Eileen McDermott asks James Malackowski, founder and CEO of patent auction company, Ocean Tomo, how he got here, what’s in store for the future and what the new US president should do for innovation.
Why has Ocean Tomo been successful? Ocean Tomo is somewhat unique in that we have brought together professionals with IP backgrounds and other complementary skills, such as traditional investment bankers, venture capitalists, bankruptcy experts, serial entrepreneurs and public investment experts. Although we have experienced some measure of success, we still have a lot of work to do to reach our internal goal as the consensus IP market maker and merchant banc firm. Ocean Tomo has benefited greatly from being at the right place at the right time. We have long recognised the importance of IP as a growing asset class and were fortunate to serve a unique role as an independent market maker and appraiser during a period of accelerated recognition of this fact. We were also willing to introduce new products and face the risk of failure. Each development we introduce to create a more liquid and competitive marketplace…
Innovation on the auction floor, 01 December 2008, Eileen McDermott