Do you need a new CEO? - 14 min presentation
Deeptech/scientist founders are often pressured to appoint an experienced/commercial person as CEO of their new their venture - or they themselves think that they should be replaced.
Pearse Coyle of Deeptech Seed Fund considers this issue and presents the case - to Deeptech Founders in Paris, France - for the technical founder to hold on to the CEO job, at least until the next funding round.
00:00 Introductory chat
06:49 The presentation
Spoiler: Whilst the scientist may be inexperienced, at the seed stage the most important thing is to find and persuade a group of early adopters that you have achieved a significant breakthrough that is worthy of their money and cooperation. Only the entrepreneur scientist can do this properly.
21:10 Questions and Answers
21:15 How do I get good commercial advice?
26:22 Will investors take you seriously, as a researcher/scientist who has not worked in business?
29:34 What characteristics does the founding team need to have?
36:57 What are the 4 characteristics of a successful deeptech startup?
41:42 What are the red flags that will put an investor off a venture?
45:32 For an early-stage pre-product venture, who is the customer?
49:39 In what form can early-adopters support a venture?
领英推荐
56:22 If early-adopters pay you will it result in shared Intellectual Property?
57:44 What is the price - how much do you need to give to investors?
1:00:49 How much can you ask early-adopters for?
1:06:56 How much investment money can a seed stage venture raise?
1:09:53 Should you take money from multiple investors?
1:16:44 How soon will a VC be expecting to get their money back?
1:18:35 Wrap-up
This presentation was given at Deeptech Founders, Paris, France. The host was Guillaume Berteloot
Related content
Generic proposal aimed at turning interested company into paying early adopter?https://bit.ly/earlyadopterproposal
Video presentation by Pearse Coyle about why you need paying early adopters https://bit.ly/deeptechearlyadopter
Pearse [email protected]
CEO The Helix Way
2 年I find myself agreeing with all of this - except the dog drugging part ??
Venture | Startups | Defence | Security
2 年Top video. And really good to participate in yesterday’s workshop with you. Looking forward to more videos. Would be great to jump on a call with you and my colleagues sometime Wil Williams James Lewis Andrew Tuite
(Mohammad Issawi) PhD, CEO / Co-founder of AgroDynaLux S.A.S.
2 年Thanks Pearse Coyle , I totally agree. The first “commercial” person is the founder himself wether he is primarily a scientist or a salesman.
Partner, Head of Venture at Elkstone | Investor | Entrepreneur | NED | Board Observer
2 年I'm in full agreement here Pearse. Even the most technical founders can turn into astute customer acquisition people when it comes to acquiring beach head customers. When customers are being asked to take a bit of a leap of faith, it is often the technical expertise/passion combo that can make the difference. I find it a bit off putting when early stage founders are at pains to point out that the selling challenge will be the responsibility of sales professionals(almost looking to absolve themselves of this challenge). Yes, in time as you scale the sales engine this may be true, but early doors, I really like to see that a founder has the grit to get customers on board themselves.