Startup after RPg/ Ph.D

1. START UP AFTER RPg
Dr. DATA NG | CEO & CO-FOUNDER | PRINTACT
Mr. RICKY LEUNG | COO & CO-FOUNDER | PRINTACT
fb.me/printact.coprintact.co
A bit about

2. https://goo.gl/JIa20I
This Presentation is available:

3. ● Physics Ph.D at HKU
● BSc. (double majors: Physics
& Finance; Minor:
Astronomy)
● Associate Member of Institute
of Physics (UK)
● CEO & Co-founder of
Printact
● Vice-chairman of Young
Alumni Group of HKU
Alumni Association
● Members of Standing
Committee of HKU
Convocation
Dr. Data NG

5. Semiconductor Physics:
0.25 – 30 keV Positron / Electron
(Particle) Accelerator @ HKU
Biophysics:
Entropy and Evolution
2010 - 2012 2012 - 2014
FORCED TO
TRANSFER

6. Mr. Ricky LEUNG
● Earth Science PhD dropout
● Physics M.Phil @ HKU
● Physics BSc @ University of
Sydney
● Maker (Or so called DIYer)
● COO and Co-founder of
Printact
● Mentor of HK Academy of
Gifted Education
● Frequent Guest Speaker of
HK Space Museum

7. WHAT ARE PRINTACT
DOING?
First Question:

8. DIGITAL FABRICATION
EDUCATION
3D PRINTER PRODUCER
SPECIFIED APPLICATION

9. Fundings granted:
● Cyberport Creative Micro Fund (CCMF)
● Technology Start-up Support Scheme for Universities
(TSSSU) by ITC HKSAR & HKU
Incubations granted:
● Shenzhen Qianhai E-hub
● Hong Kong Cyberport
● TechnoPreneur Partnership Programme (TPP)
by Hong Kong Science Park

10. ONLY A FEW OF RPg
GET PERMANENT
RESEARCH JOBS
You have to accept that

11. WHAT IS THE NUMBER?
Guess time

12. (Sad) Numbers:
Reproduced from the Source: Oct. 2012, Graduate Careers - Institute of Physics (UK)
0.45%3.5%
26.5%
17%
30%47%
53%
Careers outside science
Non-university research
(Industry, Government, etc.)
ProfessorPermanent Research StaffEarly Career Research
Science
Ph.D
Grad.

13. WHAT IS STARTUP?
Reasons for making a
RPg Startup
Start with a research proposal Start with a biz proposal
Scientific Method Lean Startup Model
Make a theory/observation after
experiments/modeling
Make profit after building
products/services

14. STARTUP WITH A PHD?
Is it a must to start a
YES or NO

15. Arash Ferdowsi is a co-
founder & CTO of DropBox,
which is now
worth an estimated $4
billion.
He dropped out from MIT
after 3 years studies.

16. Gabe Newell dropped
out of Harvard to work
at Microsoft, like its
founders Bill Gates and
Paul Allen.
After 13 years there, he
left to create Valve
Corporation.

17. Elon Musk, founder of Paypal,
founder of SpaceX, founder
of Tesla Motors and founder
of SolarCity.
Enrolled in a PhD at Stanford
but dropped out after 2 days.
"I find universities a very slow place to learn things." - Elon
Musk

18. Peter Thiel cofounder of
Paypal and early investor
of Facebook.
He received his B.A. in
Philosophy from
Stanford in 1989 and
acquired a J.D. from
Stanford Law School in
1992.

19. Dr. Gordon Moore is a co-
founder of Intel
Corporation, and the
author of Moore's law.
Moore received a PhD in
chemistry and minor in
physics from Caltech in
1954.

20. Dr. Stephen Wolfram is
the CEO of Wolfram
Research and chief
designer of Mathematica
and the Wolfram Alpha
answer engine;
He attended the CalTech,
where he received a PhD
in particle physics at age
20.

21. Dr. John T. Dorrance was the
inventor of condensed soup
and the president of the
Campbell Soup Company.
He earned a Ph.D in
Chemistry from University
of Göttingen in Germany.

22. Dr. Brian May is the lead
guitarist of the rock band
Queen. He is the
songwriter of “We Will
Rock You”.
May attained a PhD in
astrophysics from
Imperial College London
in 2007. He was a
"science team
collaborator" with NASA's
New Horizons Pluto
mission.

23. ADVANTAGES OF
STARTUP AFTER RPg
Make use of the
from your RPg life
● State-of-the-art Technology/ Knowledge
● Peers with similar background
● Transferable Skills

24. TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
Make use of the
from your RPg life
● Learn New Things Fast
● Analytical Skill
● Problem-solving Skill
● Project Management
● Communication Skill
● Creativity
● Critical Thinking

25. HOW TO START A STARTUP
Step 1. Generating ideas
Step 2. Testing & Developing ideas
Step 3. Building ideas

27. START A STARTUP
I’m just RPg., but how to
LEARN, BUILD, TALK

28. LEARN, BUILD & TALK
Trasfer what you learn in RPg to real life:
HARD SKILLS: SOFT SKILLS:
● Word processing/
Writing Papers/
Essay
● Conduct Experiments
● Organization and
Presentation Skills
● Scientific Method

