Hot Off The Patent Press is made by two people in New Zealand. Every Sunday we turn a patent filing into a plain-English story about the technology and the business behind it.
Charlotte is a law clerk at one of New Zealand's largest law firms and was CEO of Velocity, the University of Auckland's flagship entrepreneurship programme, in 2023. She focuses on making emerging technology clear, useful, and interesting to read.
inCharlotte on LinkedIn
Sharjil works across engineering and mathematics, and founded the newsletter alongside another startup. He brings the technical and commercial read to every issue.
inSharjil on LinkedInIn 2023, on a student trip to Silicon Valley, Charlotte heard an investor answer a question about how he kept up with emerging technology. He spent his free time in patent databases, surfacing ideas long before they reached the market.
The databases are public and free to search. They are also slow, technical, and easy to give up on, which is why the knowledge shaping investment decisions stays with the people who have time to dig for it.
Back in Auckland, Charlotte told Sharjil about the encounter. His response was that it could be a newsletter. There was no launch plan at that point, just an idea the two of them kept picking at, figuring out which filings were worth reading and how to explain one properly, until it became something people could subscribe to in 2025.
Every issue explains what a technology does, what problem it solves, and where it fits: who else is building in the space, where investment is moving, and where the industry looks to be heading. What began as a small project for New Zealand readers now goes out to founders, investors, and technologists around the world.
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