Intellectual Frontiers

About Intellectual Frontiers

Intellectual Frontiers is a think tank that builds consequential things. We turn unusual ideas into publications, intellectual property, software, companies, and investments.

A painted trail map through snowy mountains titled How Contrarian but Practical Observations Move Through Intellectual Frontiers. An observation travels past five signed stations: IF IP for research and patents, IF Press for writing and publishing, IF Capital for funding, IF Studios for building products and ventures, and IF Network for finding the right people. Capital from the IF balance sheet and from investors arrives through IF Network. What comes out is patents, publications, software and companies, people and teams, and market belief.
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The situation

You can build in a month now, and so can your competitors.

That means the product alone rarely sets you apart. Buyers want to know who else has something like it and what happens when a competitor copies yours.

We spend our time on those questions.

  1. IF Studios
  2. IF IP
  3. IF Capital
  4. IF Network
  5. IF Press
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You have an idea

You have an idea and do not know if anyone needs it.

We watch how the work really gets done and look for one narrow problem that keeps coming up. Before we run a test, we write down what result means continue and what result means stop, so you know when to quit.

We do not turn into a custom consulting shop.

  • IF Studios
  1. IF Studios
  2. IF IP
  3. IF Capital
  4. IF Network
  5. IF Press
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You have found something

You found something new and have to decide how to protect it.

For each thing you could protect, you get a decision: file a patent, publish a defensive disclosure, keep a trade secret, or do nothing.

We make that call before a paper comes out or a filing deadline passes, so it never happens by accident.

  • IF IP
  1. IF Studios
  2. IF IP
  3. IF Capital
  4. IF Network
  5. IF Press
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You need money

You need investors who will judge your idea on the evidence.

We hold your idea to the same written standard as our own. A patent, a paper or a prototype alone is not enough for us to invest.

If someone outside has stronger evidence on the same idea, we back them instead of starting our own.

  • IF Capital
  1. IF Studios
  2. IF IP
  3. IF Capital
  4. IF Network
  5. IF Press
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You need the right people

You need the right people and cannot find them.

We start each search with a short statement: who would have to exist, what would make them unusual, and what evidence would change our mind.

A person decides every step, including whether to contact someone. No score makes that call.

  • IF Network
  1. IF Studios
  2. IF IP
  3. IF Capital
  4. IF Network
  5. IF Press
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You need to know what to trust

You cannot tell which claims in a business book are true.

Every claim in our books is marked as an observable fact, an opinion, a framework or an illustration. A claim does not become a fact because we published it ourselves.

Each book has an online companion with worksheets and tools you can take to a meeting.

  • IF Press
  1. IF Studios
  2. IF IP
  3. IF Capital
  4. IF Network
  5. IF Press
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You need to know when to stop

You need a project to end with a clear decision.

Nothing continues by default. We record what we decided, who decided it and why, and we write the stop conditions down before we see the result.

Stopping is a normal outcome.

  1. IF Studios
  2. IF IP
  3. IF Capital
  4. IF Network
  5. IF Press
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If you are stuck on one of these, send it to us.

Tell us what you are trying to do and what is in the way. If we are not the right people, we will say so.

Get in touch

hello@intellectualfrontiers.com

Or write to the right desk

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Intellectual Frontiers LLC is a Maryland limited liability company that develops, owns, commercializes, funds, builds, and publishes intellectual assets and ventures organized around Native Alpha.

The company is deliberately lightweight. It owns the capabilities where control, judgment, rights, relationships, capital allocation, and accumulated knowledge can compound into advantage, and it uses partners and specialized providers for work that does not need to become permanent overhead.

That means a small number of people, a large number of records, and a preference for keeping decisions and rights in house while renting execution.

What we believe

  • Observable facts should be verifiable.
  • Opinions should be identifiable as opinions.
  • Frameworks should be identifiable as frameworks.
  • Illustrations should be identifiable as illustrations.
  • A claim does not become a fact because we published it ourselves.

The mistakes we try to avoid

  • A patent does not prove a venture.
  • A publication does not prove demand.
  • Studio activity does not justify investment.
  • Investment does not prove product-market fit.

Provenance

Intellectual Frontiers acquired all Netspective Communications LLC patents in 2023. Intellectual Frontiers has subsequently continued to develop and prosecute intellectual property directly.

The age of an underlying invention and the age of Intellectual Frontiers LLC are different things. Some patent families now owned by Intellectual Frontiers trace their priority histories back more than a decade.

You do not have to take our word for either statement. Assignment records, file histories, and priority dates are public.

See the work

The site is the work itself: books, products, the Journal, patents, the Show and ventures.