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Sci-Founder Fellowship: Helping scientists to start companies
- troquerre 6y agoThis is a great initiative to help scientists take the jump to start their own companies. How many startups will be in the first batch?
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoWe're planning to fund 5-10 individuals or teams to start with.
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoHey I'm one of the people starting this fellowship program -- Our hope is to inspire more scientists to start companies-- we really believe that a lot more scientists could become great founders, and companies are often the most effective way to be developing research that can improve or save lives. Happy to answer any questions that pop up!
- troquerre 6y agoMatt you were incredibly helpful back when we went through the YC Fellowship — excited to see you starting this fellowship for Scientists, I'm sure it'll be a great program!
- dhairya 6y agoThis looks like a really cool program. Is there way for for students currently in PhD programs to engage with folks in the program. It'd be too early for me to apply but would love to connect with folks in the community for collaboration downstream. Also looking for unique applications of my research.
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoWe'll likely have events in the future for people that are thinking about this but aren't ready yet to get started -- the main thing we care about is creating a community of scientist founders to help one another.
- technotony 6y agoIt says you provide lab space, is that all in one facility or is it more that you help teams find lab space in the bay area?
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoHelp teams find space through incubator spaces we know -- also this most likely only applies for teams that want to relocate to the Bay Area (otherwise we ask you to tell us how you will get lab space you may need).
- s17n 6y agoCompared to the traditional "PI starts company with venture backing to commercialize their research" model what types of opportunities do you think are uniquely suited to your approach?
- bren2013 6y agoAre you interested in particular types of scientist? I.e., physicists, chemists, biologists? Computer scientists? :)
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoWe think we can be most helpful for people working on life science companies, so mostly focused on that.
- ablekh 6y agoTwo quick questions: 1) does your comment above mean that it makes little to no sense to apply if a startup is in different (albeit, somewhat adjacent) domain: mine targets materials science and engineering; 2) how do feel about solo founders?
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoNo, please still feel free to apply, we're still happy to consider and see if we can be helpful. Solo founders are fine with us.
- ablekh 6y agoThat sounds great, will apply soon then. Your prompt reply is much appreciated.
- madaerodog 6y agoIs the program available for people that are not US residents? Or not currently living in the US? thanks.
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoYes! No obligation to be living in the US -- you can do from anywhere as long as you will have access to resources you may need to perform your work.
- madaerodog 6y agoSweet!
- mNovak 6y agoWould have been very cool when I was starting out, hope to see this concept grow.
- ipnon 6y agoBillionaires will make the world a better place by investing in fellowships like this than donating money to charities.
- ddorian43 6y agoBlindly donating to charity is the worst thing you can do. There is literally a war going inside every charity on how to best steal the $. My first job, was at an agency, that was created because a charity was stealing so much and doing so little, so they created their own agency cause most of the money was going advertising/stealing instead of doing actual work.
- missedthecue 6y agoI have long held that a place like Costco has done more good for the world than a bunch of conceited snooty egomaniacs sitting around a boardroom table at the Rockefeller Foundation.
- thesausageking 6y agoI can't disagree more. Yet another accelerator that takes a large ownership stake in a startup for a few months of "mentorship" isn't going to have anywhere near the impact of a well-run non-profit like say the Gates Foundation. We need more Bill Gates who use their wealth and influence to do things eradicate Polio, reduce infant mortality in the third world, and get to basic sanitation to the half of the world's population that doesn't have it.
- dnautics 6y agoare you planning on batches in future years? I'm not really ready for this now, but will be in a year or so.
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoIf this goes well, very likely -- for now we're focused on this first group as an experiment though.
- thesausageking 6y agoCalling this a "Fellowship" is misleading. The funding is an investment. See their FAQ: Q: How much equity does Sci-Founder take in my company? A: There are two funding options we offer: $250,000 for 10% equity $400,000 for 15% equity
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoWe're trying to be very upfront that this is a for-profit thing for the creation of for-profit companies. We're calling it a fellowship because we care more about creating a community of scientists starting companies than potential financial returns. There are other for-profit fellowship programs that have popped up too recently -- for example, the South Park Commons Founder Fellowship.
