WHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS A REAL OPTION – Learning from Plastic Logic

Prof Henning Sirringhaus is a leading authority on organic semiconductors. Working within the Cambridge environment he and his business contacts saw the huge potential for the application of this deep science research to the possibility of creating a whole new industry based on the fact that plactics can carry current!

Henning is founder, director and continues to be a shareholder in Plastic Logic. Meanwhile the commercial team that was formed around it included Dr Hermann Hauser, serial entrepreneur, investor, physicist, eternal optimist and visionary. Bit by bit they formed a formidable team of scientists, technologists, commercial teams and through a series of dead ends, diversions and sometimes distractions they have raised over £250m in venture capital, got a factory underway in Dresden and are now launching their own product.

Plastic Logic might be the first company within a new industry? It is also potentially a huge success story based on over 20 years of research and earlier attempts at commercialisation of near to market technologies.

But who can tell – at this early stage if Plastic Logic will actually launch a new industry. Meanwhile we look to understand how and why the founders, investors and shareholders continue to have faith in a venture with long gestation periods. Most businesses operate on quarterly cycles and get impatient if there are no sales. What motivates this group of individuals and teams of technical, commercial and scientific talent to pursue Plastic Logic.
From the presentations and discussion by Henning Sirringhaus, Bill Earner (Amadeus Capital Partners) and Martin Jackson (Plastic Logic) we hope to find out more about:

Personal motivations; recognition of opportunities; the types of skills needed at different stages of the venture; risks and rewards. We also hope to learn about whether or not dilution of shares and ownership affects motivation of founders; how the funding cycles have gone and been managed and how teams have changed.

Based on this opening lecture we expect to set the scene for the remainder of the 11 lectures and networking events to bring you Enterprise Tuesday.

Here are some references for the business and academic communities:

Plasctic logic – press releases; home page www.plasticlogic.com www.plasticlogic.com/news
Plastic Logic demo www.youtube.com/watch?v=0znv3V-GsNk
Cavendish labs – Henning’s work www.phy.cam.ac.uk/people/sirringhaush.php
Amadeus capital partners www.amadeuscapital.com – investors in Plastic Logic

A Highly π-Stacked Organic Semiconductor for Thin Film Transistors Based on Fused Thiophenes
Xiao-Chang Li, Henning Sirringhaus, Francis Garnier, Andrew B. Holmes, Stephen C. Moratti, Neil Feeder, William Clegg, Simon J. Teat, and Richard H. Friend
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1998, 120 (9), pp 2206–2207 Publication Date (Web): February 24, 1998
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja9735968
Effects of Packing Structure on the Optoelectronic and Charge Transport Properties in Poly(9,9-di-n-octylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) Carrie L. Donley, Jana Zaumseil, Jens W. Andreasen, Martin M. Nielsen, Henning Sirringhaus, Richard H. Friend, and Ji-Seon Kim
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 127 (37), pp 12890–12899 Publication Date (Web): August 25, 2005
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja051891j
Surface Tension and Fluid Flow Driven Self-Assembly of Ordered ZnO Nanorod Films for High-Performance Field Effect Transistors
Baoquan Sun and Henning Sirringhaus
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128 (50), pp 16231–16237 Publication Date (Web): December 1, 2006
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja065242z
Binary Nanoparticle Superlattices in the Semiconductor−Semiconductor System: CdTe and CdSe
Zhuoying Chen, Jenny Moore, Guillaume Radtke, Henning Sirringhaus, and Stephen O'Brien
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129 (50), pp 15702–15709
Publication Date (Web): November 23, 2007
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja076698z

What is the best way to learn if you want to be an entrepreneur?

I am presently working on several projects connected with entrepreneurship education and there is inevitably a menu of ways to "teach" or "organise learning".

But before we stray into detail - the most Frequently Asked question continues to be - "can you teach it?". My response so far has been that it is no different from teaching management, music, math or geography or any other subject - it ultimately comes down to people wanting to learn. So - if we get past this basic question then we get to "how" questions.

Learning by doing? Learning through simulations? Use of case studies? From mentors and coaches? In the calss room based strongly on theory? Videos? On-line models of learning? Action learning - i.e. through problem solving and applying the lessons? and so forth.

Going back to the question - in the title - I would welcome some intelligent thoughts and comments on the subject. We are getting ready for the Advanced Diploma in two weeks time - (see www.cfel.jbs.cam.ac.uk); working on a review of education at Laurea University in Finland and thinking about scaling up entrepreneurship education on a global basis as a result of a major project for the World Economic Forum.