If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve just come from the lab, where that new ceramic you’ve been working on has just shown – conclusively – electrical properties that no-one else has been able to deliver. With the excitement of discovery (and perhaps vindication, since lots of people said you couldn’t do it), is the thought that maybe this can be commercialized. Maybe you can change the world, and head up a technology company at the same time.
Many successful scientists have become equally successful entrepreneurs. The same intelligence, drive, and tenacity that makes for a good scientist can also be the foundation for building a great company.
But before you go rushing off to incorporate your new company and file your patent, you should ask yourself two hard questions:
- What do I want to do every day: be a scientist, or run a company? As much as a company may be based on technology, running it is still about business, not science. The most common complaint of scientists who go into business is that they don’t get to do any science any more. How will you feel about leaving the lab behind?
- Do I have the specialized skills and talents to be an entrepreneur, or can I learn them? This question is about who you are, not what you want to do. For example, some people are very good at getting other people to achieve results. Others are not. If you’re the latter, running a company may not be for you. Similarly, some people are confident and fluid in convincing other people of the value of their ideas. Others are not. The former skill is pretty essential to successful entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs require a series of talents and skills like these. If you don’t have them, you’ll have to learn them, or you will have problems.
Entrepreneurship is just as much a specialty as particle physics. To succeed, you need both desire and talent. Neither, by itself, is enough. You must have both to make it work.
If, after soul searching, your answer is that you don’t have both, don’t despair. There are many great scientists who can’t, or won’t, run companies. That doesn’t mean your paradigm-shifting new technology cannot be commercialized and be a big success. There are other ways of achieving that result.
So if having your own company is not for you, consider the many alternatives, including the following:
- Get a partner. The combination of inventive scientist and committed businessperson has been the basis of many successful technology companies. Often such companies start with an equal partnership, but over time the scientist focuses on the research and development side, while the businessperson raises money, manages staff, and represents the outside face of the company. If you want to find a partner, speak to your friends, accountant, lawyer, and other contacts, who may help you get in touch with the right people. A warning, though. Getting the right partner is critical. You’re getting “married” to this person, perhaps for several years, or longer. Take the time to make the right choice.
- Licence to an existing company. There may be an existing small company working in the same area as your invention operates. If they have the right business people, and the appropriate financial backing (or can get it), you can licence your technology to them for royalties, shares, or both, and perhaps work with them as a consultant or advisor as they take your technology to commercial success. Companies like this are often found through personal networking with scientists working in your field. Look particularly for a company whose existing technology is replaced, or improved, by yours.
- Licence to a big company. Depending on your technology, there may be large companies who could use it to enhance their business and products. This is often a more passive sort of arrangement – they get the invention, you get money, and “it’s been nice to know you” – but it can also give you a higher probability of successful commercialization. If you want to find companies like this, there are commercial firms who specialize in this. Or, if you are in a university, your technology office will have licensing specialists who may be of great assistance with both knowledge and contacts.
Having your own company can be the most rewarding experience of your life. But, if it’s not really for you, it can also be an unnecessary, painful diversion. Make sure you want it. If not, there are many other ways to take your groundbreaking invention and not only change the world, but gain financial benefit as well.
© 2007 JAY SHEPHERD. All rights reserved.
This summary is a general overview for the assistance of clients. It is no substitute for advice from an experienced and knowledgeable advisor, with full knowledge of the facts and issues relating to your particular situation. Please contact us, we would be happy to assist.