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Re:How to spin your scientific research out of a university ... by jrubinovitz on Thursday October 29, 2020 @12:14PM (#24932059)
It's very helpful to know you can negotiate with tech transfer offices. I always assumed their (not-go-great) terms were non-negotiable and was super dissuaded against starting something while a researcher at a university.
Re:How to spin your scientific research out of a university ... by probst on Thursday October 29, 2020 @12:52PM (#24932510)
You _can_ negotiate with tech transfer offices, but it might not lead to much.

We have been fighting with ours for ~8 years now. The terms keep getting worse. I think all told, and if I were to repeat it, I would certainly scrap the IP I made in those early days and start fresh when starting the company. Like they mention in the article, chances are you'll pivot a number of times anyway, making the IP largely irrelevant, but you'll still have given up significant equity for it, and likely have a difficult shareholder onboard for life.

(edit: at least this is my anecdotal evidence, and what I gather from some other people having interacted with my particular tech transfer office...)