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"The main aim of an academic is to achieve tenure; getting the same job for life. This is not the mindset one needs to start a business." Is that true? I'm not

"The main aim of an academic is to achieve tenure; getting the same job for life. This is not the mindset one needs to start a business." Is that true? I'm not sure that's representative of most of my professors. For example, rtm's one of my professors at school, and he's certainly not the only one to be involved in other ventures. Professors are involved in cutting edge research - they need to make risky decisions, based on little information, of what to invest their time in, knowing full well that most of their research won't be overly influential. Sounds a lot like starting a company to me. Also, I'd argue that dropping out of school is no different than quitting your day job. If you're starting your own company, you certainly don't need to prove your credentials to anyone by having a degree - if you know enough to start the company, more time in school would just be wasted time.

biohacker42 17y ago
Well it may be true until you tenure, then you can do whatever you want.
dpark 17y ago
> For example, rtm's one of my professors at school, and he's certainly not the only one to be involved in other ventures. Professors are involved in cutting edge research - they need to make risky decisions, based on little information, of what to invest their time in, knowing full well that most of their research won't be overly influential. Sounds a lot like starting a company to me. It's very easy to get involved in "risky" ventures on the side. Because your professors have steady jobs at the university, they are afforded the opportunity to get involved in projects that may flop, because their real job is there to mitigate the risk.
nostrademons 17y ago
"If you're starting your own company, you certainly don't need to prove your credentials to anyone by having a degree - if you know enough to start the company, more time in school would just be wasted time." Starting a company is easy. Finishing one is hard.
scott_s 17y ago
I think there are some real parallels between being an academic and being an entrepreneur, but academia is orders of magnitude more forgiving than the market. The research an academic pursues may end up not having any real impact, but as long as it's novel, it's a contribution. Such researchers don't become famous, but they can attain tenure and continue doing research no one cares about. When starting a business, you don't get points for making something novel that no one wants. You just fail.

biohacker42 17y ago

Well it may be true until you tenure, then you can do whatever you want.

dpark 17y ago

> For example, rtm's one of my professors at school, and he's certainly not the only one to be involved in other ventures. Professors are involved in cutting edge research - they need to make risky decisions, based on little information, of what to invest their time in, knowing full well that most of their research won't be overly influential. Sounds a lot like starting a company to me. It's very easy to get involved in "risky" ventures on the side. Because your professors have steady jobs at the university, they are afforded the opportunity to get involved in projects that may flop, because their real job is there to mitigate the risk.

nostrademons 17y ago

"If you're starting your own company, you certainly don't need to prove your credentials to anyone by having a degree - if you know enough to start the company, more time in school would just be wasted time." Starting a company is easy. Finishing one is hard.

scott_s 17y ago

I think there are some real parallels between being an academic and being an entrepreneur, but academia is orders of magnitude more forgiving than the market. The research an academic pursues may end up not having any real impact, but as long as it's novel, it's a contribution. Such researchers don't become famous, but they can attain tenure and continue doing research no one cares about. When starting a business, you don't get points for making something novel that no one wants. You just fail.