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Further more, what is the exact connection between academic talent and great companies? Is there a connection to the value and position a start-up can obtain wi

Further more, what is the exact connection between academic talent and great companies? Is there a connection to the value and position a start-up can obtain with the number of academia oriented employees it contains? Is it even a positive correlation?

etler 12y ago
I don't think he's implying you can't be a good company without it, just that there's a lot of hardship and lessons learnt that can be avoided by having a researcher do academic diligence. You can learn those lessons the hard way in practice, but it might be more efficient to do the research instead.
mark-r 12y ago
I will reply with only one data point: Google.
- zik 12y ago
  Sure, Google has a policy of employing people with an strong academic background but I kind of think they're mostly grossly underutilised maintaining UI code or doing other drudgery. I'm sure a few get to exercise their academic muscles from time to time but according to friends of mine at google that's the exception rather than the rule.
  - timtadh 12y ago
    I think you mis-interpreted the parent's example. Larry and Sergey were academics before they were founders.[1] Their research lead directly to Google's success. I believe Google still licenses Page Rank from Standford. (A huge win for the TTO at Standford) [1] Sergey's academic homepage: http://infolab.stanford.edu/~sergey/ http://infolab.stanford.edu/~sergey/
    - Retric 12y ago
      The fact they developed page rank at Stanford and then needed to licence it seems like a great reason to avoid Stanford. And possibly a great reason to avoid reading any academic research. PS: 3am here so I am probably missing something obvious.
      - auggierose 12y ago
        Probably you are. When the university pays you to develop something, and then only takes a minor cut of the profits, why would you want to avoid the university?
      - rhaphazard 12y ago
        University of Waterloo (one of if not the biggest tech/entrepreneurial oriented universities in Canada) has pretty progressive IP policies. Namely that it is "creator-owned" https://uwaterloo.ca/research/waterloo-commercialization-office-watco/intellectual-property https://uwaterloo.ca/research/waterloo-commercialization-off...

etler 12y ago

I don't think he's implying you can't be a good company without it, just that there's a lot of hardship and lessons learnt that can be avoided by having a researcher do academic diligence. You can learn those lessons the hard way in practice, but it might be more efficient to do the research instead.

mark-r 12y ago

I will reply with only one data point: Google.

zik 12y ago
Sure, Google has a policy of employing people with an strong academic background but I kind of think they're mostly grossly underutilised maintaining UI code or doing other drudgery. I'm sure a few get to exercise their academic muscles from time to time but according to friends of mine at google that's the exception rather than the rule.
- timtadh 12y ago
  I think you mis-interpreted the parent's example. Larry and Sergey were academics before they were founders.[1] Their research lead directly to Google's success. I believe Google still licenses Page Rank from Standford. (A huge win for the TTO at Standford) [1] Sergey's academic homepage: http://infolab.stanford.edu/~sergey/ http://infolab.stanford.edu/~sergey/
  - Retric 12y ago
    The fact they developed page rank at Stanford and then needed to licence it seems like a great reason to avoid Stanford. And possibly a great reason to avoid reading any academic research. PS: 3am here so I am probably missing something obvious.
    - auggierose 12y ago
      Probably you are. When the university pays you to develop something, and then only takes a minor cut of the profits, why would you want to avoid the university?
    - rhaphazard 12y ago
      University of Waterloo (one of if not the biggest tech/entrepreneurial oriented universities in Canada) has pretty progressive IP policies. Namely that it is "creator-owned" https://uwaterloo.ca/research/waterloo-commercialization-office-watco/intellectual-property https://uwaterloo.ca/research/waterloo-commercialization-off...