World Model · podcast knowledge graph

Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics

2026-09-03 · 18 min · 24 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

  • → references twistartups.substack.com website
    0.77
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://twistartups.substack.com/
  • → references @Calacanis website
    0.77
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://substack.com/@calacanis
  • → references Expedia Com American Company company
    0.77
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://britannica.com/topic/Expedia-com-American-company
  • → appeared on This Week in Startups podcast
    0.63
    evidence rules-v5
    Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics
  • → hosted by Jason Calacanis person
    0.55
    evidence rules-v5
    Feed author/publisher: Jason Calacanis
  • → discusses Technology company
    0.40
    evidence rules-v5
    Feed category: Technology
  • → references ThisWeekIn website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://youtube.com/thisweekin
  • → references @Thisweekinstartups website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
  • → references waymo.com website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://waymo.com/
  • → references partners.launch.co company
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://partners.launch.co/
  • → references wsgr.com website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://wsgr.com/en
  • → references Becki DeGraw person
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://wsgr.com/en/people/becki-degraw.html

Entities found in this episode

websites 12

  • mentioned twistartups.substack.com website
    0.90
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://twistartups.substack.com/
  • mentioned @Calacanis website
    0.90
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://substack.com/@calacanis
  • references twistartups.substack.com website
    0.77
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://twistartups.substack.com/
  • references @Calacanis website
    0.77
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://substack.com/@calacanis
  • mentioned ThisWeekIn website
    0.45
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://youtube.com/thisweekin
  • mentioned @Thisweekinstartups website
    0.45
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
  • mentioned waymo.com website
    0.45
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://waymo.com/
  • mentioned wsgr.com website
    0.45
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://wsgr.com/en
  • references ThisWeekIn website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://youtube.com/thisweekin
  • references @Thisweekinstartups website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
  • references waymo.com website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://waymo.com/
  • references wsgr.com website
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://wsgr.com/en

companys 6

  • mentioned Expedia Com American Company company
    0.90
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://britannica.com/topic/Expedia-com-American-company
  • references Expedia Com American Company company
    0.77
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://britannica.com/topic/Expedia-com-American-company
  • mentioned Technology company
    0.50
    evidence rules-v5
    Feed category: Technology
  • mentioned partners.launch.co company
    0.45
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://partners.launch.co/
  • discusses Technology company
    0.40
    evidence rules-v5
    Feed category: Technology
  • references partners.launch.co company
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://partners.launch.co/

persons 4

  • mentioned Jason Calacanis person
    0.70
    evidence rules-v5
    Feed author/publisher: Jason Calacanis
  • mentioned Becki DeGraw person
    0.66
    evidence rules-v5
    Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics
  • hosted by Jason Calacanis person
    0.55
    evidence rules-v5
    Feed author/publisher: Jason Calacanis
  • references Becki DeGraw person
    0.38
    evidence rules-v5
    Link in episode "Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics": https://wsgr.com/en/people/becki-degraw.html

podcasts 1

  • appeared on This Week in Startups podcast
    0.63
    evidence rules-v5
    Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics

concepts 1

Episode description as stored
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Wilson Sonsini Today's show: Spinouts are everywhere right now, and most founders get the cap table wrong. Jason sits down with Becki DeGraw, partner at Wilson Sonsini, to break down how to do it right, starting with his 80/20 rule for splitting the new cap table and why letting the old company keep too much of it kills your ability to raise. Becki also covers the legal side: who owns the IP, non-competes between the two companies, and the trap founders fall into when they're still on the old board. PLUS, the one question every Series A investor will ask. Guests: Becki DeGraw on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62/ Wilson Sonsini: https://www.wsgr.com/en/ Relevant Links: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) — **https://www.wsgr.com/** Becki DeGraw — https://www.wsgr.com/en/people/becki-degraw.html Waymo — Jason's headline example of a big-company spinout — https://waymo.com/ Expedia's 1999 Microsoft spinout — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Expedia-com-American-company Nvidia's ~$20B deal for Groq's asset— https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/24/nvidia-buying-ai-chip-startup-groq-for-about-20-billion-biggest-deal.html Timestamps: 0:00 What a spinout actually is 0:50 Becki: the real "why" behind spinouts 2:24 IP licenses and the "acquihire" workaround 3:09 University spinouts 4:41 Google/Waymo and Microsoft/Expedia: spinouts at scale 5:03 Jason's 80/20 rule and the unicorn test 6:06 The broken cap table problem 6:36 Licensing deals as an M&A workaround 8:44 Exclusive licenses, full assignments, and license-backs 11:07 "What if Google spun out YouTube" 12:31 Groq–Nvidia, capital gains vs. income 13:23 Confidentiality, customer lists, and fiduciary duty traps 15:16 Get the paper done BEFORE you start the new thing 15:56 "It's a divorce," — and the employees are the kids Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp Follow Lon: X: https://x.com/lons Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/ Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis Follow TWiST: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com