What are the risks associated with starting up a business?
Most start-ups fail. We tell the students that failure is OK. We obviously don't recommend failure, but if you fail, it is not personal, it is not a shame. If you fail, you start again. You failed either because you made a mistake, which you will not make again, or because of something that you could not foresee, like a shift in the market. I trust you more than a novice to entrepreneurship because you have been through the process; you are now an experienced entrepreneur.
How can someone avoid the common pitfalls of financing a start-up?
We teach our students where to get money and what money not to touch. Not all money is the same. For instance, never touch your own money, and never take money from your relatives or friends because there is a good chance that you will lose your relatives and your friends. Good money comes with good advice or with help in marketing, from strategic partners or business angels who trust your idea and want to work with you. I have a problem with venture capitalists: although they can make a lot of money available, they want their money back too soon — within five years. In five years you cannot strive, you cannot build your start-up to become a good, large company.
"The value of your company now is exactly zero. Be generous with that zero."
Or you can do boot-strapping: working without money. You might need other people's expertise and without money you cannot pay for it. But you do have something valuable that you can share: your company. Give them a share of your company, and be generous. The value of your company now is exactly zero. Be generous with that zero. If you are successful, in the end there will be plenty of money for everybody.
Could anyone become an entrepreneur?
It depends on character. I am an entrepreneur by nature. As a hobby I make jewellery; when I make a new piece, I immediately think of the process that will make 10,000 pieces. Not everybody should become an entrepreneur, but entrepreneurship should be promoted all around the world, for our well-being.
Is industrial research a good option for those non-entrepreneur scientists?
Industries today lead a lot of excellent research because they have their feet on the ground; they know what is needed for their next product to sell. Universities have the advantage of studying esoteric subjects that industry would not consider, which sometimes bring interesting results. I have never worked for industry but I think that, today, working for a good company is a fantastic opportunity for a researcher. After all, the number of professorships around the world is limited.
Dan Shechtman won a Nobel prize for the discovery of quasi-periodic crystals (structures that are ordered but not periodic), which revolutionized the field of crystallography. He is now the Philip Tobias Distinguished Professor of Materials Science at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, where he also teaches technological entrepreneurship — a passion of his. He is also a Distinguished Professor at Iowa State University.
Feed: Nature - Issue - nature.com science feeds
Posted on: Wednesday, 16 October 2013 11:00 AM
Author: Dan Shechtman
Subject: Q&A: The technology starter
Q&A: The technology starter
Nature. doi:10.1038/502S54a<http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/502S54a>
Author: Dan Shechtman
The winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry speaks to Valerie Gerard about creating leaders and achieving prosperity though technological entrepreneurship.
View article...<http://feeds.nature.com/~r/nature/rss/current/~3/QSd7Gj3mHoc/502S54a>
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