IP Copilot Co-Founders on Embracing Radical Focus and Maximizing the Value of Innovation
“Building a great product isn’t about pursuing every good idea — it’s about saying no to great ideas if they distract from your core mission.”
After leading IP Copilot’s $4.2M seed round, investors Caroline Fiegel and Jason Spinell sat down with co-founders Austin Walters and Jason Harrier to talk about why they started IP Copilot, why they partnered with Salesforce Ventures, lessons for entrepreneurs, and much more. The following is a transcript of their conversation, lightly edited for clarity and style.
Caroline Fiegel: What inspired you to start IP Copilot?
Jason Harrier: Over the years, we’ve navigated the landscape of IP management software and recognized significant opportunities for improvement. As we explored what to build, we discovered a critical gap in the market: the process of idea discovery and IP capture remained largely overlooked. Drawing on our experience in building and participating in large-scale IP programs, we saw an immense opportunity to help IP teams uncover ideas more efficiently and empower inventors to share their innovations with confidence. We believe that everyone has the potential to be an inventor, and our mission is to foster the growth of the global inventor community.
Jason Spinell: Tell us about your leadership team. What makes your team qualified to tackle this challenge?
Austin Walters: Our team has a long history of working together, with deep firsthand experience of the challenges we’re solving — both from the perspective of inventors and in-house IP counsel. Jason has built and scaled IP programs while fostering vibrant inventor communities, giving him unique insights into empowering innovation at scale. I’m an inventor with over 550 patents, ranking among the top AI inventors globally. Together we bring unparalleled expertise and a deep understanding of the inventor’s journey.
Jason Spinell: How did you first hear about Salesforce Ventures?
Jason Harrier: We were always very interested in Salesforce Ventures, as we already had an integration with Slack and were looking for a strategic investor our customers (corporate attorneys) would respect. From a branding perspective, having Salesforce Ventures as an investor helps build credibility.
Caroline Fiegel: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received as a founder?
Jason Harrier: Embrace radical focus. Building a great product isn’t about pursuing every good idea — it’s about saying “no” to even great ideas if they distract from your core mission. This is much harder than it sounds, especially when opportunities arise that seem promising or align tangentially with your vision. But true innovation comes from doubling down on what truly matters, solving one big problem exceptionally well vs. spreading your energy too thin. For us, this meant narrowing our focus to the discovery and protection of ideas — the “top of the funnel” for innovation — even though there were countless other problems in the IP space that we could address. Saying no to those distractions was tough, but it allowed us to pour all our energy into crafting a product that we knew could truly make an impact. Radical focus requires discipline, but it’s the key to turning good products into great ones.
Austin Walters: The best advice of my career was: “put what you have in people’s hands, listen, and iterate as fast as you can.” It’s what I did when I managed research groups and what we do here. I’d add that our goal is to maximize feedback and build a great product. A sale is validation you’re on the right track. Practically speaking, for us this translates to recording every demo, onboarding, or customer interaction, and doing a post-game analysis with the engineers or sales team. We look at the customer goals and do our best to always iterate towards solving their problems better.
Jason Spinell: What have you changed your mind about since launching IP Copilot?
Austin Walters: One thing we have discovered is how to maximize our value to the IP ecosystem and our approach to the market. Initially, we focused exclusively on enterprise customers, but as we gained traction, law firms began asking if they could use a version of our product. At first, this felt like a deviation from our mission, but we realized it was an opportunity worth exploring. Our enterprise platform was easy to configure for law firms, and we quickly discovered that the adoption process for law firms is surprisingly fast compared to the lengthy enterprise sales cycle.
Expanding into this space turned out to be a great decision. Our early law firm users not only adopted the product enthusiastically but also gave us invaluable insights into new workflows and use cases, which have ultimately strengthened the platform for all our customers. It was a powerful reminder to stay open to unexpected opportunities, especially when they align with our mission of empowering innovation.
Caroline Fiegel: What excites you about the future of IP Copilot?
Austin Walters: The IP industry is undergoing a transformation, with AI and automation enabling a shift from reactive, siloed processes to proactive, collaborative innovation management. We see a future where IP tools are democratized and accessible to everyone, empowering individuals across organizations to identify, share, and protect their ideas with ease. By focusing on the “top of the funnel” — idea discovery and sharing — we’re expanding the pool of recognized inventors and fostering a more inclusive inventor ecosystem. Our AI-driven solutions aim to reshape IP from a defensive tool to a strategic asset, helping organizations maximize the value of their innovations.
So we’re just excited to keep scaling this thing. We’re onboarding customers at an increasing pace, and every one gets smoother. As we’re hiring more engineers, features are getting built faster. We’re innovators in the innovation space—the sky’s the limit.
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If you’re a founder building across AI, enterprise SaaS, or impact, we’d love to talk. To get in with Caroline Fiegel, email her at caroline@salesforceventures.com. To get in touch with Jason Spinell, email him at jspinell@salesforce.com.
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