Everyone's got one. You know, that idea that's been banging around in the back of your head. One prospective entrepreneur explained his to me after a career talk I gave that he attended. "It seems like a great idea, but I just don't know where to take it from here," he said. "I don't have money or experience in running a business, but I can't help but feel that this concept would really make a cool biotech start-up."
Some people launch a new business because they need a job. My son graduated a year ago, and, out of desperation, he and a couple of college friends formed a start-up in the motion picture industry. In the scientific marketplace, though, a successful start-up requires more -- a lot more -- than hard work and a couple of good friends. To succeed, a biomedical start-up needs an original concept backed by solid science -- but even that's not enough. It must also offer the promise of a very quick return on investors' money.
Still, ideas are easy to come by when you are young and full of energy. That makes the entrepreneurial track very appealing to many graduate students and postdocs. ...
Here's the advice the two entrepreneurs shared, filtered through my own experiences:
Ask yourself: "Is this truly a new idea that meets an unmet market need?"
"This is the first thing that any investor will want to know," Woodward says. "Even a smaller angel investor would pass on a business that doesn't address a need in some unique way. A promising technology is only as good as the benefits others derive from it. Cool technology on its own is a business plan destined to fail." ...
Don't be wedded to the original idea ...
So what's the best indicator of at least the possibility for success, and perhaps even riches? I like this idea from Woodward: He suggests that anyone considering becoming an entrepreneur put his or her idea through this simple filter:
"Ask yourself: So what? And who cares?"
By David G. Jensen
sciencemag.org
May 20, 2011
Read more at http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2011_05_20/caredit.a1100045
Some people launch a new business because they need a job. My son graduated a year ago, and, out of desperation, he and a couple of college friends formed a start-up in the motion picture industry. In the scientific marketplace, though, a successful start-up requires more -- a lot more -- than hard work and a couple of good friends. To succeed, a biomedical start-up needs an original concept backed by solid science -- but even that's not enough. It must also offer the promise of a very quick return on investors' money.
Still, ideas are easy to come by when you are young and full of energy. That makes the entrepreneurial track very appealing to many graduate students and postdocs. ...
Here's the advice the two entrepreneurs shared, filtered through my own experiences:
Ask yourself: "Is this truly a new idea that meets an unmet market need?"
"This is the first thing that any investor will want to know," Woodward says. "Even a smaller angel investor would pass on a business that doesn't address a need in some unique way. A promising technology is only as good as the benefits others derive from it. Cool technology on its own is a business plan destined to fail." ...
Don't be wedded to the original idea ...
So what's the best indicator of at least the possibility for success, and perhaps even riches? I like this idea from Woodward: He suggests that anyone considering becoming an entrepreneur put his or her idea through this simple filter:
"Ask yourself: So what? And who cares?"
By David G. Jensen
sciencemag.org
May 20, 2011
Read more at http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2011_05_20/caredit.a1100045
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire