What should I choose, PhD or startup?

Recently, I was asked by a professor to advice his student, whether to pursue his idea/startup (a chemical product, he invented) or go for a Ph.D. degree in chemistry eng.. The professor chose to ask me, because I both have a PhD degree and multiple startup experience.

In my answer I didn't focus so much on the basics (business plan etc.), figuring he already knows most of this, but more on how to choose.

Do you like/agree with my answer ?

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Hello,

The pros of a PhD degree: A PhD degree does sometimes give you access and credibility to venture into bigger ideas. However, there is no guarantees. You could choose to finish your PhD degree and enter or found a highfuelled venture later on, such as those founded by www.kpcb.com or www.sequoiacap.com (these are most successfull and well-known ones, there are of course many smaller). Personally, it might give you the aptitude to write better (due to writing papers or the thesis), be a better at figuring stuff out, give you a large network (going to conferences etc.) than many other jobs. And , of course, some technical insight & independence from having to show financial results. But, in my experience, most technical insight become outdated in just a few years.

The cons of a PhD degree: It takes time, it doesnt give you business experience. One of the most vocal opponents of long educations are Steve Jobs of Apple, his ventings can be read for instance here : http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html I once read, that "when buying real estate, the first thing you should think about how will you sell this again in 5 years". Perhaps the same applies to a PhD. Perhaps look into what finished PhDs from your institute of choice do now, and ask yourself, if this is what you want.

The business : Well. First, a lot of people start businesses. The street vendor around the corner sort of started a business. Even very unintellectual activities sometime pay handsomely (e.g. www.milliondollarhomepage.com ). In my mind, to be worth it the business must end in something, that pays much better than taking a job as a PhD. Why much better ? Because there is uncertainty, so if you figure, oh "I'll make 300000$ on this" and then the reality is, "Oh I only made 100000$ over 3 years!"; it's much better to start with "I plan to make 20million$ on this" and then end up "Oh I made only 1million$". So, firstly, I think your business must have a business plan (there are many books on this topic) to clarify this. Also check up on the 'likelihood of success' factors for your startup - (you have to hit an existing market or demand, preferably be more than one person etc.,...). Secondly, it must in some degree support your education. Once in a while, people at DTU at the "Innovation" course go "oh I want to make a travel agency!" ... and the reply is usually "So go do it now ? Why do you need a degree ?".

- The pros of a business : Noone can just fire you in bad times, you are your own master, a lot of it is fun - figuring out who you can talk to, make things happen. You stand a chance of getting rich, or perhaps just not being in a J-O-B situation (JOB = Just Over Broke) :) And if you go broke, future employers can certainly use your experience anyways. You will learn from it regardless of outcome.

- The cons of a business : You can't just leave it one day, it can take a lot of time and mental energy compared to a normal job. Many people are "the worst employers" to themselves. There is considerable uncertainty over the finances - some people are very uncomfortable with this. Oh, and remember, it isn't hard to get ideas - it's hard to realize them as a business. Most self-employed people have tons of ideas, but only the time to do a few. So, you might also be able to get an idea after you finish your PhD.

Your heart : You should also listen to your heart. Other people (parents, siblings, girlfriend...) could have pressured you into thinking one or another choice is better than the other. You should do what you want, not what they would do. A famous musician in Denmark, Peter Bastian, was a particle physicist and played bassoon as a hobby. Although he stood to become a great physicist, at one point he doubted what to choose, and he asked his wife. She bluntly said "musician" - when asked why, she said, "you look happier when you play the bassoon".

Lots of choices in life is about choosing one or another, and it will never be clear which was the best, and there is no "scientific" way of choosing, lots of luck are involved too.

Ok, that's what I can come up with.

Cheers, teralaser

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Dr. To: teralaser Sent: Wed, November 25, 2009 9:51:48 PM Subject: perspective

Dear Dr. teralaser Hi! I am contacting you to see if you can give a little perspective to one of my students, due to your experience.

The reason for this is because you got a PhD but at the same time you have experience with the development of your own business in a successful way.

My student is a student of Chemical Engineering. Right now he has the opportunity of developing his own chemical-based business with a good economical prospects. At the same time he is finishing grad school and would like to study a PhD abroad in a good university. He was abroad last summer and he is thinking of programs in there or other good ones like in MIT and other Ivy League-related. However, his concern is that if he focuses primarily on the business, it might take him several years before he gets in a PhD program; on the other side, it might take him about 5-6 years to start growing up the business if he starts a Phd next year. So he wants to do both... at the same time. In my experience, what I recommended is that he studies the PhD next year, and waits those 5-6 years for the business or that he delegates the work of the business to someone else. After all, if the business fails (which we hope not) he can still get a decent income while having an intellectually demanding job. In the other case, of course he could get reasonable wealth from his business, but it is unlikely that such a business grows incredibly fast to make a living of it in short-mid term, and maybe a 5-6 year difference if not so important, especially because he is 24. The problem is also that he got into a program that will support his business idea in January, so he is afraid of taking the wrong choice prematurely. Besides, if the business works he might decide not doing right in the middle of his success a PhD and after some years get bored of not having something intellectually stimulating (which might be seriously important knowing him).

Here is where I think your opinion will be very valuable to him, since you have been in both situations and you understand the value of both having a specialized degree and of developing your own technology-based business. I hope you can contribute with some perspective to him, so that he can make a better choice.

Best regards, Prof. -end-

The Ph.D. will always be there, but the opportunity for a startup might disappear with time. Given that, staying upwind (http://paulgraham.com/hs.html) would tend to dictate going with a startup.

Agreed! Ironically, this kind of encourages him [in a subtle way] to start a business to prove he can do it. :)

For Chemistry, go with the Ph.D. Here's why. Having the Ph.D. at the end of your name gets emails answered. Having the Ph.D. gets you access to collaborators. It's a huge differentiator. It makes you an expert, which you need to be in Chemistry. Anyone can do a startup, very few people finish a Ph.D. When you're finished, you'll have access to hundreds of thousands of government R&D dollars which you will otherwise not have, which can translate to a huge advantage. Ph.D. dropouts who hit it big are usually in the right place at the right time, in addition to being smart, but that's unlikely to happen to you.

One word of advice- when you're finished, don't try to blend the university with your business (by splitting a company with your professor, for example), that never works.

Here is my way of decision making on this:

If you don't mind dealing with faculty politics and report to a boss, go for the PhD. The benefit is that you get a reasonable salary and funding, and managing others badly does not bring fatality to the venture you are pursuing. You can also focus on your research, without immediate financial worries.

If you don't like a boss, if you want to build your own team that you are in full charge, and if you want to expand the team to pursue partly financial success and partly research goals, go for the Startup. In fact, this is what I did, and I am happy to be in full control right now, even though it is harder to manage people and manage finances in addition to R&D.