From Science to Startup (eBook)

The Inside Track of Technology Entrepreneurship

Anil Sethi (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2016 | 1st ed. 2016
243 Seiten
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-30424-3 (ISBN)

Infos

This book charts the experiences, pitfalls and knowledge behind leading scientific ideas to successful startups. Written by one of Switzerland's top serial entrepreneurs, this book is a must-read for scientists and academicians who want to see their idea turn into a product and change the market. It is also pertinent for finance and business professionals who aspire to become technology entrepreneurs. Starting with personal qualities of an entrepreneur, Anil Sethi discusses successful ideas, technology evaluation, team formation, patents and investor expectations. To guide the entrepreneur, this book also analyzes deal closing, equity conversion and ideal exit strategies to follow. Ultimately Anil Sethi reveals the 'inside track' which helps understand what drives entrepreneurs and what they wouldn't admit.

Autor

Anil Sethi is "Entrepreneur-in-Residence" at ETH Zurich, and a serial entrepreneur, founder of Swiss Extension, who also founded Flisom, one of the leading flexible PV companies in the world.  Anil took the technology from an idea at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, changing it to become a real company. He then led the company as the CEO and CFO from its inception in 2005 to 2012.  He led three rounds of funding and built a team of over 20 people to transition the technology to market. Anil was recognised for his efforts by way of honours by various entities along the way.  These included being honoured as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and an invitation to attend WEF in Davos in 2007.  He was also invited to be part of the delegation led by President Doris Leuthard in 2010 to Washington, to help the US in clean-energy related employment generation.  Bilan also recognised Anil as one of Switzerland’s 300 most influential people in 2010. Under Anil’s leadership, his debut company Flisom received several awards.  These included: Pioneer Prize: a technical project (Swiss) on the threshold of market entry is granted this award by the Zurich Kantonal Bank.  It is awarded based on excellence in the transfer between science and industry, creativity, innovation, value, marketability and social relevance. Red Herring award: Red Herring selects 100 world-class start-up companies in Europe, or, as they put it, “100 reasons why Europe can compete with the US”. Anil has been invited by various forums in Europe, Asia and the US as a speaker, including at the EU’s Energy R&D policy in Brussels in 2011 and at the Global Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Dubai.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements 5
Contents 7
1: Prologue 13
2: Are You Meant to Be an Entrepreneur? 15
2.1 The MBA 18
2.2 Life After MBA 20
2.3 Time for Ideas 22
2.4 The Clock Is Ticking 23
2.5 Get Started! 24
2.6 Present: And Feel Good Doing It 26
2.7 Setting the Stage 27
3: Ideas to Shoot and Root for 28
3.1 Route-to-Market Startups 29
3.2 Starting from Pain Startups 30
3.3 Technology-Driven Startups (or Back-to-­School Startups) 31
3.4 Geography Matters 33
3.5 From Idea to Market 35
3.5.1 Timeline to Pilot 35
3.5.2 Sustainable Competitive Advantage 35
3.5.3 Establishing Beachheads 35
3.6 Positioning: High-Value or High-Volume 36
3.6.1 High-Value Positioning 36
3.6.2 High-Volume Positioning 37
3.6.3 Bridge Positioning 38
3.7 Change Required from Status Quo 39
3.8 Emotions Rule 40
3.9 Rocket Science 40
