Better Thinking Tools for Founders

3 startup funding mindset mistakes

Mistake #1: I want to be my own boss

Mistake #2: I want to have a stable (or comfortable) income

Mistake #3: I’ll be able to raise cash quickly if I need it (because I’ve got a great idea)

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Strategic thinking for first-time founders in five simple steps

I love working with engineering early stage start-up teams for many reasons. One is their “can do attitude”. Unfortunately, this strength can be a weakness when it comes to strategy development. This is particularly relevant if the founders just come straight from university.

The common pattern I see with engineering start-ups is that once they develop a cool technology and successfully apply it to one industry, other companies reach out to them to collaborate. As I mentioned their “can do attitude” is infectious. Once this happens, the founders’ first question is often “How can we execute?”. Instead they should be asking: “Will it help us to achieve our goals?”.

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Cheat sheet for co-founders before drafting a shareholders agreement

Curated reading and list of questions to be answered before meeting with layers. Please do not skip suggested reading, as there is no single formula to share your startup equity. It is all about your and your co-founders values and your future investors.

Access the cheat sheet.

Better Thinking Tools for Entrepreneurial Researchers

What do successful entrepreneurial researchers and start-up founders have in common?
1) Ability to “see” things nobody else can see or believe are possible
2) Ability to explain your idea clearly to inspire others
3) Have enough grit to works towards a long-term goal without immediate satisfaction
4) Boot-strapping your own research or start-up, or stretching one’s funding by doing more with less
5) Can deal with many rejection letters when applying for funding

But I think the main thing is thinking about one’s future customers.

Getting to know one’s customer or research target population is one of the most critical parts of any start-up or health and social intervention. Understanding how one’s customers behave and where they hang out can make or break a project.

CB insights claims that a lack of cash or product market need are the two most common reasons why start-ups fail. Additionally, a 2012 systematic review by Ben Fletcher et al. has found that 20% of clinical studies did not go ahead because they could not attract enough participants. This is 1 in 5 of potentially life-saving interventions that the world did not get.

The #1 reason why university researchers should collaborate with industry

Many university researchers pursued careers in academia to change the world. Yet between teaching, marking, publications and grant proposal writing, there is a little time left for actual research, let alone its translation and commercialisation. Conversations with potential industry partners are often never even attempted.

Continue reading on Medium to find out why early industry engagement is important for researchers who want to translate their work into the real world.