Cultivating a University’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: A Master Class with Ed Roberts

This is part of my Series on University Entrepreneurship.

 Last week the National Council for Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer hosted a fantastic webinar in which MIT Professor Ed Roberts held forth and responded to questions with contagious enthusiasm for over ninety minutes addressing the origins and evolution of the formidable entrepreneurial ecosystem at MIT. He is certainly uniquely qualified to do so having been a student who earned four degrees from MIT including a PhD in Economics, a business school professor, a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, venture capitalist, CEO, Chair of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center and Chair for 30 years of the MIT Sloan’s Management of Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group. He is also the co-founder of the MIT Management of Technology Program and is the author of eleven books and 170 articles on the subject of entrepreneurship and technology.

He has also recently conducted a landmark study entitled, "Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT" which demonstrates that “if the active companies founded by MIT graduates formed an independent nation, their revenues would make that nation at least the 17^th largest economy in the world.” From this study we learn that MIT alums have founded in excess of 25,000 active companies that have generated sales of $2 trillion worldwide and employed 3.3 million people. As I have stated in previous posts, American universities are an absolutely profound engine of transformative innovation for the US and world economies. Studies and statistics like those put forth by Dr. Roberts make an emphatic case for the immensely positive economic impact of university entrepreneurship.

In the webinar Professor Roberts shares his experience and insights into the importance of understanding a university’s underlying culture and the need for institutional leadership on the issue of advancing entrepreneurship. He shares his experiences with various types of alumni initiatives, with the establishment of a comprehensive entrepreneurship curriculum, his opinions on the proper approach of the university’s tech transfer office, and the role that student groups as well as university institutions play in the process. He also stresses that there is no single formula- one must always adapt to the particular environment and setting of one's own university.

As someone who operates the university venture lab at Columbia University it was terrific for me to compare notes and get a sense of the big picture from someone who has been engaged in cultivating university entrepreneurship for nearly a half century. As always I welcome your thoughts and comments.

 

For Part Eleven in this Series, click here

Raising Capital: How Would You Pitch Your Business to an Old Friend?

This is part of my Series' on Angel Investing and Venture Capital.

I came across this short post from London-based VC Nic Brisbourne yesterday and it immediately struck a chord with me.  Essentially he recommends that entrepreneurs pitching to investors should communicate as if they were pitching to their best friend. In my opinion this is a simple yet very effective prescription and encapsulates in one fell swoop all the right things one should do in a pitch.

Remember, investors are first and foremost looking to back great entrepreneurs who know how to communicate well with colleagues, employees and customers.  When you convey your ideas in a straightforward and unaffected manner, are responsive to feedback, and as Nic says, “do as much listening as talking”, you’re really putting your best foot forward.  

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

For the next post in this Series, click here.

Notable Posts: "Read All About It"

 

London VC, "Does Operational Experience Help a VC?"

In VC deals, Price Doesn't Matter - But The "Promote" Does

WSJ on Andreesen

Don’t Raise Money: China StartupBlog

My Interview on Venture Hype

This is part of my Series on Angel Investing.

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by the great team at Venture Hype, a popular web-portal dealing with all aspects of angel investing. The interview was posted earlier today and can be found here. We begin by discussing my background and how I became immersed in the world of entrepreneurship and early-stage investing. We then go on to cover various aspects of academic entrepreneurship and university spin-offs, what works and what doesn't work, and what investing in this space is all about. Lastly, we touch on angel investing more generally. As always, I welcome your input and questions.

 For the next post in this Series, click here.

Launching Your Company: Send Lawyers, Guns and Money? Or Do It Yourself!

This is part of my Series on Entrepreneurial Culture.

The classic Warren Zevon refrain, “Send Lawyers, Guns and Money”,  could very well epitomize the attitude many first-time entrepreneurs take on when launching their companies.  In fact, I’m asked the question, “Which lawyer should I hire?” so often that I decided to share my quick thoughts on this matter.

In my opinion you actually do not need a lawyer. What you really need is a successful serial entrepreneur to be your mentor. She or he can help you not only with incorporation but with all the other issues you’ll be facing as you launch the new company.

In a nutshell- hold your fire and save your money.

Nowadays it’s a breeze to incorporate online and there are services such as Legal Zoom and others that remove any need whatsoever for engaging counsel.  Furthermore, standard Operating Agreements are widely available and figuring out whether to start an LLC, an S Corp or a C Corp or what state is best suited for your newco basically involves a two minute conversation with your mentor.  To pay a lawyer a handsome retainer and hourly fees to help you with any of these issues is a complete waste of money in my opinion.

