Why doing a PhD is like running a startup
Unlike some might think, doing a PhD is not, for me at least, the "Backup plan when I couldn't get a job" or an attempt to travel back in time and "Have fun like in my 20s". I chose to do it to enhance my expertise in an area that is not well-known - the entrepreneurship ecosystems in southern Africa. I'm doing it because I want to understand how technology entrepreneurship can be better supported in the future, and how to do it in a region that is in need of creative, new solutions in job creation.
That's the mission.
Doing the research is the best first step toward that mission. At Loughborough University London, the program is intense, independent and heavily research-driven. It intimidated me at first until I realized that doing this is like project management - only it's managing a project with less partners and a smaller budget than I've had experience in. I can do this!
I've worked with early-stage startup founders the past five years and since starting the PhD, I began to recognize a lot of similarities between doing a dissertation and being a startup founder.
Here they are, the top 5 + 1:
1. It's temporary, aiming for an exit
In line with Steve Blank's definition on startups, my PhD is a temporary, 3-year endeavor with a clear exit. I'm aiming to "take an exit" when I to get my doctorate in 2022. While I might not sell the outcome for a profit like a startup, I might be able to turn the knowledge I've created into a for-profit company...
2. You need to have a strong UVP
Identifying a Unique Value Proposition is as important for a startup as identifying the gap in the literature and a novel approach is for a PhD researcher. What I've learned so far in my literature review, is that entrepreneurship ecosystems are a fairly new concept to begin with. Researchers are calling for more knowledge about how the cultural elements affect the birth and development of an ecosystem.
This shows demand for my research approach.
To my surprise, no city-level ecosystems in southern Africa have been academically studied before. Even more surprising is the lack of academic studies of startup culture. This alludes a gap in the research and I might be on the right track here, but the idea needs some more validating, ie. I need to continue my literature review. Like many startup coaches say, I need to continue to "do everything I can to prove my idea sucks".
3. It's all about the strength of the team
Those of you who know me, know that I'm a big believer in multidisciplinary team work and co-creation. The PhD journey is often described as a lonely one and it felt daunting to venture on this journey completely on my own. A PhD researcher doesn't have a team like a startup's co-founders do. So I needed to re-imagine the team.
In this new kind of a team are certainly my amazing supervisors at the Loughborough University London and the people at the Institute for Design Innovation. My extended team includes the entrepreneurship actors in the cities of focus (Cape Town, Windhoek and Lusaka), my funders and the industry partners I'll be engaging with especially during my fieldwork (Q4 2020 - Q3 2021).
Having mentors and peer-support is crucial to a startup founder's success, and the same applies to PhD researchers. I'm thankful to have mentors and advisors in my corner both from academia and the private sector, not to mention the valuable peer-support from other PhD researchers (you know who you are - and you totally rock).
A PhD researcher doesn't have a team like a startup's co-founders do. So I needed to re-imagine the concept of a team.
4. Getting funding requires some hustle
A startup founder is constantly thinking about funding - whether it's bootstrapping from the three Fs (Family, Friends and Fools), taking a scary bank loan or seeking other means to extend your runway, money is surely on a founder's mind.
Ditto. I moved to London with no external funding and a modest runway of a year, maybe 1,5. I put all my pitching skills to the test and managed to secure funding for the first year from the Finnish Foundation for Economic Education. The hustle still remains. I have to apply for research grants continuously to secure the funding for the field work and the next year. I've also started pitching collaborations to potential industry partners (let me know if you're keen to talk!).
Meanwhile, I'm happy to keep my practitioner side active by working part-time and remotely as a proud Business Developer for a fast-growing company, that disrupts the way companies employ and drive their businesses in Finland, Y4 Works. Additionally, I'm challenging myself by freelancing as an Independent Consultant, so watch this space to learn about my service offering!
I bet the everyday juggle between various responsibilities resonates with a lot of founders, but hey, at least it's not a 9 to 5 job.
5. The process is iterative
In true Lean Startup spirit, a good startup founder loves the problem, not the solution. They immerse themselves in the problem to learn it, they build a Minimum Viable Product quickly to test it and engage the end-users early to create a product the customer will love.
Learning, building and measuring can be seen as the corner stones to doing research. PhD researchers are encouraged to share about their research and to get feedback from more senior academics - sometimes it's as brutal as what startup founders go through in pitch competitions or when talking to investors. I've heard stories about people have been preparing for their viva and only a couple of weeks before they have discovered a journal article that has the exact same approach as their research. What to do then? Well, you need to pivot like a startup founder who just found a serious competitor - and pivot fast.
My major pivots so far have been to, instead of innovation ecosystems, focus on entrepreneurship ecosystems (this might still change to service ecosystems...), and to include Lusaka, Zambia to the sample cities (Windhoek, Namibia and Cape Town, South Africa). The dissertation topic has evolved to Design Innovation for Entrepreneurship Ecosystems - fostering startup culture in southern Africa.
+1: It's all about awareness
If a startup team has an idea, they should be quickly talking about it to anyone and everyone - even if it's not carefully thought out yet. It's not rare that some of the first things founders do is create a simple landing page online to see how much interest the name or concept generates. Once a brand has been designed, outreach is done actively using various relevant channels to raise awareness among users, customers, partners and investors as much as possible.
In a similar manner, the importance of research outreach can't be denied. After all, too often brilliant ideas don't get the limelight they deserve unless the academic makes a conscious choice to communicate about it actively. Even if I am still early in my literature review, I challenge myself to talk about my research and to put myself out there. That way, I hope, they might be interested in what I share when I finally have something ready.