CloseHelp for start-ups
3 MINUTE READ
If you’re excited about exploring your start-up ideas, there are many ways to get support and advice on the journey.
Your first point of contact for help with any part of the start-up process is your Faculty’s Business Development team member. If they don’t have the information you need, they will know where to find it.
Here are some questions you may want to ask them:
- I’m thinking about a start-up based on my University research. How can I talk about this possibility with the University?
- What support does the University provide for staff participation in start-ups?
- How do prospective start-up founders meet potential customers to interview?
- Who can help me validate some of the assumptions in my draft commercialisation plan?
- What do I do to get feedback from the University on this plan?
- Who can point me to potential funding sources like grants, competitions and angel investors?
- Who can recommend a lawyer or patent attorney to advise my start-up?
- If I want to be involved in achieving impact from my research in a different way, what potential roles are there for me?
Accelerator and incubator programs
Accelerator and incubator programs
Many successful technology entrepreneurs have succeeded without any formal support or training. But first-time founders may find it useful to take part in an accelerator or incubator program. These are becoming more common and popular in Australia.
Most of these programs take founders through the concepts described on this site. There is an emphasis on pitching, usually with introductions to prospective investors. Programs include:
- The University offers the Melbourne Accelerator Program and the TRaM (Translating Research at Melbourne) program.
- CSIRO offers the ON Prime pre-accelerator and ON Accelerate programs.
- Other corporations, industry bodies, venture funds and related organisations offer similar programs.
If you’re interested in one of these programs, see if it fits your needs. Talk to other founders who have taken part in the same program. Most programs publicise the names of their previous participants. They may be keen to share their experience with other potential entrepreneurs.
Professional services
Professional services
You should get professional legal advice about:
- company structure
- shareholders’ agreements (with co-founders and investors)
- IP agreement (license) with the University
- customer and supplier contracts
- employment agreements
- non-disclosure agreements.
Legal advice is expensive, but not getting it can also be costly. This is especially so for first-time founders with no experience dealing with contracts, negotiations or professional investors.
Some accelerator and incubator programs have a pool of lawyers who may be willing to offer discounted advice to early-stage start-ups.
We also recommend:
- professional financial advice when managing significant investment
- professional human resources advice from start-up specialists. This is valuable for recruitment and team-building.
Both these types of advice are often not needed for start-ups in their very early stages.
How long will this take?
Translating your research idea into a viable start-up is more like a marathon than a sprint.
You may need months, or even years, to develop and validate your start-up’s commercialisation and business plans.
Developing a workable founding team can take a similar length of time.
Negotiating a license with the University is much smoother and faster if you talk to your Faculty’s Business Development team member early. This will help you understand the University’s objectives, but this step may still take a few months.
It can also take months of your time to build trusting relationships with individual investors.
To speed up the process, we suggest you:
- start developing and testing hypotheses with prospective customers as soon as possible
- talk to your Faculty’s Business Development team member and prospective investors early on.
Talk to us
Talk to us
General questions
If you have a general question or don’t know who to talk to, get in touch with us and we’ll point you in the right direction.
Email us
Find a contact
Our local Business Development team members and central IP and Tech Transfer services team are here to help.
Business Development team
IP & Tech Transfer Services team