w******e
发帖数: 1187 | 1 1. startup is NOT something you do when running out of option.
starting a business and growing it successfully is very very very difficult
. you don't want to do it w/o enough prep, you don't want to do it alone,
and you definitely don't want to do it if you are generally not very
competent
.
2. startup is NOT something you do only if you are young and reckless.
I'm sure many ppl do startup just for the thrill, but there is a rational
reason behind many ppl who do startup: as a financially responsible person
, you have to make enough money over the entire life to support you and your
family. the exact number varies, but a few million in total is a safe bet
.
To get to that level, you can either slog away in a salary job for 10-30
years (for bio ppl it's more like 30), or you can take the leap of faith
and do startup with X yr turnaround, Y% success rate and Z million $ exit
potential (X, Y and Z vary greatly). so whether to do startup can be a
rational decision based on a simple equation (unfortunately the value of
the variables aren't easy to get:). MOREOVER, there are two more factors
in favor of startup: a. it's immensely more independent, enriching, and
exciting to do startup than a salary job; b. if the startup goes belly-up
(and most do), the turnaround (X) should be much shorter, and the
experience
you gain from it could be well worth the time. So if you are technically
competent and independent, risk-averse but moderately ambitious, and happen
to be in biotech where it takes a looooong time to build a comfortable life
, startup could very well be the financially responsible decision to make
:)
3. startup is NOT something you decide overnight (or over many yrs, for that
matter).
To prep for a successful launch you need market info, team member,
technology
, customer and investor connection, seed capital, etc. But most of all you
need reliable team members. Talking about startup and actually doing it
is so different that I don't think it helps at all to "discuss" with ppl.
Therefore, if you are genuinely interested in an idea, then recruit your
friends to do something about it with the expectation for the project to
go somewhere (making a profit, winning a competition, etc). You learn a
lot about you and your partners in this process. Still, most of the problems
and solutions won't manifest themselves until you work on the idea, AS A
REAL VENTURE (biz plan competition is still a long way from the real thing
but does help building the team). There is a lot of hard hard hard work
ahead of you and you won't know what they are until you set off on the
journey
. The best prep is to make sure you are surrounded by reliable and competent
team mates when the going gets tough. Finding those ppl and developing
trust
takes time, and self-validation (show ppl YOU are reliable and competent
first). Don't be a flake by proposing new ideas every 10 minutes -- that
translates to yrs of talking and no doing.
4. startup is NOT the same.
starting a CRO or "export-import" business (let's call it "plain vanilla
biz") is vastly different than starting a hi-tech biz. Either could lead
to great success, but the skill set needed is distinct. What's in common
is you've got to have some sort of competitive edge over your peers. The
plain vanilla biz has low barrier to entry, little product differentiation
, fierce competition, and generally no big financial upside (by big I mean
10X return to VC. you certainly win big with plain vanilla biz). so the
focus
is execution -- you need to run your company so smoothly that you can
compete
on price/speed/customer service while still commanding a healthy profit.
This is where work experience/network/MBA training may help a lot. The
bright
side is you need little more than passion to start a biz, and the market
is generally proven, so if you can do a reasonable job at managing the biz
you get yourself a very comfortable life-style biz, make better money than
in a salary job and enjoy being your own boss:)
The hi-tech biz on the other hand has very high barrier to entry (you
probably
need some tech and patent to begin with; you better have some grey hairs
in the team), very high risk (your tech could fail utterly; the market
could
be non-existant; you may not break even until exit, so you heavily rely
on investment which are hard to get these days), and you typically won't
know the outcome until the end. it's an all-or-none type of game and not
many ppl have the stomach for it. The key to succeed is innovation, is
scientific
vision, is technical prowess. The ability to manage the "current" product
line is much less important as the product cycle is so much shorter -- BTW
thiss is why founder CEOs are so common in tech startup. the bright side:
you can leverage your scientific training; the job is very high profile
(as a CXO you schmooze with c-level ppl in other biotech/pharma. when can
you do that if starting as a scientist?); the financial upside is huge;
plus it's fun to play with other people's money (just kidding:)
5. anyone cares to add? | a****d
发帖数: 1919 | 2 Great post!
Providing certain service utilizing mature technology (sequencing, cloning,
peptide synthesis) is more practical nowadays. | h****6
发帖数: 229 | 3 I think you made very, very good points. Especially the first one. People
start business not because they have to or they are capable of. It is
because they want to and they have a vision and the capability. If you read
what Woznick said when he started Apple with Jobs. You can see he is a very
capable person. However, it was Jobs who urged him to start a business. And
initially the idea was just to start a company without even making money. Of
course, I am sure Jobs saw the need and had a vision. | t*d
发帖数: 1290 | 4 俺有点不同的看法。
不要把 start-up 想得那么复杂。取决于你想干什么？你想做 Jobs，Gates，基本是痴
心妄想，不论你有多聪明，计划得多周密，干起活来多勤快。如果你想做点资本要求高
，风险高的，比如制药，而且自己又没有钱，那么你是没有任何风险的。因为基本上你会停留在想想阶段。如果天上掉馅饼，你居然弄到了一笔钱，那你就爽了，想lz说的，那别人的钱玩，多开心，也没有风险。
但是还有很多的 start-up 其实就像开一间杂货店，也不见得容易。但是只要你有足够
的耐心，足够勤快，养家糊口，这个可以做到的概率还是有一些的。
我觉得做决定之前，只有一个问题需要问：我是否输得起？start-up 的成功率确实比
较低。输不起就别玩，输得起就无所谓，跟着自己感觉走好了。所以年轻绝对是 start
-up 的一个重要优势。年轻才输得起。 | p*******r
发帖数: 4048 | 5 我说个事， 做start-up前，先搞定老婆。我见的start-up不成，反而老婆搞没了的，
很不幸，太多了。。。
你会停留在想想阶段。如果天上掉馅饼，你居然弄到了一笔钱，那你就爽了，想lz说的
，那别人的钱玩，多开心，也没有风险。
start
【在 t*d 的大作中提到】
: 俺有点不同的看法。
: 不要把 start-up 想得那么复杂。取决于你想干什么？你想做 Jobs，Gates，基本是痴
: 心妄想，不论你有多聪明，计划得多周密，干起活来多勤快。如果你想做点资本要求高
: ，风险高的，比如制药，而且自己又没有钱，那么你是没有任何风险的。因为基本上你会停留在想想阶段。如果天上掉馅饼，你居然弄到了一笔钱，那你就爽了，想lz说的，那别人的钱玩，多开心，也没有风险。
: 但是还有很多的 start-up 其实就像开一间杂货店，也不见得容易。但是只要你有足够
: 的耐心，足够勤快，养家糊口，这个可以做到的概率还是有一些的。
: 我觉得做决定之前，只有一个问题需要问：我是否输得起？start-up 的成功率确实比
: 较低。输不起就别玩，输得起就无所谓，跟着自己感觉走好了。所以年轻绝对是 start
: -up 的一个重要优势。年轻才输得起。
| S**********l
发帖数: 3835 | 6 我见过搞startup把老婆搞丢的。
还见过搞了startup挣足了拿着票子取漂亮老婆的。
【在 p*******r 的大作中提到】
: 我说个事， 做start-up前，先搞定老婆。我见的start-up不成，反而老婆搞没了的，
: 很不幸，太多了。。。
:
: 你会停留在想想阶段。如果天上掉馅饼，你居然弄到了一笔钱，那你就爽了，想lz说的
: ，那别人的钱玩，多开心，也没有风险。
: start
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