Founders Choice: Guide for startup founders Imperial College London

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Founders Choice is a programme for startup founders at Imperial College London. It offers Imperial staff different levels of support when forming a startup based on Imperial intellectual property (IP).

This approach reflects the fact that the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Imperial has grown and evolved over the past two decades. Many academic researchers now have experience of forming and building businesses. Others have a personal network with experience that can support the creation and management of a startup. Those in these groups will not require as much support when setting up a new startup and will be able to handle most (if not all) aspects of the startup journey.

In cases where founders take on most of the responsibility, it makes sense that they should also have a greater share of the founding equity in their companies. This is why Imperial College London developed Founders Choice.

The programme accommodates Imperial College London staff who consider that they are capable of finding the resources, finance and expertise necessary to make a startup company successful (with minimal assistance from Imperial College London’s Enterprise Division) by providing them with a choice of level of support.

The two options under Founders Choice are the Founder Driven route and the Jointly Driven route. Those who opt for the Founder Driven route receive the basic support package from the Industry Partnerships and Commercialisation (IPC) team and the Startups and Investments team,

while those who opt for the Jointly Driven route receive an enhanced support package. The different levels of support are explained in detail later in this document.

This guide contains useful information to help you decide which level of support is right for you.

All resources concerning Founders Choice

Direct access to Founders Choice Mini Guide (PDF)