Slides from Elizabeth Iorns' seminars to Ph.D. students and Postdocs about her transition from an academic scientist to a startup founder

1. FROM ACADEMIC
TO ENTREPRENEUR:
HOW TO START YOUR
OWN COMPANY
Elizabeth Iorns, Ph.D. @elizabethiorns
Founder & CEO, Science Exchange /ScienceExchange

3. SCIENCE EXCHANGE
Science Exchange is a marketplace for scientists
to list, discover, access, and pay for scientific
services from any institution in the world.
currently +1,000 providers from +200 US research institutions
Sample
facilities

5. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
9. DON’T GIVE UP!
10. SCIENTISTS MAKE GREAT ENTREPRENEURS

7. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM

8. 1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
The best problems
to solve are the
ones that affect you
personally.

9. 1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• I was doing a lot of collaborative research
• I thought there should be an easy way for researchers
to find, evaluate and work with any core facility
• When I learned about online marketplaces I wanted
one to exist for scientific services
PRACTICAL TIP:
Look around you for inspiration... What startup do
you wish existed?

10. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM

11. 2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
What set us apart from
95 percent of other
startups is that we
served a real need.

12. 2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Increasing use cases for collaborative research: not
having access to skills/equipment; cost effectiveness;
getting more research done (i.e. more data, more
publications)
• Already +$3B every year (and increasing as research
becomes more specialized and multi-disciplinary)
PRACTICAL TIP:
Do your market research. Look at the size of the
market and existing solutions. Look at trends i.e. is
the need for your solution growing or decreasing

13. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA

14. 3. SHARE YOUR IDEA

15. 3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Sharing problem with eventual co-founder led to me
ask “Well… why doesn't something like oDesk exist
for science?”
• Sharing idea with scientists made me realize access to
specialized scientific service providers was increasingly
important but very difficult (i.e. a real problem)
PRACTICAL TIP:
Talk about your idea at every opportunity you can...
you never know what it will lead to

16. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM

17. 4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM

18. 4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Science Exchange was founded by a diverse team...
a scientist; an MBA; and a computer programmer
• All passionate about creating a marketplace for
scientific experiments to make science more efficient
• Complementary set of skills help solve the wide
variety of problems faced when starting a company
PRACTICAL TIP:
Mix with people outside your field of expertise.
Go to meetups (check meetup.com for inspiration)

19. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS

20. 5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS
Investors are
employees you can
never fire. We made
sure to pick investors
that thought like us.

21. 5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Science startups ≠ Biotech startups
• Lessons we needed more likely to come from online
marketplaces than biotechs
• Carefully selected for investors / advisors with
relevant expertise
PRACTICAL TIP:
Build an advisor / investor network (e.g. through
accelerator program or local entrepreneurship club)

22. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!

23. 6. GET STUFF DONE!

24. 6. GET STUFF DONE!
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Went from idea to launch in 5 months
• Met with investors and closed a seed financing round
within 3 weeks
• Speak to users everyday and deploy new features
constantly (based on their feedback)
PRACTICAL TIP:
Record what you really need to achieve each week.
Revisit after 6 months (you’ll be amazed what you
have accomplished in such a short time)

25. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY

26. 7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY

27. 7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• The whole point of Science Exchange is to help
scientists use their time more wisely... e.g. frustrating
to spend time doing things that didn’t require my level
of training or learning something new for a one-off
experiment
• In startups, like in science, the people who ‘win’ are the
ones who make the best use of their time
PRACTICAL TIP:
Make use of experts e.g. oDesk, Elance, Scripted,
99Designs, LessAccounting (for business stuff)

28. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE

29. 8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
Do things that
won’t scale; it
will teach you.

30. 8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Didn’t know how payment should work between
researchers and providers, so did it manually
• Got to understand systems and process
• Built a payment platform that allows researchers to
easily submit payment to Science Exchange by
purchase order, credit card or check
PRACTICAL TIP:
Focus on your first 1000 users, not your first million.
Make personal customer support a priority.

31. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
9. DON’T GIVE UP!

32. 9. DON’T GIVE UP

33. 9. DON’T GIVE UP!
SCIENCE EXCHANGE EXAMPLE:
• Initial press coverage proclaimed Science Exchange as
the ‘eBay for Science’
• Negative reaction from some core facilities. Had to
work hard to convince them to join the network
• Didn’t give up. Now +1000 core facilities list their
services at Science Exchange
PRACTICAL TIP:
Remember that founding a startup is hard...
persistence is everything

34. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
9. DON’T GIVE UP!
10. SCIENTISTS MAKE GREAT ENTREPRENEURS

35. 10. SCIENTISTS MAKE GREAT
ENTREPRENEURS
Startups are like
science, where you need
to follow the trail
wherever it leads.

36. 10 THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1. SOLVE YOUR OWN PROBLEM
2. SOLVE A REAL PROBLEM
3. SHARE YOUR IDEA
4. BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM
5. GET THE RIGHT ADVISORS / INVESTORS
6. GET STUFF DONE!
7. USE YOUR TIME WISELY
8. DO THINGS THAT DON’T SCALE
9. DON’T GIVE UP!
10. SCIENTISTS MAKE GREAT ENTREPRENEURS

37. RESOURCES
GENERAL STARTUP ADVICE
Read Paul Graham’s essays on star tups. If you have limited time star t with “How to star t a
startup” and “What startups are really like”
Other great resources: Quora.com/Star tups and VentureHacks
SETTING UP A COMPANY (AND OTHER LEGAL STUFF)
If you plan on taking investment, set up as a Delaware C Corp. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
(our legal advisors) have a lot of great information on startup incorporation
All star tup employees–including founders–should be subject to vesting
For general startup legal information see Star tupLawyer and WalkerCorporateLaw
GETTING INVESTMENT
Mark Suster (an entrepreneur turned VC) has a great series on angel investment and on
raising venture capital

39. HOW CAN I HELP?
Please contact me:
elizabeth@scienceexchange.com