Inventex: AI-Powered Patent Applications - Founder's Story

Early Career and Founding of Inventex

Daniel Ruskin’s professional journey began at the remarkably young age of 14, serving as an engineer with Coinbase. He describes himself as a teenager with coding skills and a desire to create innovative solutions.

Being underage and ineligible for a traditional bank account, Ruskin initially undertook freelance development projects sourced from reddit, accepting bitcoin as compensation. It was through this platform that he discovered Coinbase’s hiring needs and proactively contacted the head of operations with a direct email expressing his interest.

As Ruskin recounts to TechCrunch, he ultimately became instrumental in developing much of the foundational software that powered the Coinbase platform. While not responsible for the initial codebase, his contributions were pivotal in scaling the platform from version 1 to version 10.

From Coinbase to Law School and Entrepreneurship

Following four years at Coinbase, Ruskin pursued higher education, enrolling in both college and law school. During this time, he also initiated several startup ventures, including a company focused on election security, for which he successfully obtained a patent on its core technology.

Experiencing firsthand the complexities and lack of transparency within the patent system, Ruskin launched Inventex in December 2024. The company is based in Salt Lake City.

Now 26 years old, Ruskin explains that Inventex aims to streamline the patent application process. They intend to achieve this by leveraging AI agents, supported by the expertise of qualified attorneys. He posits that Inventex can accelerate the path to patent-pending status by a factor of ten – reducing the timeframe from months to mere days.

Seed Funding and Core Functionality

The innovative concept rapidly garnered investor attention, resulting in a $2.4 million pre-seed funding round secured within just one month. Conviction Capital, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, and Cambrian Ventures jointly led the financing, with additional participation from Boost and other investors. Funding was secured through SAFEs, establishing a company valuation of $10 million.

Inventex operates by receiving essential technical data from clients, encompassing code, design documentation, and detailed technical specifications. The system then identifies inventions that fulfill the legal criteria for patentability.

This process includes a thorough search for existing prior art – determining what has already been established in the relevant technical field – and crucially, defining “how our customer is different,” as Ruskin clarifies.

Subsequently, the company prepares and submits patent applications on behalf of its clients, both domestically within the United States and internationally.

Endorsements and Future Outlook

Maksim Stepanenko, a former colleague of Ruskin’s at Coinbase, highlights Ruskin’s early leadership on critical payments infrastructure projects, even while still a high school student. Upon learning of Inventex, Stepanenko invested as a small angel investor during the pre-seed round.

Stepanenko, founder of Operator, describes Ruskin as “thoughtful, fast-moving, and unusually good at navigating complex systems.” He further states that he has consistently been impressed by Ruskin’s work since their time at Coinbase and was eager to support his new venture, recognizing him as “one of the most quietly impressive people I’ve worked with.”

Inventex: A New Approach to Patent Applications

Beyond simply accelerating the process, Inventex asserts that its methodology results in patents of superior quality for its clientele.

Ruskin explained that their models are meticulously customized for each specific technical domain. Furthermore, the agents employed by Inventex possess genuine expertise within the technical fields their clients operate in.

Ruskin posits that conventional patent lawyers frequently lack a comprehensive grasp of the intricacies inherent in the inventions they are tasked with safeguarding.

Expert Oversight and Refinement

The technical experts at Inventex operate under the guidance of, and are continually refined by, fully licensed attorneys.

Ruskin expresses strong conviction in the viability of Inventex’s model for driving innovation within this specialized area of legal services.

He contrasts their approach with competitors who offer software designed for task-specific automation to established law firms.

Deployment of these competitor solutions, Ruskin argues, is hampered by existing incentives, such as the traditional billable-hour system, and a preference for paying for expertise rather than demonstrable outcomes.

Inventex distinguishes itself by delivering a complete, end-to-end service.

Model Generalizability and Expanding Applications

The versatility of Inventex’s model is also highlighted by Ruskin. He cites the current application of one of their tools to automate complaints filed with the MSPB (U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board).