3.10 Seeing the Bigger Picture 41
3.11 The Right Idea = Patience and Perseverance 42
3.12 My “Aha” Moment 43
3.13 Industry Standard 45
3.14 No Certainty 47
References 48
4: Technology Evaluation: Is It Ripe for Commercialisation? 50
4.1 Think Secret 52
4.2 It “Gives You Wings” 52
4.3 Cost and Price 53
4.4 Technology Weakness 55
4.5 Red Flags 55
4.5.1 Different vs. Superior 56
4.5.2 Replicable 57
4.5.3 Timeline 57
4.5.4 Overlapping Patents 58
4.5.5 Technology Published 58
4.5.6 Technology Across Multiple Segments 58
4.5.7 Proof of Concept 58
4.5.8 Funding for Proof of Concept 59
4.6 Competitive Advantage 59
4.7 Time to Market 59
4.8 Pilot to Black 60
4.9 Research and Manufacturing 61
4.10 It’s Okay to Not Know 62
4.11 Maturing vs. Mature 63
References 65
5: The Team: Recognising the Red Flags 66
5.1 The Spouse 68
5.2 Conflicting Vision of Team 70
5.3 Problems in Technology People in Europe vs Silicon Valley 71
5.4 Companies Driven by Lifestyle of Team 72
5.5 Business Team vs Technical Team 72
5.6 Ethics 73
5.7 Commitment 74
5.8 Perception Is Reality 75
5.9 Woods and Trees 77
5.10 Respect 77
5.11 Inside Out 79
5.12 First Love 79
5.13 Perfect vs Market Ready 80
5.14 What Else Is Possible vs First to Market 81
5.15 Does the Current Flow vs Evolving Business Models 82
5.16 Research Overkill 83
5.17 Too Much Rocket Science 84
5.18 Interesting Work vs Mere Manufacturing 85
5.19 Peer Review vs Go-to-Market 86
5.20 Money, Money, Money… 86
5.21 Techie’s Hobby 88
5.22 More Equal than Others 88
5.23 Rich vs King 89
5.24 Align Expectations 91
5.25 Growing Pains 92
5.26 Non-compete 93
5.27 Hierarchy 94
5.28 People Past Their Prime 94
5.29 Motivations 95
5.30 Mindset of Harmless Lies 96
5.31 Perception of Risk 97
5.32 Equity vs Upside 98
5.32.1 Conflict of Interest 98
5.32.2 Limited Mindset 99
5.32.3 Lack of Appreciation 99
5.33 Greed vs Greed 100
5.34 Scientists and Ethics 100
5.35 For Those Who Come Later 101
5.36 Fired Founders 103
5.37 Equity vs Options 104
5.38 Dilution 105
5.39 Tech Driver Conflict 106
5.40 Peculiar Principles 106
5.41 Gaps and Hiring 107
5.42 Friction 108
5.43 Diligence 109
References 112
6: Patents: Whys and Hows, Protection Strategies for Your Innovation 113
6.1 Back-Up 114
6.2 Exclusive Right to Use 114
6.3 FTO 114
6.4 Patent Strategy 116
6.4.1 Process Patent 116
6.4.2 Machine Design-Related Patent 118
6.4.3 Future Freedom 118
6.5 Broad Versus Narrow 119
6.6 Vapourware 119
6.7 Design Versus Utility Patents 120
6.8 Liquidity Event 120
6.9 Evolution of Patent Strategy 122
6.10 Non-compete for Founders 123
6.11 Licence 123
6.11.1 Professor’s Loyalty: To the Company or to His Craft 123
6.11.2 Who Paid the Licence Fees? 124
6.11.3 Exclusivity 125
6.12 Licensing from the Research Entity 125
6.12.1 Right to Sub-licence 125
6.12.2 What Else Is Included? 126
6.12.3 Working at or Working with Technology 126
6.12.4 Right to Use Infrastructure 127
6.13 Licensing: The University’s Perspective 128
6.14 Spin-Off Agreement 129
6.15 IP on Multi-country Projects 130
6.16 Patent Risks 131
6.16.1 Process Knowledge Proliferation 131
6.16.2 How Much to Tell 131
6.16.3 Reverse Engineer 131
6.17 Risk Mitigation 132
References 133
7: Investors: Choosing the Right Ones, Getting Them Interested 134
7.1 Pay to Play 135
7.2 Finding the Right Investors 136
7.3 Angel Investors 136
7.4 VCs 139
7.5 Strategic Investors 140
7.6 Sovereign Funds 142
7.7 Family Offices 143
7.8 Foundations 144
7.9 Low-Interest Loans 145
7.10 Getting Through to Investors 145
7.10.1 Awards 146
7.10.2 WEF: An Alternate Reality 148
7.10.3 Speaker Opportunities 149
7.11 Back to School 150
7.12 Investor Identification 151
7.12.1 Fund Requirement 152
7.12.2 Risk Profile 154
