June 2014
Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. - Mike Tyson Paul Moses ( pemoses@prf.org ; director of Purdue Research Parks in New Albany and Indianapolis ; manager and co-founder of INnovation Angels ; president & chair‑elect of Venture Connectors ) told us about Purdue University’s new emphasis on getting things done. The result is a record-breaking 24 startups (based on Purdue’s intellectual property) formed in fiscal year 2014, triple that in 2013. Mr. Moses helps people turn an idea into a business. One of the first things he asks a startup founder (not someone else hired by the founder) to do is to put the horse before the cart, to adapt the startup to fit the market. This not only increases the startup’s probability of success, but also attracts investors with evidence of guaranteed customers (i.e., profit) and with evidence that the founder is a good business person—adaptable, coachable, and capable of making good decisions. Mr. Moses ask