1-Day Course: Preparing Spinout Proposal By Academic Founders

Course Description

Due to lack of awareness on the expected behavioural and business domain knowledge as an academic spinout founder (in the context of a University environment), Academic Spinout Founders often struggle in preparing themselves to transition from their existing role of being an academic staff (with the responsibility to continue ‘ongoing teaching and research works within the University’) to being a company founder running the spinout operations in the early days of company formation, after having gone through the ‘complicated procedures of getting a spinout company proposal approved by the employer University’.

Similarly, Post-Graduate Research (PGR) Student Founders also often find uneasy to transition from being an independent researcher on a complex technology development project to being an investable startup founder (alongside the lack of support guidance that can help in quick transformation of a R&D project from a technology prototype status to a market-acceptable product).

For Startup Founders, it is crucial to prepare themselves & their startup proposal by aligning to the expectations of angel investors and Venture Capitalists (as per the usually known Founder/Startup investment checklist used by these investors) and the founders ought to know in advance the pros & cons of joining an incubator/accelerator programme run by some funders or startup support operators (apart from preparing applications to get approved into those startup support programmes)’.

Intending Academic Founders can understand ‘what’s needed to form a University spinout’ by attending this 1-day intensive master-class course. By doing, the course can help facilitating the academic to become an investable DeepTech Founder while creating an investable company (out of the University). Technology Transfer Office (TTO) staffs who are moving into ‘spinout creation and post-spinout support’ roles can also join this course to understand the practical aspects of spinout formation tasks essential to form an investable spinout.

Note: Deep tech (or deep technology) refers to companies and startups that develop innovative products based on substantial scientific discoveries or meaningful engineering breakthroughs. Unlike “shallow tech,” which focuses on incremental improvements to existing digital services (e.g., a new mobile app), deep tech aims to solve complex, global challenges like climate change, disease, and resource scarcity.

This course intends to provide an overview of ‘a list of tasks (with tips on how to complete them)’ needed by an academic or an independent researcher/student for supporting self-transition from their current roles inside a University or research project to being a spinout/startup founder.

What You’ll Learn From This Course

• Module-1: Walking through a spinout/startup journey to realise responsibilities – Basics
• Module-2: Working on the needs of a spinout/startup conception – Intermediate
• Module-3: Preparing tasks of company formation and surviving early years’ operation – Advance