Technical Founder's Journey: Got Played, Learned Hard Lessons [Need Advice]

Hi, Need to share a recent experience and get your thoughts on next steps. **Quick Background:** Started in game dev, built it into enterprise tech. Created visualization platforms for automotive companies, then expanded into AR/VR/XR solutions. Recently moved into AI/ML space with 8 successful enterprise projects. **The Mess Up:** Was developing new AI/ML products when what seemed like a perfect deal came through: * One company offering development resources and sales * Another bringing investment Long story short: * Wasted 8 months * Middle company blocked direct investor communication * They used our demos to copy solutions * Started calling us their subsidiary without permission * All while I was dealing with a concussion (great timing, right?) Finally met the investors directly - turned out they'd been trying to fund us all along, but middle company kept blocking. **Key Lessons:** 1. Always maintain direct communication 2. Meet partners in person 3. Know your market value 4. Document everything **Current Status:** * Documenting all IP * Creating proper company structure * Evaluating market position **Questions:** 1. How do you properly vet potential partners? 2. Technical founders: how do you protect IP while demonstrating capabilities? 3. Thoughts on bootstrapping vs raising at this stage? 4. Resources for structuring enterprise tech companies? Would love insights from anyone who's scaled an enterprise tech company or dealt with similar partnership issues.