customer exists?
16:23 Why is MVP shame healthy for founders?
18:44 Why does shipping beat perfecting when building a startup?
21:02 Why do most free pilots waste everyone’s time?
21:59 How do paid pilots prove real traction for investors?
24:20 How can you test demand before you build anything?
26:50 Why do founders confuse users with customers?
28:40 How do you identify willingness to pay early?
30:15 Why does distribution matter before product?
33:58 IP strategy for founders: trademarks, copyright & ownership
36:54 Why do 70 percent of founders not own their trademark?
40:03 Why do trademark delays kill startup scalability?
42:10 What are the hidden legal risks of generative AI for startups?
47:24 Why is calling yourself an AI company a red flag in 2026?
51:32 How can AI competition wipe out slow-moving startups?
55:01 Founder burnout, perfectionism & mental health
01:01:33 Why do founders need to celebrate small wins?

Mentioned in the Episode:
PRV (The Swedish Intellectual Property Office): https://www.prv.se/
Almi: https://www.almi.se/en/