How can you cross that bridge? You need business savvy. And there are plenty of ways to get it – whether through a formal business degree, training or internship programmes or even your institution’s technology-transfer office. We’ve rounded up some options for you to consider. Read more
In stark contrast to the proliferation of web based start-ups led by young founders, science based start-ups have typically remained the domain of seasoned professors, spinning out breakthrough technology built on years of research. This is changing rapidly, and it’s now more viable than ever to start a science based company straight out of a PhD. In fact, it might just be one of the most sensible career paths that you can take. Read more
In this month’s Windback Wednesday series, we’re exploring entrepreneurship: how to brush up on your business skills, where to get venture capital funding and more. In this podcast, I speak to Steve Blank, an associate professor at Stanford University engineering school, a lecturer at UC Berkeley Haas Business School, Columbia Business School and the University of California in San Fransisco (UCSF). On top of all of that, he is also a thought leader of the Lean Start-up movement. Read more
The word entrepreneur comes from the 13th century french verb entreprendre, which literally translates to “to do something” or “to undertake”. By the 16th century, the word entrepreneur had developed a meaning of its own: someone who undertakes a business venture. It’s distinguishing features, according to Richard Cantillon (an 18th century economist), are an understanding of risk and being prepared to do business without guaranteed profits. Sounds scary, but it doesn’t need to be. Read more
The word entrepreneur is thrown around so much, it can begin to lose its meaning. The term sounds vaguely swashbuckling, as if every person it applies to is flippantly quitting a secure academic job to roll the dice on a sexy, but probably doomed, start-up. … Read more