If you don’t have an experienced mentor to help you and absolutely insist on hiring a lawyer, please remember that these services are a commodity. You should only work with reputable, respected lawyers that primarily work with start-up companies and who are well-regarded in your local entrepreneurial and investment community. If you go elsewhere you will most likely be shelling out thousands of dollars for the usual rigmarole.  Reputable counsel will help you set things up inexpensively and will be a resource that is available to you as you grow your company.  Their value will manifest itself once you actually have a revenue-generating business and are perhaps raising your first round of institutional funding. 

I of course welcome you to share your thoughts and experiences on this topic.

Old School Angel Investing: Joseph Conrad Revisited

 

“It is not the clear-sighted who rule the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm fog.” -Conrad

This is part of my Series on Angel Investing.

For many years I was a subscriber to Conradiana, a tri-annual journal of all things related to the life and works of the venerable Joseph Conrad. It’s a terrific scholarly publication and I’ve recently made a note to myself to sign-up so as to start receiving it again. During this time I sometimes toyed with the idea of buckling down and submitting an article with my supposedly original insights into the much analyzed short work, the Secret Sharer. Having no university affiliation or professorship to bolster my credentials, however, I would have had to submit as a so-called “independent scholar”- a bit of a stretch to say the least. Recently though, upon reading two separate Conrad biographies by John Stape and Jeffrey Meyers respectively, I realized that perhaps I could presume to submit a work to Conradiana after all, and one on a topic where few professors could boast of similar expertise. The submission I have in mind would bear this simple title: Joseph Conrad as Angel Investor and Entrepreneur.  As off-topic as this might come across, keep in mind that Conradiana editors have in the past published a title such as:  Colonial Encounters and Cultural Contests: Confrontation of Orientalist and Occidentalist Discourses in “Karain: A Memory”.  Or how about this beauty: The Power of Suggestion: Conrad, Professor Grasset, and French Medical Occultism.  In fact, maybe I’ll do myself one better and petition the Kauffman Foundation to provide me with a generous grant to do a field study on the subject for twelve months so as to extrapolate what modern investors can learn from Conrad’s track record of international investment in a pre-IPO world?  I’m sure they’ve funded worse boondoggles than this, no? (Well, maybe not).

Well, even if Conradiana and Kauffman should roundly reject my overtures, one thing is clear: Joseph Conrad was certainly a 19^th century version of the modern angel investor and sometime entrepreneur.  And true to his romantic nature, he was willing to get involved with the most daring ventures with his meager earnings- always with an eye for out-sized returns so as to liberate him from the indignities of life at sea and subsequently, those of having to eke out a living at his writing table.  

According to Myers, Conrad’s various ventures included, “…. a whaling venture, piloting in the Suez Canal, Australian pearl fisheries, the Japanese navy, Canadian railroads, business in Newfoundland….”

From Stapes I learned that he actually started quite early in life and was involved in some illicit gun-running operations during his time as a young seaman in Marseille. Later, between stints on the Loch Etive and the Palestine in 1881, he and a former Captain of his hatched some sort of business together. Upon moving to London he bought an equity stake in the German shipping agent firm, Barr, Moering, and did some work for them out of their London offices from time to time. Then there was the South African gold mine debacle in 1895, an investment which allegedly failed only due to a shipwreck off the coast of Brittany which took the life of the entrepreneur Conrad had backed.  Some six months before this and soon after the release of his first published work, Almayer’s Folly, another venture he funded failed, though exactly what type of investment it was remains a mystery, only obliquely referred to by him in a letter to Poradowska, a Polish cousin of his.

I believe that there is much in Conrad’s work and remarkable life story from which we entrepreneurs and investors can draw inspiration. He was from Poland and his original name was Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowsky. He became perhaps the greatest artist ever to write a novel- and this in his third language. His writing too, was completely unique, positively foreign in its rhythms and structure. And this too struck me- that one of the greatest “English” writers did not start writing until he was approximately 40, heard English spoken for the first time on ships when he was 21 and spoke the language with a thick, sometimes indecipherable accent throughout his life. His is the story of determination if nothing else.

