Founding Robotics Startups with a PhD

Summary

This RSS 2021 workshop will teach you about starting your own company if you recently earned (or will soon earn) your PhD. While there is a lot of prior writing about startups in general, there is not a lot about robotics companies, and even less about doing so shortly after grad school. For something as idiosyncratic as founding a company to realize your dreams, the best lessons come from those who have gone before you.

Confirmed Presenters (all founders)

• Vivian Chu, Diligent Robotics
• Matanya Horowitz, AMP Robotics
• Tessa Lau, Dusty Robotics
• Ross Mead, Semio
• Peter Kuan-Ting Yu (俞冠廷), XYZ Robotics

Schedule

Before the workshop, recordings of questions and answers from each presenter will be made privately available to everyone who signed up for the workshop.

The panel discussion will provide an opportunity for workshop attendees to ask additional questions.

The panel times below will not change, but the speakers might swap which panel they join.

Monday, 12 July

Tuesday, 13 July

References

Startup Guidance in General (no focus on hardware or robots)

1. Do Things that Don't Scale by Paul Graham
2. Startup Playbook by Sam Altman
3. The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steven G. Blank

Legal Stuff, Understanding Venture Capital

1. Legal Concepts for Founders
2. Venture Deals by Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson (on Amazon)

Forming a Company

In the US, use Clerky or Atlas. These allow you to create a startup (or rather, the legal entity) following a standard template.

Prototyping, Building, & Selling Hardware

• The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen by bunnie (free download thanks to the author)
• OSHPark PCB fabrication in the USA

Accelerators, VC Firms, Grants, etc.

N.B., inclusion in the list below is not endorsement.

• US NSF Seed Fund (includes SBIR)
• HAX
• Techstars
• Y Combinator
• Silicon Valley Robotics