elizabeth iorns - from academic to entrepreneur (sept 2012)
DESCRIPTION
Slides from Elizabeth Iorns' seminars to Ph.D. students and Postdocs about her transition from an academic scientist to a startup founderTRANSCRIPT
Elizabeth Iorns, Ph.D.Founder & CEO, Science Exchange
FROM ACADEMIC TO ENTREPRENEUR: HOW TO START YOUR
OWN COMPANY
@elizabethiorns/ScienceExchange
SCIENCE EXCHANGE
Science Exchange is a marketplace for scientists to list, discover, access, and pay for scientific services from any institution in the world.
currently +1,000 providers from +200 US research institutions
Samplefacilities
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
9. DON’T GIVE UP!
10. SCIENTISTS MAKE GREAT ENTREPRENEURS
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
The best problems to solve are the
ones that affect you personally.
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
PRACTICAL TIP:
Look around you for inspiration... What startup do you wish existed?
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• I was doing a lot of collaborative research
• I thought there should be an easy way for researchers to find, evaluate and work with any core facility
• When I learned about online marketplaces I wanted one to exist for scientific services
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
What set us apart from 95 percent of other startups is that we served a real need.
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
PRACTICAL TIP:
Do your market research. Look at the size of the market and existing solutions. Look at trends i.e. is the need for your solution growing or decreasing
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Increasing use cases for collaborative research: not having access to skills/equipment; cost effectiveness; getting more research done (i.e. more data, more publications)
• Already +$3B every year (and increasing as research becomes more specialized and multi-disciplinary)
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
PRACTICAL TIP:
Talk about your idea at every opportunity you can... you never know what it will lead to
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Sharing problem with eventual co-founder led to me ask “Well… why doesn't something like oDesk exist for science?”
• Sharing idea with scientists made me realize access to specialized scientific service providers was increasingly important but very difficult (i.e. a real problem)
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
PRACTICAL TIP:
Mix with people outside your field of expertise. Go to meetups (check meetup.com for inspiration)
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Science Exchange was founded by a diverse team... a scientist; an MBA; and a computer programmer
• All passionate about creating a marketplace for scientific experiments to make science more efficient
• Complementary set of skills help solve the wide variety of problems faced when starting a company
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
Investors are employees you can
never fire. We made sure to pick investors that thought like us.
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS
PRACTICAL TIP:
Build an advisor / investor network (e.g. through accelerator program or local entrepreneurship club)
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Science startups ≠ Biotech startups
• Lessons we needed more likely to come from online marketplaces than biotechs
• Carefully selected for investors / advisors with relevant expertise
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
6. GET STUFF DONE!
PRACTICAL TIP:
Record what you really need to achieve each week. Revisit after 6 months (you’ll be amazed what you have accomplished in such a short time)
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Went from idea to launch in 5 months
• Met with investors and closed a seed financing round within 3 weeks
• Speak to users everyday and deploy new features constantly (based on their feedback)
6. GET STUFF DONE!
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
PRACTICAL TIP:
Make use of experts e.g. oDesk, Elance, Scripted, 99Designs, LessAccounting (for business stuff)
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• The whole point of Science Exchange is to help scientists use their time more wisely... e.g. frustrating to spend time doing things that didn’t require my level of training or learning something new for a one-off experiment
• In startups, like in science, the people who ‘win’ are the ones who make the best use of their time
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
Do things that won’t scale; it will teach you.
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
PRACTICAL TIP:
Focus on your first 1000 users, not your first million. Make personal customer support a priority.
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Didn’t know how payment should work between researchers and providers, so did it manually
• Got to understand systems and process
• Built a payment platform that allows researchers to easily submit payment to Science Exchange by purchase order, credit card or check
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
9. DON’T GIVE UP!
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
9. DON’T GIVE UP
9. DON’T GIVE UP!
PRACTICAL TIP:
Remember that founding a startup is hard... persistence is everything
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Initial press coverage proclaimed Science Exchange as the ‘eBay for Science’
• Negative reaction from some core facilities. Had to work hard to convince them to join the network
• Didn’t give up. Now +1000 core facilities list their services at Science Exchange
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
9. DON’T GIVE UP!
10. SCIENTISTS MAKE GREAT ENTREPRENEURS
Startups are like
science, where you need
to follow the trail
wherever it leads.
10. SCIENTISTS MAKE GREAT ENTREPRENEURS
10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
9. DON’T GIVE UP!
10. SCIENTISTS MAKE GREAT ENTREPRENEURS
GENERAL STARTUP ADVICE
Read Paul Graham’s essays on star tups. If you have limited time star t with “How to star t a star tup” and “What star tups are really like”
Other great resources: Quora.com/Startups and VentureHacks
SETTING UP A COMPANY (AND OTHER LEGAL STUFF)
If you plan on taking investment, set up as a Delaware C Corp. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (our legal advisors) have a lot of great information on star tup incorporation
All star tup employees–including founders–should be subject to vesting
For general star tup legal information see Star tupLawyer and WalkerCorporateLaw
GETTING INVESTMENT
Mark Suster (an entrepreneur turned VC) has a great series on angel investment and on raising venture capital
RESOURCES
