Even patent trolls wait till you are able to pay if you infringe their 'supposed invention' i.e. In other words focussing upon growth is a rational decision, when you get big you'll know if you are in the radar of trolls or genuine inventors.
This applies only when you truly don't know whether you're infringing IP, if you're explicitly copying an invention; unless you are in a country which has no regard to international laws and actively encourages its citizens to copy inventions of other countries, you are at the risk of patent litigations.
That was years ago. Now, I focus on value creation first and let the product succeed before venturing into patent research.
Hardware might be much tougher though. Would be interesting to see someone with hardware experience to share their real life experiences.