Our client, a professional intellectual property services company headquartered in the Silicon Valley and with a presence in Europe and Asia, has exclusively retained Solutus Legal Search to assist its executives in hiring a President and Chief Revenue Officer.
Our client serves the global technology industry through focused patent aggregation, licensing programs, and consulting and expert services. The Company’s vision is to optimize the global high-tech intellectual property environment to be efficient, respected, and balanced. This will allow technology companies to have predictable, low-cost design freedom and will provide fair and just compensation to innovators who create impactful patented inventions. The Company is well funded, has a core team of highly experienced business, intellectual property, and legal experts, and is rapidly growing across all aspects of its business.
THE POSITION
As a key member of the Executive Team, the President and Chief Revenue Officer will be primarily responsible and accountable for the Company’s overall patent collective platform, go-to-market strategy and customer offerings, revenue generation, licensing business plan, strategy, and licensing pipeline working in close coordination with the CEO. The President will lead the executive team, company operations and licensing and acquisitions functions and oversee all support functions. This position reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. Ideally, the successful candidate will be based in the Bay Area. The Company will, however, consider excellent candidates located elsewhere in the US.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Lead the Company platform and team: Own and manage the core Company patent collective platform, including the go-to-market strategy, licensing business, revenue planning, engagement strategy, global customer pipeline, acquisitions and partnership function, and patent and legal functions, driving long term revenue growth to the Company and its platform partners.
- Team Leadership: Develop and lead a high-performing leadership team including licensing, business development, acquisitions, legal, technical and support professionalsAs CRO, lead the overall licensing and litigation functions and deals, and lead large and impactful licensing negotiations to meet near term revenue goals and drive long term profitability. Foster strong long-term relationships with the Company platform partners and licensees. Managing the Company’s Licensing Executives, attorneys and technologist as we as outside licensing agents, partners, and counsel worldwide.
- Deal Lifecycle Management: Lead licensing, settlement, and acquisitions negotiations throughout the deal lifecycle, including facilitating due diligence of the relevant patent portfolios as related to potential licensees, patent case development and engagement planning, licensing negotiations or litigation settlement discussions, and negotiating high quality licensing, partnership, patent acquisitions and related transactions to completion.
- Develop Licensing Programs: For the Company’s services clients and licensing partners, create tailored licensing programs, business plans, and execution strategies.
- Negotiate: Explore and negotiate potential deal elements including license scope, term, fields of use, price, technology collaborations, services, patent assignments and acquisitions.
- Patent Sourcing & Acquisitions: Develop new sources of patents for the Company through patent acquisition, licensing partnerships and other strategic activitiesBuilding relationships with key stakeholders at prospective licensees and business partners.Establish trust and demonstrate leadership within the high-tech industry, acting in a highly professional, industry-leading manner, and in the best interest of the Company and its clients and licensing partners.
- Initiate conversations and build relationships by leveraging personal contacts, existing Company relationships, and other creative methods to open communications with potential licensees and clients.
- Achieve or exceed a mutually agreed set of KPI/ revenue and deals targets and supporting broader business objectives.
- Maintain in-depth knowledge and awareness of the industry, including market trends, key players, technology trends, active patent litigation and licensing programs, other patent licensing business models, and available patents for purchase.
- Contribute to the Company’s marketing efforts and industry intellectual property reform and awareness to advance the state of the industry.
BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE FOR THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE
- A qualified candidate will be a results-oriented licensing executive with significant patent licensing experience and a deep understanding of licensing, patents, and complex transactions within the Information Technology industry.
- Experience leading large scale IP licensing businesses and teams.
- Experience leading the development and negotiation of complex patent licensing transactions in excess of $25M. A summary of deals the candidate led to completion or for which the candidate was a significant team member will be required as part of the interview process and a discussion of these will be used to gauge the candidate’s actual experience and potential for the role.
- Demonstrated industry contacts within companies that are potential licensees across the Information Technology industry, including Operator, Media Streaming, Communications, and Consumer Electronics companies worldwide.
- Must be a creative problem solver and able to model and demonstrate a results-orientation approach.Must display a vision on how to move engagements through roadblocks to reach a successful conclusion.
- Experience negotiating patent litigation settlements with a deep understanding of the unique restrictions or legal ramifications when negotiating the settlement of litigation.
- A multi-dimensional thinker who operates not only based on important past experiences, but in light of new approaches and developments that occur in market. Strong financial acumen to effectively shape licensing agreements that bring the full value to the Company and its clients and licensing partners and create lasting relationships.
- Able to build rapport and establish creditability. Has sufficient presence and expertise to impact the business in a powerful way and the confidence to act quickly and rally a team around an initiative.
- Capacity to isolate and prioritize issues and apply focus on implementing both top-level, strategic solutions as well as the day-to-day tactics necessary for winning in the marketplace.
- Well organized, passionate, a self-starter able to proactively solve problems.
- Highly intelligent, decisive and able to display courage of his/her convictions.
- Bachelor’s degree (preferably graduate degree) in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or other technical discipline or Economics is required. An MBA or JD from a reputable business or law school is highly desirable.
- 15 + years professional and related experience, 8 of which will be leading IP licensing and related transactions in the technology industry.
- Ability to travel domestically and internationally frequently.
- Languages: Fluent English essential, other languages are a plus.
The successful candidate will have a significant and comprehensive compensation package that includes a base salary, several bonus plans, and equity. The target base salary is $250,000 to $300,000 along with a 40% annual bonus. The total compensation package will vary and depend on the candidate’s level of seniority and number of years of directly relevant experience. The successful candidate will also be eligible to participate in a significant per-transaction revenue share program and will receive equity in the Company.
Solutus has been selected as the exclusive representative on this desirable search. Resumes submitted directed to our client will be forwarded to Solutus for review and evaluation.
Ref. #885
