Most universities understand the importance of entrepreneurship on their campuses.

But many still struggle to turn their ideas into successful startup companies.

My colleagues and I regularly discuss these motivations and challenges facing universities across the country in more depth.

One particular question posed to our team of university-facing innovators is, "What is the secret to developing a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem on your campus?"

At a basic level, university entrepreneurial ecosystems are like the fire triangle, a simple model for understanding the necessary ingredients for a vibrant flame: fuel, oxygen, and heat.

To better understand the answer to this FAQ, it's worth looking at today’s campus landscape and how university leaders are attempting to spark entrepreneurship.

Fuel: Any material capable of burning

Like wood that sets a strong foundation for any fire, fuel on campus is the foundation of a thriving ecosystem: the people and resources that form the substrate for ideation and innovation.

Building this foundation starts with a diverse set of students, faculty, and researchers in the university ecosystem:

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• Research labs are historically a great place to bring new technologies to life, containing the proper tools to bring people together and explore interesting topics.
• Technology transfer offices help bridge the gap between IP and the industry through commercialization.
• Hackathons and startup competitions incentivize students to come up with business ideas, and focused topics bring domain expertise. They also force rapid development and iteration of ideas.
• Entrepreneurship classes give context to frameworks and more importantly allow space for students to ideate and design business models. They also provide a safe space for failure and can encourage hesitant students to get a taste of entrepreneurship. 

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Leading research universities know the importance of fuel and many launch startup companies.

However, most startups live and die on campus. Research from BYU has shown that 40% of university-licensed startups from the top-50 research institutions have never hired a single employee.

These startups — considered the “walking dead" — are only found on paper, and still in search of commercialization. In other words, they simply fail to create any meaningful societal or economic value.

Our team sees a common failure of building with the wrong team.

When startup development is confined to a lab or classroom, it's difficult to build a diverse and complementary venture-building team that has venture-scalable potential. Many universities lack the necessary startup networks and experience to thrive, and are faced with the tough decision of walking off campus to find traction and VC funding.

Heat: Igniting and maintaining the fire

Heat on campus is characterized by culture and processes.

This is a notably difficult part of the equation within the overall entrepreneurship ecosystem at universities. 

An entrepreneurship-first culture that focuses on building startups enhances university stakeholders and has a positive economic impact on the surrounding community through job creation and financial returns.

Minimal red tape on campus allows for students to have equal opportunities and feel empowered to take a leap of faith.

Entrepreneurship centers/hubs that sit in a central location and give access to all stakeholders at the university — undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and researchers — allow for the greatest cross-pollination of ideas.

It’s ultimately university leaders' job to cultivate and create the friction and collaboration between departments, schools, and labs to generate the heat required for ignition.  

Most people have great ideas and are curious. But risk aversion and a culture that discourages self-exploration (the soft skills of entrepreneurship) keep pursuits on the sideline and will never ignite an ecosystem of entrepreneurship.

Many schools have redundant resources that are siloed or sit in a single functional area and access to certain resources is restricted to stakeholders with a certain title. This creates confusion, as university-based entrepreneurs try to triage the best places to go to mature their startup idea.

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Oxygen: Lifeblood required to sustain fire

Oxygen on campus is characterized by the growth and impact of funding availability.

It's often said that cash is the oxygen of a startup. School campuses are no different. 

Making funding available at the earliest stages and with minimal strings attached is an ideal environment for ideas on campus.

Universities that have student-run venture funds and accelerator programs are attempting to tackle the early capital problem and connect students to mentors. They provide the necessary high-quality, hands-on experience that enables students to learn both sides of the business-building equation.

Institutions with industry-sponsored research programs, like Purdue, use experiential education to help researchers gain valuable insight into entrepreneurship and the challenges of starting a business.

What's more, having angel networks with a vested interest in the success of their alma mater can provide capital, mentorship, and diverse non-academic expertise and other resources to on-campus innovators.

Just as fire never spreads or grows without ample oxygen, ideas live and die on campus without sufficient cash to back them.

The marketplace has more cash than ever for good ideas.

However, in a university setting, certain limitations that limit dollars deployed to university startups.

Many risk-averse external funds will not invest at the very early idea stage where funding is critical, and even more common, funds encourage students/faculty to leave the university before investment.

And, at one point or another, all faculty or post-doctorate founders are faced with the hard decision to leave their posts at the school to run their company full-time, as it would (rightfully) require their complete time and attention.

On top of facing the challenges of fundraising for and running a startup, many professors and would (understandably) rather continue their lifelong calling of teaching and producing research within the walls of their university.

Building a strong university entrepreneurship ecosystem with a dedicated venture studio

You can rub sticks together or use flint and steel to create flame. But you’re a lot more likely to succeed if you have the most rapid fire-starting elements together. Then, all you need is a spark. 

That spark is our specialty. We believe that a thriving startup ecosystem incorporates all the elements needed for ignition.

Our venture studio model is the perfect fit to connect all of these on your campus and help entrepreneurs on campus avoid the hard decision to stay or leave campus if they want to run a venture-scalable business.

World-class professors, researchers, faculty, and students can continue to contribute academically to the university and have ownership in the growth and financial returns of a startup they help bring to market.

These founders can learn what it is like to start and scale a business with mentorship and coaching.

Our team of venture-building experts takes campus-generated startup ideas and themes, uses a problem-led ideation approach develop concepts tied to those focus areas, creates a viable business model around them, and — ultimately — connects a network of founders, operators, investors, and customers to them to help them succeed.