Who knows when I’ll get to writing this paper for Conradiana. And though Conrad’s investments and entrepreneurial exploits were rife with disappointment, it’s nevertheless been inspiring to catch a very real glimpse of his enterprising and romantic nature through the prism of his daring ventures and investments. Of course this essence is very palpable in his writing- but it’s there too in the story of his life - that same mind-set so many of us in the world of entrepreneurship, start-ups and angel investing share.  His was a world of swirling winds and wooden ships, of long works written by candlelight, of isolation, imagination- and the mystery and promise of distant lands. Ours is a world of cloud-computing and silicon, of instant messaging, of twitter and the hunt for elusive sources of efficient clean energy.  Great uncertainty and challenge characterize both worlds, as always. And though the surroundings may change, the striving and determination in us to innovate and overcome persists. 

As Conrad himself wrote,

“It is not the clear-sighted who rule the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm fog.”

“Facing it — always facing it — that's the way to get through.”

For the next post in this Series, click here.

Mourning Angels: What Went Wrong With Your Investment? (Case Study #1)

This is part of my Series on Angel Investing.

Some readers of this blog who are interested in getting involved in angel investing recently suggested I do some case-studies as part of this series. I agreed and thought we ought to start by examining some typically negative scenarios that one inevitably confronts as an angel. Hopefully these case studies will stimulate some questions and further discussion from which we all can learn.

Eventually we'll work our way back to the core issue at hand: your own judgment of other people’s capacity. (See my earlier posts on this topic here and here).

(**Disclaimer: These case studies are not modeled after any person or any company in particular- they are designed for illustrative purposes only).

CASE STUDY ONE:

So you hear rave reviews about this guy long before you meet him. The people raving about him are actually some customers of his whom you’ve known for years and respect and who have successful businesses of their own that have benefited greatly from his product. You meet him. He needs some growth capital. He’s an industry veteran, a go-getter, knows the business inside and out, knows how to stretch a dollar and generally checks out at first glance. You and your small band of angels analyze the business and perform your supposed due diligence.  Things look good actually and he’s in talks with a potential acquirer. After a month of analysis and discussion, the investment gets made. 

In the beginning all seems fine. There is some initial growth, some promising leads, but after about 18 months you all realize that nothing is happening. There is no growth and the acquisition talks have broken down long ago. There is also very little communication lately.  You hear that he’s borrowed some money recently and is having trouble paying it back. You fly out to visit him. He’s friendly, but seems evasive, a little down.  He’s gained about 15 pounds since you last saw him. Now what?

QUICK ANALYSIS:

He may have got caught up in other things. He may be having marital problems. He may have made some personal investments in other areas when the going was good but then the market tanked. Remember- as an Angel, you are probably not on the Board and you are a minority shareholder.

             Q: So what are your options?

             A: Welcome to Angel Investing. You have none.

Questions for Discussion:

• So what could you have done differently? Would a convertible note have helped rather than a traditional equity investment?

• Did you really know this person? Did you make reference calls?

• During diligence did you ever meet his family, see his home, see how he lives, what his hobbies are, etc.?

• What does due diligence mean to you?
  

Let's discuss this case study and the questions I've raised.  Looking forward to your thoughts and comments.

For the next post in this Series, click here.

Remembering Dersu Uzala, Siberian Entrepreneur

 

This is part of my Series on Entrepreneurial Culture.

It occurred to me recently that when you find yourself around folks that take great care to cultivate the particular ecosystem in which they dwell, the environment is always uplifting and enriching.  A recent venture event I attended of this kind brought to mind that great character, Dersu Uzala, who Kurosawa immortalized in one of my favorite films of the same name.  So as to set the stage for my main point, I’ll recall now one of the early scenes from memory, so forgive me if I omit some details.

On a freezing cold night in the Siberian forest a group of Russian soldiers are suddenly joined by a mysterious Nanai tribesman as they sit warming themselves around a fire. He seems ancient and does not greet them as they sit in stunned silence watching him as he slowly lights his pipe. After some minutes he breaks the charged silence and strikes up a conversation with them. It turns out that this is the beginning of their remarkable adventure with this nomadic tiger hunter who serves as their guide through the wilderness. The men soon learn that wherever he goes he is looking out not just for himself, but for those around him and who might come after him. Twice he saves the lives of Captain Arseniev and his men by virtue of his great experience and wisdom and in one scene they watch with fascination as he leaves some food behind in a remote shelter for anyone that might stumble there after their departure.

