The decision has been made. You are prepared to embark on the complex and challenging journey of setting up a spin-off! To take off however, you need to have several key components in place, which will ultimately determine the success of your company.
Key success factors you need:
- Access to world-class science and technology, enabling you to offer a unique and high-quality product and/or service in a competitive international market.
- An offer that depends on the needs of the customer: not a nice-to-have solution, but a need-to-have.
- A technology/product that has been sufficiently validated and derisked by means of prototypes or successful tests.
- A validated market for your product or service: customers who are willing to pay a sufficient amount of money.
- Especially for technology/product-oriented spin-offs, you will need a considerable budget to identify the best product/market fit and make it ready for international commercialization.
- An appropriate Intellectual Property (IP) rights strategy, such as patents, copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks.
- Freedom to Operate (FTO) so that your spin-off is not blocked by patents or IP owned by third parties.
- A strong investor consortium that will provide you with sufficient capital to build your product/service/technology, generate international sales and grow your company.
- A complementary team which has all the necessary skills both at the technological/science level and at the business and management level.
