Starting a Small Company
In some cases, UA researchers wish to take concrete steps to deliver their innovations to society, and elect to start a small company to accomplish that goal, often while maintaining a University of Arizona position. Starting a small company can be a challenge, but it is not an extraordinary occurrence.
Inputs
When considering starting a small company, founders might want to take an inventory of necessary inputs, such as:
- A vision, i.e., a simple but clear statement about what products or services the new company will sell; how those goods or services will be produced, managed, and delivered; and who will buy the offered goods or services
- An "unfair advantage" that the company will use to compete; this could be a unique expertise of the founders or a license to patented technology
- Resources, such as the time and energy of the founders, financing, off-campus incubator facilities or special equipment, and initial customer relationships
- Strategic partners, like other individuals or existing companies that will, for their own commercial benefit, cooperate with the new company to accomplish goals that might be difficult or inefficient for a start-up to pursue on its own
- Expert advisors, such as business mentors and accounting and legal professionals
Process
For a faculty-founded company to be built around intellectual property developed at the University of Arizona, a typical sequence would include at least the following items:
- Contact OTT to begin the IP disclosure process to the University and, at that time, express interest in licensing the IP in a private, non-University, capacity
- Prepare and submit a separate Enabling Disclosure, seeking Arizona Board of Regents approval for starting a commercial entity based on IP licensed from ABOR and, if required, establishing memoranda describing how potential conflict of interest issues will be mitigated (see related deadlines)
- With appropriate professional advice, organize the company, e.g. as a Limited Liability Company, C-Corporation, etc.
- Contemporaneously with some of the above steps, identify appropriate off-campus facilities for the new company.
Resources
Faculty founders of a small company can take advantage of several resources with, or associated with, the University of Arizona, including:
- The Office of Technology Transfer, which can help strategize the consolidation and license of intellectual property rights, and provide qualified introductions to local angel investors and venture capital firms
- The Eller College of Management, which can provide assistance with business plans through student participation in its McGuire Entrepreneurship Program
- The Arizona Center for Innovation (AZCI), a UA-affiliated high-tech small business incubator
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Last modified: April 18, 2008.
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