ArticleIP

01In short

Writing a patent for a new chemical invention is slow, expensive, and requires specialists. ArticleIP's platform takes the chemistry and produces a draft that's ready for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

I helped build the product as a software developer and provided strategic advice on its development and deployment.

02What I did

• I helped build the chem synth feature, which breaks down complex chemical inventions into a core structure with variable R-group positions. This helped our product create representations of compounds scientists used for the patents which they filed.

03The idea, visually

Chemistry inventions are often a whole family of molecules that share one core structure, with swappable pieces attached at a few positions (the "R-groups"). Breaking a family down this way, R-group decomposition, maps neatly onto how a patent needs to describe it.

04What I worked on

My main piece of the product was the chem synth feature. When scientists bring in an invention, it is usually a series of related compounds. Chem synth takes that series and breaks it down into the core structure they share, plus the variable R-group positions around it, so the platform can represent the whole family in the way a patent has to describe it.

Alongside the engineering, I advised on how the product was developed and the clients we targeted. Over the year I worked there, the platform served 901 innovators and cut patent drafting time by roughly 85%.

05The hardest part

For me, the most difficult part was getting up to speed with the chemistry side of the product as well as learning how to integrate all of this into a single client-facing product. This was one of my first official software development experiences so it was frustrating, exciting, and humbling at the same time.