7.12.3 Timing of Funding 154
7.12.4 Prioritisation 155
7.12.5 Diversify Discussions 156
7.13 Geographical Differences Between Investors 157
7.14 Reason for Fundraising 157
7.15 Your Positioning 159
7.16 Valuation 159
7.16.1 Idea 160
7.16.2 Idea + Business Plan 161
7.16.3 Idea + Business Plan + Technology 161
7.16.4 Idea + Business Plan + Technology + Team 161
7.16.5 Idea + Business Plan + Technology + Team + Prototype 162
7.16.6 Idea + Business Plan + Technology + Team + Prototype + Customers 162
7.17 How Much Is Enough 163
7.18 The Finance Mindset 163
7.19 Credibility: And How to Get It 165
7.20 Valuation: The Investor’s Perspective 165
7.21 Bankability 166
7.22 Going Public 167
7.23 Crowdfunding 170
7.24 Interest 171
7.25 Event Organisers 172
References 173
8: Closing the Deal and Getting the Funding 174
8.1 Consortium Building 175
8.2 Time Is Critical 178
8.3 Easier to Say No 179
8.4 Interested Investors 180
8.5 Don’t Let Go 181
8.6 Priorities 183
8.7 Exclusivity 183
8.8 Expectation of Entitlement 184
8.9 Term Sheet 185
8.10 Transaction Documents 186
8.11 Getting the Money 188
8.12 Deal Breakers 189
8.12.1 Exit 189
8.12.2 Competitive Interests 190
8.13 Limited IQ Intellectuals 190
8.14 You 191
8.15 Twist in the Tail 192
8.16 When Techies Lead 193
8.17 Funding in an Evolving Market 194
8.17.1 Early Stage: Tech Shake-Out 195
8.17.2 Maturing Markets: Investor Return 196
8.18 Exit Planning 196
9: Exit: Opportunity to Convert Equity to Wealth 198
9.1 Institutionalise Vision 198
9.2 Different Exits for Different Co-founders 199
9.3 Fund Cycle of Investors 200
9.4 Back and Forward Integration 200
9.5 Partial Exit 202
9.6 Exit After Strategic Investment 203
9.7 Exit Prior to IPO 204
Reference 205
10: Technologies That Made It: And How 206
11: The Golden Era of Entrepreneurship: Putting It into Perspective 227
11.1 Women in Europe 227
11.2 The USA in the Last Century 227
11.3 Arab Spring (Wikipediaorg 2015b) 228
11.4 Russia: Coming of Age 229
11.5 China Versus USA: An Entrepreneurial View 229
11.6 Indian Class System 230
11.7 Jews over the Millennia 231
11.8 The 1 % 232
11.9 Poverty Within Plenty 233
11.10 True Wealth of Nations 234
11.11 . . . And It’s Free 235
11.12 Putting It into Perspective 235
11.13 Yours to Lose 235
11.14 The Art of the Possible 237
References 237
12: The Inside Track: What Drives Entrepreneurs and What They Won’t Admit 238
12.1 The Most Difficult Step 238
12.2 It’s Some Ride 238
12.3 Cost-Benefit of Entrepreneurship 239
12.4 When the Smarter Guys Work for You 239
12.5 Managing Risk 239
12.6 Resume Makeover 240
12.7 A World of Driven People 240
12.8 And the Surprises 241
12.9 Being Boss 242
12.10 You’re More Equal 242
12.11 Better Work-Life Balance 242
12.12 You Generate Time 243
12.13 New Opportunities 243
12.14 New Comfort Zone 244
12.15 Building Your Own Brand 244
12.16 Rent Versus Mortgage 244
12.17 The Next One 245
12.18 Going Back 245
12.19 Full Circle 246
References 246
About the Author 247
Executive Summary: Format 249

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 13.4.2016
• Zusatzinfo: XII, 243 p. 18 illus.
• Verlagsort: Cham
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Politik / Gesellschaft
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Logistik / Produktion
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Unternehmensführung / Management
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre
• Schlagworte: Business Plan • CMI Management Gold • Innovation • Management Book of the Year • Pitch • Serial Entrepreneurs • Startups • Technology • Venture Capital
• ISBN-10: 3-319-30424-0 / 3319304240
• ISBN-13: 978-3-319-30424-3 / 9783319304243