what does success look like?

For academic founders, success often starts as a research ambition, an idea that might change the world if it can just make it out of the lab. Then the spin-out begins, and success becomes a checklist: secure the licence, raise the seed round, build the prototype, hire the team. Before long, the original curiosity that drove the research is replaced by investor updates, board meetings, and burn rates.

At that point, it is easy to look outward for validation. We read headlines about Unicorns, billion dollar start-ups, and wonder where…