Find and score startup leads for licensing new patents

Searches for patents and matching startups, scores the fit with AI, and saves strong leads with a draft outreach email.

How the work actually flows

It branches. Exactly one path is taken; runs once per each matching startup.

Pattern: Exclusive Choice (4) · Multiple Instances without Synchronization (12)

flowchart TD trig(("keyword entered for search")):::human s0[["search patents and startups"]]:::mi s1[["crawl startup website"]]:::mi s2["score startup fit"]:::task trig --> s0 s0 --> s1 s1 --> s2 gx{"× is the fit strong"}:::gate s2 --> gx p00["draft outreach email"]:::task gx -->|"strong fit"| p00 p01["save lead to database"]:::task p00 --> p01 p10["discard lead"]:::task gx -->|"weak fit"| p10 p01 --> out p10 --> out out[/"scored startup leads saved"/]:::out pay{{"faster licensing partner discovery"}}:::pay out --> pay classDef task fill:#e7f6fe,stroke:#34b8f0,color:#2c2a29 classDef svc fill:#f6f8fa,stroke:#7c8795,color:#2c2a29 classDef mi fill:#e7f6fe,stroke:#0079a8,color:#2c2a29,stroke-width:2px classDef human fill:#fff,stroke:#0079a8,color:#0079a8 classDef store fill:#f6f8fa,stroke:#0079a8,color:#2c2a29 classDef trig fill:#00a4eb,stroke:#0079a8,color:#fff,font-weight:bold classDef trigtime fill:#00a4eb,stroke:#0079a8,color:#fff,font-weight:bold classDef trigdata fill:#8ad4f5,stroke:#0079a8,color:#06314c,font-weight:bold classDef gate fill:#fff,stroke:#e8a23d,color:#6b4708,font-weight:bold classDef out fill:#1f9d6b,stroke:#167a53,color:#fff,font-weight:bold classDef pay fill:#06314c,stroke:#021f33,color:#fff
A stepRuns once per itemA personOne path onlyResultPayoff
Build size
Advanced

A larger build with multiple systems, AI reasoning, and custom rules.

Business functions
Lead Generation & ProspectingResearch & Market Intelligence
Connects
OpenAINotionApify

The problem it solves

Finding the right commercial partner for a new technology means searching patent databases, researching startups, and judging whether they're actually a good fit, one at a time. Doing that research manually for every promising patent takes far more hours than most teams have to spare.

Who it fits

Innovation managers, tech transfer offices, and business development teams looking for licensing or partnership leads.

How it works

  1. You enter a technology keyword to search
  2. The automation pulls matching patents and searches for related startups
  3. It crawls each startup's website for business context
  4. AI scores how well the startup fits the patent and drafts an outreach email
  5. Strong matches are saved with contact details to a database
What you get

Startups worth calling ranked before you search for them

You get a ranked list of startups that fit your patents, complete with contact details and a draft outreach email for each one.

What you get

A scored, enriched list of startup leads with draft outreach emails, saved for follow-up.

What you need

A NASA API key, an Apify account, an OpenAI API key, and a Notion account.

We can build this. But should you?

The hard question is not how to build it. It is whether this is the right thing to build first.

That is what a Fractional Chief AI Officer figures out with you, before anyone writes a line of code.

Let's Talk Strategy

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