Very cool! I like the idea of a longer period (1-year) to develop your idea, good science takes time.
Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
21–30 of 65 posts
Re: Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
#22Calling this a "Fellowship" is misleading. The funding is an investment. See their FAQ: Q: How much equity does Sci-Founder take in my company? A: There are two funding options we offer: $250,000 for 10% equity $400,000 for 15% equity
Also, for Life Science startups, this seems like a very small amount of money.
Aren't these businesses generally extremely capitol intensive - expensive equipment, PhD's, etc.
Re: Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
#23Calling this a "Fellowship" is misleading. The funding is an investment. See their FAQ: Q: How much equity does Sci-Founder take in my company? A: There are two funding options we offer: $250,000 for 10% equity $400,000 for 15% equity
Is it just me, or does it seem like an odd assumption that this hard-codes the value of the company to $2.5M-$2.7M? I would think they would have a percentage cut they target or a dollar amount they target, and the other variable is filled in based on their assessment of the startup's value at the time?
It's not uncommon for seed funding. YC offers $125k for 7%, which implies a ~$1.8 million post-money valuation.
Re: Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
#24Calling this a "Fellowship" is misleading. The funding is an investment. See their FAQ: Q: How much equity does Sci-Founder take in my company? A: There are two funding options we offer: $250,000 for 10% equity $400,000 for 15% equity
I'm not sure "misleading" is a strong enough word in this case. Fellowship has a very specific meaning in academia, and it's not this.
Edit: Perhaps it wasn't intentional, but it will have a bait-and-switch feel for scientists in academia.
Re: Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
#25Hey I'm one of the people starting this fellowship program -- Our hope is to inspire more scientists to start companies-- we really believe that a lot more scientists could become great founders, and companies are often the most effective way to be developing research that can improve or save lives. Happy to answer any questions that pop up!
This looks like a really cool program. Is there way for for students currently in PhD programs to engage with folks in the program. It'd be too early for me to apply but would love to connect with folks in the community for collaboration downstream. Also looking for unique applications of my research.
Re: Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
We're trying to be very upfront that this is a for-profit thing for the creation of for-profit companies. We're calling it a fellowship because we care more about creating a community of scientists starting companies than potential financial returns. There are other for-profit fellowship programs that have popped up too recently -- for example, the South Park Commons Founder Fellowship.
What constitutes a scientist? I read that you don't need to be in a PhD program, I am working on a quantum problem in a garage at the moment. We've built a Thor Labs optics lab. This would be amazing for us, Thor labs equipment is expensive and currently need a new laser. This would be amazing
We think we can be most helpful for life science companies, but if you think we could be really helpful still please feel free to apply.
No need for a PhD.
Re: Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
#27Calling this a "Fellowship" is misleading. The funding is an investment. See their FAQ: Q: How much equity does Sci-Founder take in my company? A: There are two funding options we offer: $250,000 for 10% equity $400,000 for 15% equity
Also, for Life Science startups, this seems like a very small amount of money. Aren't these businesses generally extremely capitol intensive - expensive equipment, PhD's, etc.
In the long run, for sure -- but often a lot more than people think can be done to start building momentum with a small amount of money for these types of companies. For example, the company I'm currently CEO of started with $250,000 initially, and that allowed us to figure things out to make a lot more progress and raise a lot more funding.
That said if you need more money than what we are offering at the start, our first thing to do will be to help you figure out a greater fundraising process.
Re: Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
#28Any scientists applying need a partner from the software side? Would love to make an impact in something like this!
We have a google form you can fill out here if you are looking for a co-founder: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHVqqOMBoWa_O3RyuI...
Re: Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
#29Hey I'm one of the people starting this fellowship program -- Our hope is to inspire more scientists to start companies-- we really believe that a lot more scientists could become great founders, and companies are often the most effective way to be developing research that can improve or save lives. Happy to answer any questions that pop up!
This looks like a really cool program. Is there way for for students currently in PhD programs to engage with folks in the program. It'd be too early for me to apply but would love to connect with folks in the community for collaboration downstream. Also looking for unique applications of my research.
We'll likely have events in the future for people that are thinking about this but aren't ready yet to get started -- the main thing we care about is creating a community of scientist founders to help one another.
Re: Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
What constitutes a scientist? I read that you don't need to be in a PhD program, I am working on a quantum problem in a garage at the moment. We've built a Thor Labs optics lab. This would be amazing for us, Thor labs equipment is expensive and currently need a new laser. This would be amazing
We think we can be most helpful for life science companies, but if you think we could be really helpful still please feel free to apply. No need for a PhD.
Brilliant, our end goal is an artificial brain. Simulate disease / Alzheimer's / Epilepsy . One of the experiments we would like to run involves mini brains. Filling out the submission form now.