The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Hub has published a new Entrepreneur’s Handbook to support founders of spinout companies.
Spinout companies represent just 3% of high-growth businesses in the UK, with only 1628 spinouts formed since 2011, according to Spotlight on spinouts: UK academic spinout trends, a report published by the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub and Beauhurst. While half of all startups only last five years, the average age of a spinout is almost nine years. Spinouts attract higher-than-average equity investment and grant funding and contribute to local economic growth and employment opportunities.
The new Entrepreneur’s Handbook is designed to help aspiring academic entrepreneurs to understand and navigate the challenges to spinning out. The new Handbook offers practical guidance on several topics relevant to academic entrepreneurs, from forming a business idea to securing investment, including:
- Guidance on the length of the spinout process
- Approaching and negotiating with universities and investors
- Market research, business plans and financial assessments
- Growing the company
The Handbook also shares insights from surveys with Enterprise Hub Members, academic entrepreneurs, Technology Transfer Officers and investors to provide greater clarity on the process for spinning out a company, including:
- Technology Transfer Offices receive an average of 17 approaches from aspiring entrepreneurs a year and only 15% successfully spin out.
- Aspects of academic life were the barriers to spinning out most frequently cited by academics – such as lack of time and balancing workloads between spinout activities, teaching and research.
- Nearly half (42%) of surveyed spinout founders left academia to work solely on their spinout. Of these, 89% subsequently returned to academia.
Read more about the report or explore The Entrepreneurs' Handbook