Objective of the case studies
The case studies will provide a detailed understanding of international spin-offs, the University’s support provided and the regional infrastructure. Based upon a regional approach the intention of the case study interviews is to:
-
Understand the specific needs of international spin-offs.
-
Learn from the experiences of spin-offs who accessed international market opportunities.
-
Learn from new spinouts with the potential to access international opportunities.
-
Understand the problems encountered by these spin-offs focused upon their internationalisation process.
-
Understand the key factors which have helped them to succeed based upon the regional support available.
Therefore, we describe the company’s objectives and map the major milestones it faced from the development of the business idea to the current situation.
Selection of the spin-offs
A list of spin-offs which, it is believed, have global potential should be identified in each region. The spin-offs selected should be university spin-offs operating on the global market or with a global potential. It should be possible to interview a founder who has been closely involved with the spin-off since its establishment until now.
There are no restrictions on spin-off age and industry. However, spin-offs which have been running for some years, let’s say at least 3 to 4 years; may give us more valuable information about their development process than spin-offs which have been only recently founded. On the other hand, for spin-offs existing for many years (10+), it might be more difficult to find a person (founder) who has been involved since the original business idea. Moreover, it might be more difficult for those persons to remember the specific problems encountered in the very early stages of the spin-off. The university TTO should be able to identify the interesting spin-off cases and give the names and contacts of the persons to interview.
Preparation of the interviews
Starting well prepared to the interview will improve the interview process and increase the amount of relevant information retrieved from the interview. To help the client prepare for the interview, it will be important to send them the document explaining the aim of the interview and the topics to be discussed, following initial contact by telephone.
Upfront preparation of the interview includes trying to get information on the following subjects:
Founders who are the founders: studies, prior working experience, etc
Technology general understanding of the technology developed and possible market applications
Products/markets range of products/services developed and customer markets targeted
Finance information about venture capital attracted
Human resources composition of the management team and their responsibilities,
Board of Directors, possibly Advisory Board
Networking in which networks is the company involved
Most of the information can very easily be retrieved, possibly via the university TTO but also via net searches or speaking to the Spinout manager. The company’s website, googling on spin-off name and the name of the founders, usually provides you with a lot of interesting information. This information should be used to direct your questions in the interview. However, for secondary sources of information (not the company’s website but for example articles written about the company), make sure that the information you gathered is validated during the interview.
Case study interviews
The interview will probably last about 1.5 hours. We have opted for a semi-structured interview method: starting from a set of pre-defined questions but allowing the interviewer and the interviewee to digress to more detail or other related issues.
Confirm that all information will remain confidential. In first instance, the casestudies will only be available to the 8 GlobalStart partners to help us in our work. In a later stage, some case studies might be selected for publication on the GlobalStart website. However, no case study will be published without prior consensus from the spin-off company.
The interview will typically start with the early days.
-
How did the founders meet each other and how did the initial business idea develop into a business plan and the founding of the spin-off?
-
What were the ambitions of the founders (and of the company) and how did these change with time.
-
What role did the university play in those early days?
-
How was the technology, know-how developed at the university translated into a viable product?
Once the founder-entrepreneur starts his story, the company’s milestones and major problems faced will become clear.
When asking the questions it is essential to ensure that by asking additional questions, the interview should be focused to gain an understanding of three key elements:
All of the following topics for each of the spin-off phases (see further: the interview protocol):
-
Goals, aspirations and ambitions
-
Business concept
-
Technology / product / market
-
Support provided by the University (mentoring, space, facilities, expertise)
-
Regional support (programmes, initiatives, grants, finance, mentoring, contacts etc.
-
Finance
-
People
-
Networking
Case study report + validation
The case study report should be based on the interview, complemented with some information and data obtained via internet, TTO, business plans, annual accounts. The report will take the same form (lay-out, structure) for all the case studies (see interview protocol):
-
The Company: Profile and background of the spin-off and Major milestones
-
The University: Analysis of the TTO function in the Internationisation process
-
The Region: Regional infrastructure and internationalisation
Once completed, the case study report should be sent to Paul Kirwan, who will check the case study reports for style and completeness. Afterwards, the report should be sent to the interviewee for validation and, if needed, with some additional questions.