The Russian soldiers never forget Dersu. If you’re able to rent the film from NetFlix, I doubt that you will forget him either.  Let me know what you think.

We who make our livings in the world of start-ups also dwell in our own precious ecosystem comprised of entrepreneurs, investors, advisors, inventors and technologists. It seems to me that how we tend to it and how we treat each other along the way will be the ultimate measure of how much we can achieve.

Deal Terms for University Spin-Offs

This is part of my Series on University Entrepreneurship.

 Everyone asks about deal terms at some point, so we may as well address it sooner than later. Let’s say you’ve now visited a few tech transfer offices and you are ready to talk to their New Ventures person about spinning out some IP into a start-up.  What kind of deal terms should you be looking for?

The reality is that every deal is different and so it’s difficult to generate a one-size-fits-all response. Also be mindful that university tech transfer offices across the country vary greatly in their approach to start-ups.

Here are some very general guidelines to a fair deal that you may find helpful, however:

• In most cases you should obtain an exclusive license to the technology in the fields in which you intend to operate

• In most cases you should seek to back-end the economics of the deal and stay away from high up-front license fees

• You should be prepared to partner with the university and let it have an equity stake in the company. (We will have a separate series of posts on equity considerations as there are many nuances here).

• You should mutually agree to some diligence milestones that lay-out time-lines for things like first product sale and in some cases capital-raised or revenue targets. These should have built-in flexibility and not be harsh

• Royalties depend a great deal on the industry in which you’ll be operating but should never be a yoke around your neck- allowing you to operate with a comfortable margin

If you’re not getting a deal done that reflects a win-win you should quickly move on, but such negative outcomes are less and less frequent. More and more offices understand the challenges of launching a start-up and, when a talented entrepreneur is at the table, increasingly have the right approach.

 

For Part Nine in this Series, click here

Golfing-in-Exile (2): Getting it off the Tee

This is part of my Series on Golfing-in-Exile.

We’ll get deeper into this in subsequent posts, but here are some initial tips for the GIE who plays twice a year and suddenly finds himself in some version of the following. (Tell me you haven’t been a part of this classic situation!):                       

So your friends show up to the course late, they’re still yapping on their iphones about liquidation preferences and getting rid of the CEO and of course, no one could hit balls before the round started.  You’re as tight as a board and haven’t stretched in 15 months. You’ve just seen the people at the clubhouse ring up your card for a $130 greens fee and you had to buy a pair of golf shoes with soft spikes on sale for $110 because the last time you played, hard spikes were still allowed and no one told you this had changed.  You bought a dozen Titleists (most of which you will lose during the coming round) for another $50 and before hitting a shot you’re out about $300.

You step up on the tee, address your ball and VC #1 is still in the cart getting angry at someone he’s talking to on the phone.  Your other hyperactive entrepreneur friend is moving all over the place and clearly visible in your peripheral vision. He almost hit you with one of his practice swings a few minutes ago. VC #2 is wolfing down a sandwich and potato chips not five feet away from you. Since you’re on the East Coast and it’s April, it’s still freezing and you have no “cold weather” gear because again- you hardly ever play golf.

Reality: if you don’t have my “Golfing-in-Exile Rules” memorized- you have a 1% chance of hitting the ball in the fairway.

Here’s what you need to do off the tee: (GIE RULES OFF THE TEE)

• Keep some movement in your body before you initiate the swing. Don’t just stand there like a statue and think you’ll suddenly uncork a 300 yard drive. Move a little, get some rhythm, swagger, etc. going- feel the legs and arms and waggle the club some. A golf swing is actually an athletic movement- so holding perfectly still at address will not help you accomplish this despite what you may think.

• Kick your right knee, (if you are a righty), slightly left toward the target at address, keeping it cocked throughout the swing. This will keep you centered and over the ball with a controlled swing.

• Take a smooth and deliberate backswing. Most disastrous shots (mine included) are born of the warp-speed at which people’s backswings travel, which consequently throws the whole body out of whack.

Ok- so you got it off the tee- it wasn’t great- but you’re out there and not speeding off in your cart cursing to yourself as you hurtle towards your horrific annual round.  VC friend #1 is having a fake heart-to-heart with a CEO he is “letting go” next to you. You can tell he really wants to assassinate the guy for costing him so much money. He sliced his ball into some thick bushes and obviously needs an aspirin.

 Now what? We’ll discuss in the next GIE post.

For Part 3 of this Series, click here.