To the PhD student thinking about starting a company:
To the PhD student thinking about starting a company:
Some people will tell you it sounds great, without really thinking about it. Others will give you reasons why it won't work. Very few will say: alright - now go and find out for yourself.
I know this because I was exactly where you are. Finishing a PhD at Cambridge, working alongside some of the world’s largest chemical and pharmaceutical companies, watching teams struggle with process optimization problems that nobody had built a great solution for.
And I kept asking myself the same question: if not @daniel wigh and I - after spending years building expertise in exactly this field - then who?
The market was asking for it. We had the competencies. We had a vision. So we jumped.
Here’s what nobody tells you before you do: the blockers you imagine before you start are almost never the real ones. You’ll spend weeks worrying about problems that never materialize - and then get blindsided by something you never considered. The only way to find the real obstacles is to move. You cannot think your way to the truth. You have to build your way there.
The hardest part of the transition isn’t the fundraising, the sales, or the product decisions. It’s the silence.
All of a sudden, nobody tells you what to do. Nobody checks that you talked to enough clients today, that you pushed the product forward, that you took care of yourself. Every decision, priority and deadline is only yours.
The self-discipline required is something a PhD actually prepares you for better than most people realize. You’ve already managed your own research project, set your own milestones, and kept yourself moving without someone standing over you. That muscle transfers directly. Use it.
What also helps: talking to other founders at a similar stage. Joining accelerators. Surrounding yourself with people who are building, not just advising. The people who will tell you to try - not just the ones who will tell you why it won’t work.
And the risk? Here’s my honest take: the best time to start a company is right after your PhD. You have the deepest technical knowledge, combined with the biggest dreams. You haven’t yet seen how large organizations can slow a great idea to a crawl. That clarity is your greatest asset and it’s most powerful right after your PhD, before the world has had a chance to talk you out of it.
The biggest inventions rarely started with a perfect plan. They started with a dream, a strong drive, the discipline to keep going, and a vision to make something change.
If you’re thinking about it, I am telling you now: Go ahead and do it!
You might surprise yourself.
