Expose Intellectual Property, Institutional, and Regulatory Dependencies
The founder systematically identifies and documents all underlying assumptions regarding university TTO negotiations, IP assignment terms, and founder time allocation. They catalogue critical dependencies, such as key personnel retention, lab access rights, and third-party material transfer agreements. Crucially, the founder highlights institutional constraints, such as standard university equity expectations and approval committee schedules.
Identifying these variables exposes structural bottlenecks and hidden friction points within the academic commercialisation engine early. It protects the overall venture plan by ensuring risk mitigations are baked into negotiations before commercial commitments are finalised.
A comprehensive risk and dependency register detailing TTO terms, IP ownership status, founder academic commitments, and regulatory hurdles. Each entry must feature a validated impact rating and a pre-planned mitigation strategy.
Five questions an expert would ask when reviewing your output
Use these to challenge assumptions, pressure-test your logic, and check the quality of this action's output in the context of the parent task and wider venture development.
- 1
Which university TTO policy assumption poses the single greatest threat to your target cap table structure?
- 2
What evidence supports your assumption that the university will assign or licence the IP on commercially viable terms?
- 3
How will the venture operate if key academic contributors decide to remain full-time in their university roles?
- 4
What institutional approval gates must be cleared, and what is the realistic timeline based on historic TTO performance?
- 5
Why do you assume the current grant scope allows for the development of commercial-grade prototypes without secondary approval?