- KingFelix 6y agoWhat constitutes a scientist? I read that you don't need to be in a PhD program, I am working on a quantum problem in a garage at the moment. We've built a Thor Labs optics lab. This would be amazing for us, Thor labs equipment is expensive and currently need a new laser. This would be amazing
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoWe think we can be most helpful for life science companies, but if you think we could be really helpful still please feel free to apply. No need for a PhD.
- KingFelix 6y agoBrilliant, our end goal is an artificial brain. Simulate disease / Alzheimer's / Epilepsy . One of the experiments we would like to run involves mini brains. Filling out the submission form now.
- phillc73 6y agoI know it's pedantic, but the company is Thorlabs, not Thor Labs. Sure you've built a lab using their equipment?
- wbc 6y agoAny scientists applying need a partner from the software side? Would love to make an impact in something like this!
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoWe have a google form you can fill out here if you are looking for a co-founder: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHVqqOMBoWa_O3RyuIOZ7c2nkTHUaaVVSyndIQC6eILX9nzw/viewform?edit_requested=true https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHVqqOMBoWa_O3RyuI...
- daijiobu 6y agothe form seems to need permissions, could you give public access please, thanks!
- shariqm 6y agoVery cool! I like the idea of a longer period (1-year) to develop your idea, good science takes time.
- corwinbad 6y agoGreat initiative! happy to share the news
- pensivebeard 6y agoWould you take on a pure CS idea that has the potential for profitable technologies to be built around it? Also is there a requirement that you have to have a PHD or would you also consider BS holders?
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoIf it was a research oriented idea, maybe, though really we think we can be most helpful to people starting life science companies. If it's more software product oriented, I would encourage you to apply to Y Combinator -- it's a great program. No hard degree requirements.
- pensivebeard 6y agoIt is purely a research idea at this stage and would benefit from a program purpose built for research. If it wouldn't be a good fit because of your life science focus would you know of any similar programs for CS oriented ideas?
- fastball 6y agoWhat is a scientist?
- fuzzfactor 6y agoIf I was awarding the fellowship I would decide after I had considered all the applications.
- dannykwells 6y agoAs someone who leads a life science tech company and has participated in all fund raising rounds since our pre-seed, let me say: the market right now for life science/tech cos is so hot, a 2.5M pre-money valuation for your idea is likely low. Also, in science there are federal grants, such as SBIR, which can be for even more (1M), are non-dilutive, and are very gettable. So this would really be a fall back if you couldn't raise a better round nor get an SBIR...and if those are both the case, it might not be much of a company.
- throwawaygh 6y ago> Also, in science there are federal grants, such as SBIR, which can be for even more (1M), are non-dilutive, and are very gettable. Yeah, this was my initial reaction: but tech transfer $$ is stupid easy to get, especially as a follow-up to a previously funded grant.... who's the market? Not that I really care, since it's not my money and I'm far from an expert on such things, but "SBIRs and University innovation offices with preferential terms get all the good ideas and leave us with the bottom barrel shit" seems like a pretty big source of risk for this fellowship :/ I'm guessing the network provided by this program is way more effective than what you'd get from a typical university's innovation/tech transfer office, so maybe I'm wrong. But in some sense my evaluation of this program would be that I'm trading a decent sized chunk of the company for access to investors and advisors. Which, I guess, isn't necessarily a bad trade. But I figure this is how most people with access to grant money will think about it.
- mattkrisiloff 6y agoDefinitely agree that on a team by team basis, there are opportunities to raise money out there that can be less dilutive -- very much might make more sense to do that than apply to work with us if you're in the right position for it too. We like to think that our program isn't just about the funding on our end but also the mentorship, and there's value to that too (as we've been building our life science startups, we've found there aren't many traditional investors that have built their own life science companies and know the ins and outs of the experience). Generally speaking, we don't want to be setting custom arrangements for everyone because we think it's super important that people think of each other as peers and that we aren't treating some people better than others.
- avsteele 6y agoThis is nice. For those downplaying it, remember, an SBIR application is quite onerous and the reporting requirements and non-negligible. It takes a while to get a response (though this is improving), the approval rate is low 15-20% when I applied), and the funding often is less than this (NSF SBIR is ~250K right now. Yes, giving up equity is hard. Also personally, it seems like science translation occurs on SO much longer timescales that one year might be short to see significant progress. I might have considered this when starting my company (www.zerok.com)