This application is designed to assist the substantial number of federal employees who have recently experienced job losses.

“The sheer volume of cases makes it unmanageable for traditional law firms,” Ruskin stated.

Early Traction and Revenue Pipeline

While still in its initial stages, Inventex has secured a pipeline of approximately $250,000 in annual recurring revenue, as reported by Ruskin.

This includes contracts with two publicly listed companies and a diverse range of startups. Dirac has authorized the public disclosure of their partnership.

Demand is currently exceeding capacity, as Ruskin confirmed, stating, “We have more inbound than we can handle.”

• Key takeaway: Inventex focuses on both speed and quality in patent applications.
• Competitive advantage: End-to-end service versus task-based automation.
• Expanding market: Applications beyond patents, such as MSPB complaints.

Developing High-Growth Companies

Ruskin possesses significant experience within the financial technology sector. His involvement with Checkr, a platform facilitating workforce payments for gig economy companies, began in 2022. During his tenure, Ruskin spearheaded the creation of Checkr Pay, described as “a startup operating within a larger organization.”

While at Checkr, Ruskin assembled a team of three engineers and successfully “developed and deployed a neobank within a timeframe of three to four months.” (Checkr secured $250 million in funding at a $4.6 billion valuation in 2021.) He departed Checkr in 2023 to complete his legal education at New York University, graduating within the top 10% of his class in 2024.

Early Connections and Recognition

It was through his work at Checkr Pay that Ruskin established a professional relationship with Rex Salisbury, a solo General Partner at Cambrian Ventures. Salisbury characterized the young entrepreneur as the company’s “most rapidly productive engineer.”

Salisbury shared with TechCrunch, “Those who worked with Daniel at early Coinbase will offer a similar assessment, which is particularly noteworthy considering his age at the time.”

Ruskin contributed to the development of two companies valued at over $1 billion – Coinbase and Checkr – prior to finishing his undergraduate degree. He subsequently completed law school and passed the patent bar exam, representing “a uniquely valuable skillset.”

Investment Perspective

Salisbury emphasized that evaluating companies at an early stage requires focusing on potential rather than current status. He stated, “The existing accomplishments of Daniel are impressive, but his demonstrated speed of execution suggests even greater future achievements.”

The ability to rapidly build and iterate is a key indicator of success, and Ruskin’s track record highlights this capacity. This rapid development is what particularly excites investors.

Improving Patent Accessibility

Inventex has experienced a doubling of its user base each month since December, fueled largely by recommendations from existing users and collaborations with venture capital firms.

The company operates on a subscription model, providing clients with comprehensive patent portfolio management.

This service encompasses all stages, including identifying potential inventions, creating patent drafts, submitting applications, and managing the patent prosecution process.

Competitive Landscape and Team

Currently, Inventex is staffed by three full-time engineers, supplemented by a network of contract patent attorneys.

Ruskin identifies Edge and Solve as the primary competitors, noting they offer patent drafting software.

Founder's Background

Prior to establishing Inventex, Ruskin was the founder of Motif, launched in July 2024.

However, that venture was discontinued due to challenges with a co-founder.

Future Plans and Industry Vision

Ruskin is exploring the possibility of offering Inventex’s drafting technology as a white-labeled solution for law firms.

This would allow firms to license the tools and enhance the quality and speed of patent applications for their clients.

He believes this strategy is in line with the future of patent law.

Currently, the majority – 90% – of the time spent on an initial patent filing is dedicated to drafting the disclosure, with only 10% focused on strategic considerations.

Ruskin predicts a shift within five years, where drafting will consume only 10% of the time, and strategic advice will become the key differentiator for law firms.

This evolution is expected to reduce the overall cost of filing a patent and broaden access to the patent system for innovators of all scales.

Ultimately, this will make the process more accessible to a wider range of inventors.