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The dual PhD problem of today’s startups

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Re: The dual PhD problem of today’s startups

#101

Post by octoberfranklin »

not2b wrote: post #66
pnathan wrote: post #13

The solution involves large companies, not startups. You have an infrastructure and a pool of highly qualified applications that aren't going make or break their personal finances on these problems. These are classic coordination problems, and it requires people skilled at this aspect. Large companies don't talk about their work in this area much for a while for a variety of reasons. Bell Labs was a thing once.... It…

Unfortunately large companies invest much less in longer-term research than they used to. Bell Labs was a thing ... once.

Bell Labs was funded by a government-sanctioned monopoly. Calling it a "corporate lab" is incredibly misleading, but popular among corporate lab types.

Re: The dual PhD problem of today’s startups

#102

Post by DoreenMichele »

not2b wrote: post #66
pnathan wrote: post #13

The solution involves large companies, not startups. You have an infrastructure and a pool of highly qualified applications that aren't going make or break their personal finances on these problems. These are classic coordination problems, and it requires people skilled at this aspect. Large companies don't talk about their work in this area much for a while for a variety of reasons. Bell Labs was a thing once.... It…

Unfortunately large companies invest much less in longer-term research than they used to. Bell Labs was a thing ... once.

I'm completely lacking in context here, so this is maybe a stupid thing to point out, but the US has a National Lab program and you can get tech from them to develop commercially.

Re: The dual PhD problem of today’s startups

#103

Post by Winterflow3r »

contingencies wrote: post #79
woeirua wrote: post #25

The reason you don't see more startups in the hard sciences is not due to the lack of hybrid talent as this article surmises. It's because: 1 - VCs are reluctant to fund capital intensive startups that have time horizons for exits that are significantly longer than software based startups. 2 - The product lifecycle is so much longer, which makes it inherently much riskier. In many cases it can be years before you eve…

I agree with #1 in particular. However, there are always ways around these issues. Some solutions for founders: 1. Use an evergreen fund (such as many family funds) instead of traditional 10-year fund lifetime VC. They are specifically set up to harvest these sorts of opportunities. 2. Demonstrate commitment and operational efficiency. For example spend nontrivial amounts of time and funds on the project to reach rel…

Can you tell a bit more about your startup? I'm really interested in what people are doing in these nontrivial fields. Let me know if email is better.

Re: The dual PhD problem of today’s startups

#104

Post by redis_mlc »

Igelau wrote: post #41
Andyfilms wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, 100%. The author says how difficult it is for multidisciplinary teams to come together when they don't understand each others skillsets--but the same applies to the investors themselves. When you start talking about these complicated ideas, there comes a point where unless the investor is involved in the industry they're investing in, they simply won't understand the true impact of it. My company is trying to r…

> janitor as a service Tired of trusting the flimsy log sheet on the door to know when your custodial staff last cleaned the bathroom? We present: Toiletherium. A cryptocurrency-backed suite of apps and IoT devices that turns real cleaning into real consensus. Our state of the art MopMine equation incorporates real sweat and toil recorded by SmartMops into mining the next block. Pit teams against teams with MopSync,…

> Tired of trusting the flimsy log sheet on the door to know when your custodial staff last cleaned the bathroom?

Coincidentally, Ricoh developed and pre-marketed a waterproof tablet exactly for this use case - maintenance and housekeeping staff to record their work assignment progress and upload to the Cloud. Worked great too, but shelved because corporate reasons.

One of the biggest sales blockers was educating hospitality managers on why the iPad wasn't the tablet answer. The anwer was theft-prone, not waterproof, not rugged, not forms -> cloud ready.

Re: The dual PhD problem of today’s startups

#105

Post by krageon »

tortasaur wrote: post #78
adenta wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What?

Judging by the lack of coherency / relevance of the profile's other replies, I'm guessing it's a bot whose model someone's attempting to train on HN comments.

A model that has coherency over multiple paragraphs? I don't think that's currently possible - but if I'm wrong about that I'd love a link to a study or a library if you have one. Natural language processing is something I'm very interested in.

Re: The dual PhD problem of today’s startups

#106

Post by krageon »

Igelau wrote: post #41
Andyfilms wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, 100%. The author says how difficult it is for multidisciplinary teams to come together when they don't understand each others skillsets--but the same applies to the investors themselves. When you start talking about these complicated ideas, there comes a point where unless the investor is involved in the industry they're investing in, they simply won't understand the true impact of it. My company is trying to r…

> janitor as a service Tired of trusting the flimsy log sheet on the door to know when your custodial staff last cleaned the bathroom? We present: Toiletherium. A cryptocurrency-backed suite of apps and IoT devices that turns real cleaning into real consensus. Our state of the art MopMine equation incorporates real sweat and toil recorded by SmartMops into mining the next block. Pit teams against teams with MopSync,…

I'm pretty sure you're joking but I'm almost certain I could sell this idea if I could keep a straight face through the sales pitch. You have talent :)

Re: The dual PhD problem of today’s startups

#108

Post by rubidium »

wenc wrote: post #37
woeirua wrote: post #25

The reason you don't see more startups in the hard sciences is not due to the lack of hybrid talent as this article surmises. It's because: 1 - VCs are reluctant to fund capital intensive startups that have time horizons for exits that are significantly longer than software based startups. 2 - The product lifecycle is so much longer, which makes it inherently much riskier. In many cases it can be years before you eve…

Biotech startups are also subject to the fickle nature of living organisms. When I was in grad school I knew a bunch of grad students who worked on biotech/bioengineering experiments. They would have to take care of their experiments like they were pets, nurturing them and making sure they were well taken care of, because if they died on you, that's months of effort down the drain. Vacations had to be carefully plann…

The field is hot but talent is still over saturated - so it’s supply and demand.

In no other field do I see masters/ PhD from great universities doing such menial work.

Re: The dual PhD problem of today’s startups

#109

Post by InitialLastName »

qchris wrote: post #86
dnautics wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you've ever done an hplc with triflouracetic acid, I promise you there's residual tfa in there, even after a round of lyophilization. Though typically I'm not putting HPLC preps in my mouth. The burney/tingley sensation on my tongue was unmistakable and very reminiscent of the residual feel you get after pipetting 100% TFA in the hood. I strongly believe that this startup did not know that about TFA, but it's basi…

If anyone asks you to do this, please make renting a Blueberry a condition of your participation.

Not chemistry experienced, and a quick internet search isn't doing the trick, but is a "Blueberry" some kind of mass spectrometer? How much would something like that rent for, or is it more of a "if you have to ask" situation?
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