Scientists often develop ideas and technologies that have the potential for new products and services. However, spin-offs from German universities are relatively rare compared to other countries. A study funded by the Joachim Herz Foundation and conducted by the Entrepreneurship Research Institute at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) investigated which psychological factors influence the startup process among scientists. For three years, the researchers surveyed and observed academic founders across Germany. They found that a playful approach inspires enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, clear processes prevent frustration within teams, and scientists must embrace entrepreneurial thinking.
"Germany is one of the world's top locations for research and innovation. However, scientific findings are underutilized commercially. However, the framework conditions for starting a business, such as financing, have improved significantly,"
said Dr. Henneke Lütgerath, Chairman of the Board of Joachim Herz Foundation.
"The study makes it clear that good ideas often fail due to attitudes and unresolved conflicts within the founding team, as well as emotions and frustrations. The results should help develop new teaching and training formats and thus increase the number and success of start-ups from academia."
The study concludes that the following points must be taken into account in order for researchers to become successful founders:
1. Combining entrepreneurial and scientific thinking
When scientists decide to start a company, they must bridge the gap between the meticulous mindset of researchers and the pragmatic approach of entrepreneurs. Many find this difficult. They focus on developing their technology rather than meeting customer needs.
2. Clear processes improve collaboration
Successful founders manage to combine knowledge from different disciplines through clear work processes. According to the study, interdisciplinary founding teams were able to benefit from their diverse expertise when they shared their knowledge based on agreed-upon exchange formats. There is still a lot of catching up to do here: Only one-third of the teams studied managed to fully utilize the existing expertise of their individual members.
3. Inspire with playful formats and support with individual coaching
Universities are best placed to start entrepreneurship education through play. Interdisciplinary formats such as makeathons, in which startup teams develop an entrepreneurial idea and product over a period of three days to two weeks, impart not only knowledge but, above all, the joy of entrepreneurship. The playful nature helps develop initial entrepreneurial skills such as good planning and mindsets such as user-centricity. As a result of this learning experience, many participants strongly identify with the role of entrepreneur and implement their startup idea.
Individual support and team-oriented coaching
Prof. Nicola Breugst, Professor of Entrepreneurial Behavior, and Prof. Holger Patzelt, Professor of Entrepreneurship, led the study at the Entrepreneurship Research Institute. They assembled an interdisciplinary research team from the fields of anthropology, entrepreneurship, psychology, and economics. The diverse approaches were intended to enable new combinations of research and data collection methods and to examine the research subject from different perspectives.
For the study, an online survey was conducted among 128 founding teams, 52 teams were observed in an experimental setting and participants of several makeathons were observed, and founding teams and start-up consultants in the TUM incubator were interviewed.
"Founding teams that are serious about moving forward with their venture need individual support. In addition to consulting on business aspects, personality- and team-oriented coaching is advisable. This helps mediate conflicts and disagreements between team members and build competencies so that failure within the team doesn't lead to the company's failure. Our results clearly demonstrate this."
so Prof. Breugst.
Many startup consultants at universities often supervise over 20 teams simultaneously. They have little time to address the psychological dynamics within startup teams in addition to providing business advice. Furthermore, some startup teams – sometimes unconsciously – overly positively present their progress during consultations. Consultants who are sensitized to team psychology and its effects can more easily recognize inconsistencies in teams' self-presentation and take early action. This requires proximity to the startup teams and methodological training that provides practical instruction on how to recognize and moderate team psychology and its effects.
Entrepreneurial culture, collaboration and coaching as a guarantee of success
Based on their findings, the researchers derived recommendations for supporting start-ups at universities and institutes. Embedding entrepreneurship at the university through university management, visible start-up role models from the university environment, and opportunities for entrepreneurial ideas, such as start-up sabbaticals, have proven effective as a foundation. A positive start-up culture at universities also requires cross-faculty collaboration on projects – including with industry.
Further information