29. LEARN FROM THE BEST
Ycombinator.com

30. LEARN: Y-combinator
Ycombinator.com

31. HOW TO START A STARTUP
Resources for learning
How to Start a Startup by Y-Combinator and Stanford
University (20 lessons)

32. HOW TO
THINK OF
A
STARTUP
IDEA?
I’m just RPg., but
1. (Not) relate your studies
2. Find your passion/
interest
3. Solve something big/
useful

33. HOW TO
THINK OF
A
STARTUP
IDEA?
I’m just RPg., but
1. Energy
2. A.I.
3. Robotics
4. Biotech
5. Healthcare
6. Pharmaceuticals
7. Education
8. Internet infrastructure
9. Human Augmentation
10. VR and AR
11. Science
12. Transportation & Housing
13. One Million Jobs
14. Programming Tools
15. Hollywood 2.0
16. Diversity
17. Enterprise Software
18. Financial Services
19. Computer Security
20. Global Health
21. Underserved Communities
22. Global Infrastructure
23. Nanotech
Source: Requests of Startup fropm Y-Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/#

34. (BUILD) TEST STARTUP IDEA
I’m just RPg., but how to
PROTOTYPING
Mantis Shrimp 瀨尿蝦
Meatball 牛丸

35. PROTOTYPE IDEA
I’m just RPg., but how to
OPEN SOURCE

36. PROTOTYPE IDEA
I’m just RPg., but how to
MAKER MOVEMENT

37. PROTOTYPING
I’m just RPg., but how
Software
Mock-up/ Wireframing:
● Prototype an app out of paper
(iOS / Android)
● Prototype an iOS app with
Quartz Composer (more
generally, look here) and add
animations here
● Loads more ideas and options
here!
● Get someone to make it for you
with a site like Crew or similar
Learn to Code
● Bento.io curates online
resources into comprehensive
courses for full stack, front end
and back end etc.
Hardware
Lean Startup for Hardware
● Here are some articles from the
founders of HAXLR8R on applying
Lean Startup principles to
Hardware:
● Prototyping
● Financing
● Retail
● Investing
● Crowdfunding
Hardware for Beginners
● Electronics​ – a fairly
comprehensive tutorial guide to
which may help with many
hardware projects
● Arduino (see here for some
sample projects)
● Raspberry Pi
Health/ Life-Science
Incubators
● HK Science Park - IncbBio
● The HK Institute of Biotech Ltd.
Books
● The Emperor of all Maladies -
Siddhartha Mukherjee
● Aspirin - Diarmuid Jeffreys
● A Life Decoded - J. Craig Venter
● The Knife Man - Wendy Moore
● The Origin of Aids – Jaques Pepni
● Creative Destruction of Medicine –
Eric Topol

38. HOW TO GET FUNDED?
I’m just RPg., but
Source: The God of Cookery - Stephen Chow 食神－周星馳

39. TYPICAL FUNDING STAGES
EXPANSION/ GROWING

40. TYPICAL FUNDING STAGES
Angel List Average Valuation:
Seed & Angel Round
Hong Kong
$2.8M
$2.0M
China
$3.1M
Singapore
$3.5M
Japan
$4.2M
US
$4.2M
Common Funding Sizes in USD
Seed
<250K
Angel
<1M
Pre-A
Bridge
<2M
Series A
<10M
Series B
<50M
Source: angellist.co

41. HOW TO GET FUNDED?
I’m just RPg., but
$: FUNDING FROM HK ANGELS & VENTURE GROUPS
- Funding providers (including associations HKBAN
and HKVCA) have almost tripled from 16 to 42 since
2009
Source: CUHK Entrepreneurship Centre

42. HOW TO GET FUNDED?
I’m just RPg., but
$: EARLY STAGE INVESTMENT
• Incubators & accelerators, both private & Gov’t (Cyberport, Sci.
Park, Microsoft BizSpark, AIA-NEST, Blueprint, Brinc)
• Microfunds (e.g. HK$100k) (Cyberport, PolyU, HKBAN…)
• University funds (e.g. 6 Univs & ITC) and Biz plan competitions
(e.g. HKUST, CUHK, etc…)
• Pitching in front of angel investors (HK Biz Angels Network
(HKBAN), CoCoon pitch night)

43. TALK TO PEOPLE
After hard-working
Talk to peers/ classmates
Talk to potential investors
It helps you to find a partner/ build team
It helps you to get funded
Talk to potential customers
It helps you to refine your idea/product/service

44. People/
Team/
Customers
After all,
Ideas/
Products/
Services
Profit/ $> >

45. SUGGESTIONS:
After my Ph.D, my
● Go to outside the colleges.
Life is more than your studies (Ph.D)
● Read more in things you don’t know
It helps you to think in a crazy way
● Write some and share it to others
It helps your organization and prese
ntation skills
● Find a hobby
It may be your biz idea
● Try your best to help others
Karma!

46. Source: http://fundersandfounders.com/too-late-to-start-life-crisis/

47. THE HARD THING
ABOUT HARD THINGS
BEN HORWITZ
Books Recommended
ZERO TO ONE
PETER THIEL
THE LEAN STARTUP
ERIC RIES
THE INNOVATOR’S
DILEMMA
CLAYTON M.
CHRISTENSEN