What is OTDs role in dealing with a start-up company?
OTD has the responsibility to determine whether the start-up company has the potential to obtain sufficient financial and management resources to be truly capable of vigorous and effective development of the technology to be licensed. Once the company has sufficient financial backing and a business plan and management team in place, OTD’s role is to negotiate an appropriate agreement with the start up company. The agreement will take into account the capital resources of the company, but will also obtain fair value for the technology to be licensed. When a company founder (who has or will have equity in the company) is also a Harvard faculty member and inventor of technology to be exclusively licensed to the start-up, OTD must perform due diligence to avoid conflict of interest issues that may result from the inventor’s financial relationship with the company.
