AsianScientist (May 22, 2011) – With your papers published and your patent portfolio lined up, your new technology for green energy, curing cancer or vaccinating against nicotine is finally complete. Now, it is time for the world to recognize your genius and send your technology on the fast-track to market success.
But not so fast, the number of superb technologies at the bottom of the biotech start-up waste basket is huge and many if not most of them, all else being equal, were probably good enough to go commercial.
So why aren’t most academic scientists millionaires?
1. You may not have assembled the right team for this technology.
When asked, VCs will tell you that a technology’s likelihood of success is based on the team backing it up. The worth of a new company is essentially the sum of its capital minus its debt. Capital can be intellectual in the sense of licensed and patented technology, but it is also human capital. In some ways, the ability to draw in resources, generate investment enthusiasm and fix the thousands of problems that will be encountered along the timeline of commercialization is the ability of human, rather than physical or intellectual capital. Having the right level of seniority and accomplishment in the project, wherein the leaders of the new venture are senior and connected enough to convince the field of the internal value, but not having people so senior that they don’t actually do anything productive other than lend their names, is critical. Without it, many good technologies never get out of the gate.
2. Scientists often make poor CEOs.
The emotional investment it takes to bring an idea from nothing to realization in an academic setting is often extreme. Unfortunately, decisions that benefit a growing company often undercut the internal ‘beauty’ of the science. Maybe that new material you invented to finally solve the problem of oral insulin delivery would make more money as an additive to hair gel? Could you make the right decision to benefit your shareholders?
3. The market is too competitive.
Working in an academic lab, it is easy to underestimate the competitiveness of a market. Whereas a new technology or discovery may very well be unique enough to garner a publication, never confuse that same uniqueness with a de facto assumption of competitiveness in a market place. There are always multiple ways to solve a problem from an engineering standpoint, and if you want to see your technology really take off be sure you do your due diligence for potential competitors in the marketplace, not just in the literature.
4. You need pathological devotion.
The advancement of a new technology in a start-up company often takes a near pathological devotion to the corporate aims of the new company. Unless you are tenured, chances are you don’t have much free time. It’s those little details, wherein the founders don’t pay attention to the quality of presentations, they miss important meetings, they don’t think carefully enough about hires, etc. that make the difference between a fireball and a fizzle.
5. You need to know how to raise money as well.
Simply put, a life in academia typically does not involve the direct raising of funds. Grants are a different process than talking to investors. Being able to ‘spin’ a new technology in terms and language an investor wants to hear is a different skill. Many good technologies never get a chance because their inventors weren’t ‘Wall Street’ enough in their pitch and couldn’t find the right selling point for investors to take notice of them.
6. Someone drops the ball on patent protection.
Technology licensing offices (TLOs) have a tough job, as they need to evaluate the patentability of incredibly varied technologies brought to them by their respective universities and decide whether to advance to a full patent. The ability to creatively write a good patent is actually somewhat rare. When things get serious, most TLOs outsource the writing process to patent attorneys. The problem is, these attorneys may not completely understand the research and fail to execute your patent correctly. When challenged with a lawsuit, very quickly, the entire budget of a TLO office can be used up in professional attorney fees. Even worse, when challenged in court (and this happens regularly for competitive patents), you may end up losing the patent – and your technology along with it.
7. You are the one-eyed king… in the land of the blind.
Your technology may not be as good as you think it is. Everyone sees their own child as the most beautiful of them all – it’s only human. But when the screws are tightened and manufacturing is considered, and when the ability to execute manufacturing and outcomes to a high degrees of tolerance needed for regulatory approval or other critical applications, many times the standards applied in an academic setting are so far off from what is needed in industry. Never underestimate the importance of manufacturing process and product consistency – these are the cornerstones by which technologies build value.
….Finally, despite the number of hurdles to commercialization of any type of technology, this list should not put you off trying – you may be in that small fraternity of successful academic inventors out there. Stay positive and never say never!
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Copyright: AsianScientist Magazine.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.
