Deep tech needs IMPATIENT capital

I was speaking to another investor last week and she said: "I suppose deep tech needs very patient capital?".

I almost defaulted to the normal, affirmative answer, but it niggled me. And then I said: ...more

Founder is a Mode.

Paul Graham recently wrote about 'Founder Mode'. I am sure this will gather momentum as a reason for founders to be protected at all costs as a companies scale. But, I think the piece is more nuanced than that. ...more

Momentum is at the heart of my practice.

A team or person with momentum can develop incredible performance and feel unstoppable. Like moving a physical object, it takes considerable effort to get started, and then it is easier to keep running. ...more

Seven patterns that kill momentum in a team - plus antidotes

#1

PROBLEM: Doing work without a destination feels futile. There is nothing to pull us along and unite us as a team. Almost as damaging is a destination ...more

How frequently should deep tech startups raise capital?

Deep tech startups need a lot of capital. This means that:

💲 The work of raising capital must be a core discipline in the leadership team. One that is nurtured and practiced at all times, not pulled out of the ...more

Carry as alignment in tech transfer offices?

Deep tech startups are not destined for success from the moment they spin out of a university. When they leave the nest to survive on their they must brave the daily attack from an outside world. ...more

Sherpas not Gatekeepers in Research Commercialisation.

I met Tony Raven last week. Tony was the Chief Executive of Cambrigge Universities tech transfer office - Cambridge Enterprise.

A big idea I took from our conversations was that research commercialisation really comes down to two questions from the team working on the spin ...more

Porous Edges in Organisations.

We're not secret agents. We're innovators.

When asking ourselves, should we be careful about who to let inside, who knows what we know, the easiest choice is batten down the hatches. ...more

The Venture Professor Track

Spending time building companies in a university takes academics off the Professor track.

There is no path to become a "Venture Professor". The default career pipeline is to publish and academics (in Australia at least) are not rewarded for entrepreneurial activity. So a year out might be seen as a year BACK and, even when academics get over that, they will be weighed as a poor academic and struggle on the professor track if they are spending time entrepreneurially instead of publishing.

 

I propose a new career pathway that is recognised and rewarded. A Venture Professor is a senior, highly regarded academic who stays in the institution and has a focused output on company spin outs and creation over publishing. Like a venture investor is a company builder operating across a portfolio rather than a single spin out, a venture professor is an academic who operates across a portfolio. Like a some of the well known examples in the US, these professors will have a small amount of equity in tens of companies that they have incubated in the university.  ...more

The 'Time Problem' in Research and Industry Collaborations.

In research, we need time. The culture and system around it for funding is anchored on this. Grants are open for applications once or twice a year and take a long time to process. Programs like CRCs take a long time to agree IP sharing regimes with collaborators. Teams think in longer timelines and optimise ...more

The Venture Professor Track

Spending time building companies in a university takes academics off the Professor track.

There is no path to become a "Venture Professor". The default career pipeline is to publish and academics (in Australia at least) are not rewarded for ...more

The Lunar Society Downunder.

During 'The Enlightenment' the world saw science collide with the ambition of entrepreneurs to create an industrial revolution.

Between 1765 and 1813, one group of people met on a Monday by the light of the moon to discuss ideas. They called themselves 'The Lunarticks' and ...more

Deep Tech Venture Building and "Hit Factories"

Motown founder, Berry Gordy worked at Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury plant and it gave him an idea.

"The factory had this assembly line and I would see the cars start out a bare metal frame and go round a circle. And different stations would put ...more

Should we hire someone above us?

We don't think about this enough. Sometimes we're too busy trying to get ahead and get that promotion, to ask what is best for the company - and for us. Perhaps someone else would be better than us? ...more

Understanding stubborn people.

I once pitched an idea to the CTO of a large telco and he rejected it very quickly as a terrible option.

He paused for a moment and then said: "But, my wife bought me a shirt the other day that I said was horrible and I would never wear it. But the next ...more

Arranged marriages for startups.

There is a myth that startups are best founded on magical friendships which exist prior to a company's foundation. A moment of epiphany between two peers which leads to a shared commitment to change the world. ...more

"The Gift"

Venture investors think a lot about how we make decisions. We are often faced with incomplete data. The earlier the company, the harder it is to objectively weigh an opportunity. ...more

Compromising is learning.

We think of compromising as giving something up. But this assumes that our idea is perfectly formed and other ideas are going to end badly.

What if, our idea is weak? ...more

Designed jeopardy in startup programs.

"In fact, the most interesting aspect of evolution is that it only works because of its antifragility; it is in love with stressors, randomness, uncertainty, and disorder." Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb ...more

If everyone disagrees with you, leave the board.

If a board does one thing well, it must help a company to move forward. Velocity is everything in a company that is starting up, and probably burning capital every day on the journey to product market fit. If boards disagree and defer decisions to the next meeting, they are making a business weaker. ...more