For our 10th anniversary, we interviewed Joseph Valacich, Munsinger Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Eller College of Management. Joe worked with Tech Launch Arizona – along with co-inventor Jeffrey Jenkins – on the launch of their startup Neuro-ID.
"It's been really a great relationship. I really look at TLA as a partner with the faculty who want to either commercialize their own technology, or take their technology and have someone license it for them. But it's been very professional. It's been very developmental in terms of helping me understand what we needed to do." –Joseph Valacich
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Transcript
When we had our idea – our aha moment – it was a patentable idea, but how were we going to afford to patent it? And TLA was like, “No problem, we've got that.” It's been just great. Every time we have a question, every time we were wondering whether we should do A or B, there's always been someone that he would connect us with or give us advice – both Dave or Doug.
It's been really a great relationship. I really look at TLA as a partner with the faculty who want to either commercialize their own technology, or take their technology and have someone license it for them. But it's been very professional. It's been very developmental in terms of helping me understand what we needed to do.
Running a company and being a professor is impossible. That's my opinion, and maybe there's a few that can do that, but it's a full-time job. Once the companies are running at 1000 miles an hour, you have to have people that are full-time and are dedicated, and I really couldn't do that and I don't see how that would be possible, other than in the first really early stage, maybe up through a first round or two of friends and family money. But after that, you need a professional – a person who really knows what they're doing to run the ship.
I was always put with various entrepreneurs who were helpful and working with TLA and getting to talk with them. It became clear to me that we needed someone other than the founders to help us on this journey, and really, to be the leader of the whole team. Because it's really not the same as being a department head in a university or running a research lab. It's building a company, and those are different skill sets. So it was just helpful to talk with people who've been through this journey, and it's been helpful talking with people who were not academics, but ran companies, and you really saw that the types of things that a person who runs the company has to be able to do and do well is a different skill set. Maybe there's some that could do it… I certainly could not. Now that I see what it takes, there's just no way. I mean, it's just a different job.
When you're an inventor and your technology is cool, and you're a good researcher and everyone knows your research, but then you also have a company or part of a company, I want to say part of a company because the team is doing so much, that you're a rock star. I mean it changes everything. It's really cool to see your technology being used.
There are a lot of people who are considering doing this. And most, in the old days, don't do it. But when I meet with them I say, “You can do this. You'll have help.”