How Founders Can Make the Grind Bearable
June 16, 2025
Startups are hard, but you don’t need to deliberately suffer to succeed.
I meet a lot of great scientists who are trying to turn their research into a real business. However, there are some early decisions those founders often make which can really hurt later. The most common being giving an academic advisor a large chunk of the company. Here’s the problem:
Regardless of the situation, in 99.9% of cases, a career academic is not leaving their lifestyle to be a co-founder at your company. I have seen many, many folks claim that they might, but you’re asking them to give up a lifetime of work, so it’s a very hard sell.
Outside of your academic advisor, there’s also a good chance your University will want a share of the equity, especially if your research was developed in their labs on one of their courses. You can’t afford to give out a large chunk of the company twice.
As you grow, you will need all the equity you can muster to help you hire great executives and engineers. If you’ve given lots of equity out already, there will be less to offer to new hires without diluting yourself.
Best of luck out there.