1. The COMPANY: Profile and background
1 (a) Profile and background
This introductory section gives a general overview of the company: its mission and focus, the technology developed, the founding process including a brief presentation of the founders, the firm’s current achievements and prospects for the near future. The section should also include a description of the age, size (number of employees), turnover of the business and results achieved by the start-up company as compared with the orginal business plan..
More specifically, this section should include:
PROFILE and BACKGROUND (general)
|
Brief overview of the firm’s activities, it’s mission and focus
|
Industry
|
Industry in which the company is operating
|
Technology
|
Technology developed by the company
Superior qualities of the technology compared to existing technologies
|
Product / market
|
Current products/services offered
Targeted customers / market segment
(describe degree of international market activity)
|
Company’s current mission and focus
|
How does the company intend to develop its technology into viable solutions (products, services) for its customers
|
|
|
Founding process
|
Initial business idea
|
Where and how did the initial business idea arise (in the research dept, based on research results, demand from industry, niche market found, etc.)?
Describe the initial idea and the business concept as stated in the business plan
|
Founders
|
Who are the founders (studies, working experience, international business experience)
What is their link with the university
|
Founding
|
Founding date
Departments / universities from which the company did spin off
Was there transfer of IP in the form of patenting or licensing
Support received from the university in the founding process
Location of the firm: incubator, science park, is closeness to research labs important?
|
|
|
Evaluation of the current situation + developments for the near future
|
Alignment with original business plan
|
Are the results above/on/below target as compared with the original business plan
If the company is not in line with the objectives of the first business plan, which are the major deviations from the business plan, why did they occur and what will be the impact on the future development of the company
|
Near future
|
What will be the major challenges and opportunities for the near future
|
1 (b) Mapping major milestones
This section aims at mapping the spin-off’s major milestones. These are driven by a multitude of actors such as changes in the business concept, new or further developments of the technology, lack of resources such as finance. Milestones will define different phases in the growth / evolution process of the company.
Major milestones of the company should be briefly summarized in the following 2-dimensional overview table.
|
Pre-venture phase
|
Foundation
|
Milestone 1
|
Milestone 2
|
…
|
Near future
|
Business concept
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Technology platform
Product
Market
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Finance
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
People
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Networking
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The topics to be discussed:
IMPORTANT PHASES in SPIN OFF DEVELOPMENT
|
Business concept
|
Business plan / strategy
|
Company’s plan and objectives concerning the technology development, products or services to develop, targeted customer market, short term and long term research results
Marketing strategy and activities
Adaptation of the original business model
Alignment with the original business plan: are the results above/on/below target as compared with the original business plan
|
|
|
Technology platform/ product/market
|
Technology
|
Description of the original technology and further development of the technology
Broadness of the technology (range of possible applications)
Patents and patent applications
Status of the technology (research phase/clinical trial/..)
|
Products / services
|
(range of) product(s) derived from technology
Production mode: in the spin-off, outsourcing, partnering with suppliers, …
|
Market
|
Describe the targeted customer market (geographically, type of customers)
Describe the competitors (intensity of competition, number of firms, country, etc) and the industry (developing / growing / maturing)
|
Performance indicators
|
Evolution of the turnover
Percentage of turnover realized abroad
|
|
|
Finance
|
Initial capital at foundation
Additional capital requirements
|
Amount of starting capital
Sources of capital (university/VC/Business angel)
Technology and other grants received
Use of capital (for ex further research, extension of sales activities)
Financial slack: Does the company have sufficient financial resources to realize its goals or does a shortage of money provides a bottleneck
|
|
|
People
|
Founders / Management
|
Founder’s and management’s responsibilities in the company
|
Other employees
|
Different functions present in the company, such as researcher, administrative force, etc.
Are some of the company’s activities like research, administration, etc outsourced
|
Board of directors /
Advisory Board
|
Members of the Board of Directors / Advisory Board and their (international) working experience / expertise
|
Performance indicators
|
Evolution of the employment
|
|
|
Networking
|
Network partners
|
Different network partners (research labs, industrial partnerships, etc) and their nationality
Purpose and advantages of networking (product development, commercialization, etc)
Type of networking (exclusive/non-exclusive)
|
Share with your friends: |
