By: Val Stepanova
“Find your unfair advantage, then build out from there.” This is one of the more valuable pieces of advice Tev Kofsky has ever received. These unfair advantages can be found in recognizing your unique experiences, skill sets, or networks and applying them. Co-founder of IPqwery, Tev Kofsky’s unfair advantage was his perspective. While building a Chrome extension with patent data and Trademark data, he was able to look at data through a unique lens, and think through how to repurpose data for different markets.
Fresh out of school, Tev built his first product. While working with various law firms, he created a “search and watch” software.
This product allowed attorneys to research opportunities and protect their client from infringing on Intellectual Property.
Tev later realized that law firms weren’t the only ones who needed easy access to patent and trademark data. Corporations also needed access as to this information.
“Corporations can learn the direction of competitors and can identify an upcoming sector by looking through trademark or patent filings,” Tev explained. “Sifting through this data is also an incredible way to spur new ideas and pinpoint a potential acquisition.”
Tev and the team consisting of Mitch Schwartz, Bryan Haley, Frédérik Lacharité, Tev, as well as a few programmers were determined to bring patent data and trademark data to the masses.
Finding a Target Audience for Patent Data and Trademark Data
IPqwery was formed to become a patent data and trademark data provider not only for the traditional use case (law firms), but also for corporations, venture firms, and platforms looking to enrich their data.
When looking for ways to repurpose their data even further, IPqwery’s team started focusing on hedge funds and their new interest in “alternative data.”
Hedge funds were searching for means to identify data outside of typical performance metrics to help them with investment decisions.
IPqwery helps hedge funds to “gain alpha” by creating insights into upcoming technologies by aggregating patent data and trademark data, while also analyzing their own portfolios to see if they should begin diversifying their investments.
Read More >> https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/trademark-data-patent-data-research/
