I sat in on John Heebøll’s ‘Knowledgebased Entrepreneurship’ course at DTU and have since been a coach to the PhD and Masters students who take the course.  John is dedicated to improving conditions in Denmark for entrepreneurs.  This is the compendium of a Skype interview held over several different sessions.  (Oct. 2008)

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Entrepreneurship at DTU, Væksthus+, DTU Innovation

Alex Farcet (Q):  First, some background.  Are you an entrepreneur yourself?

John Heebøll (A):  I consider myself rather an intrapreneur, trying to develop an entrepreneurship curriculum inside DTU – but yes, I’m also directly involved in business formation in three projects as is.

(Q):  Can you quickly describe each one?

(A):  1. Advanced food processing equipment – business model: proof of pull and profit -> exit through a trade sale.
2. Advanced simulation software for the automotive industry: a DTU spin-off slowly growing into a highly specialized software developing company based on unique competencies within simulation of an industrial assembly method – and very close to DTU research.
3. Medical equipment for diagnosis and supervision of Parkinson’s disease. Business model: niching company selling globally and directly to practitioners and hospital clinics within neurology – via the internet.

(Q):  What’s been your role with all three?

(A):  1: Financing and part time CEO during the start-up.
2. Financing and chairman of the board.
3. My own baby – 48% shareholder, CEO and project manager.

(Q):  Did all three come up via your presence at DTU?

(A):  Yes. 1 & 2 through DTU Innovation. 3 through networks and with DTU colleagues

(Q):  In that sense, being associated with DTU is an advantage.  Any disadvantages? For example decision making speed?

(A):  No, not really. DTU is today, and by far, the most entrepreneurial university in Denmark, offering so many opportunities and facilities to knowledge based entrepreneurs.

Just imagine: we recently celebrated company no. 100 in the university science park.  An on-campus venture capital company, Seed Capital Denmark, has like 1 billion DKK under management to invest in perspective high-tec start-ups. We have a lot of tech-trans going on – mostly vial licensing, but also through spin-out companies and we have a university management dedicated to promote innovation and commercialization in all its many forms. Each department at DTU is being credited for generating patents and license agreements and new companies, and all are being encouraged to locate start-ups in the middle of the research environments. Who can complain?

And I have right now 104 graduate students on the DTU course 42435 Knowledge based entrepreneurship – just to indicate the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that is alive and kicking around DTU.

(Q):  What is DTU Innovation?  And what is Væksthus?

(A):  DTU Innovation is a so-called “innovationsmiljø” [innovation environment] which is a pre-seed investor, financing perspective start-ups with a mix of public and private money. DTU Innovation has developed a portfolio of companies in a funnel pipeline to Seed Capital Denmark and other VCs. Thus, entrepreneurs have access to a complete investment package, covering the first 2 – 3 funding rounds – provided they are Venture Capital material, of course (which again – roughly speaking – can be interpreted as the potential of developing into a “125 company”: 100 mio DKK in turnover with a profit margin of 25 mio. DKK in 5 years or less.) DTU Innovation by the way, is the most successful Danish innovation environment when measured on deal flow and attracting further capital to the portfolio.

(Q):  And Væksthus+ ?

(A):  Væksthus+ is a center for knowledge based entrepreneurship at DTU. Located at DTU Management, the center primarily delivers three annual courses on basics in knowledge based entrepreneurship and business formation. One graduate at DTU, one PhD at DTU and one graduate at Copenhagen University. Væksthus+ – together with DTU and the science park -  is also running a small student’s business incubator in the DTU science park SCION-DTU. Væksthus+ is a consulting service to employees and students at DTU, considering starting a new company – with 5 – 10 clients a year. Væksthus+ is also involved in an international network with research and sharing of experiences and best practices in teaching high tech entrepreneurship as the main focal areas.

[pagebreak] (Q):  Why and how did you start teaching entrepreneurship?

(A):  I became manager of the very first university business incubator back in 1988 and from my advanced position, I observed how start-up companies stumbled into being, consistently repeating the same errors, falling into the same pitfalls and asking the same questions. I realized that there was a big potential for sharing experiences and for converting experiences into educating future entrepreneurs. So I planned a course, invited some speakers and sat down with 22 DTU students back in 1992 to listen to wise people and experienced and battle-scarred founders. The course developed over the years into what is to day a state-of-the-art practically oriented entrepreneurship course. You will find this kind of courses at any university with ambitions within entrepreneurship – like TU München, TU Delft, Imperial College, Chalmers, etc. Over the years I also managed to write three books on practical company formation within high tech.

(Q):  What kind of students do you get, and concretely, what does the course teach?

(A):  About 3/4 of my students seriously consider to start a company – and most of them are part of – or looking for others to join a founding team.
About 2/3 are senior graduate students thinking that the course will allow them to better include commercial perspectives into their master thesis.
Of the 1/4 or so who is not already contaminated by the entrepreneurial virus, most are there to find out if company formation is something for them at all. In other words: they are there for career planning reasons.

(Q):  Can entrepreneurship be taught?

(A):  Yes, it sure can.

First it is important to note, that entrepreneurship taught in further education has a measurable impact on the birth- and success rate of growth-oriented high tech companies.  Since growth-oriented start ups create more that 85% of the jobs in new businesses, these kinds of companies are truly worth promoting.

First and foremost, the students learn to identify business opportunities. Identifying a business opportunity means developing a sense of business that allows the entrepreneur to turn observation of demand and pain into business models with a potential. Thus the student develops an eye for business that is constantly on the lookout for new ventures.

Students also acquire a toolbox: that is skills needed to manage a start-up venture, but this seems to have a more secondary significance according to latest research in this field.

A very important side-effect from entrepreneurial courses stems from the fact that the entrepreneurial spirit is contagious. Consequently, enthusiastic entrepreneurs infect their fellow human beings, and since students are socially very active people, entrepreneurship may spread quickly throughout the student communities. Thus, even a small entrepreneurial course may cause the entrepreneurial flu to spread throughout the student communities.

One should also not forget that students in general are ambitious and want to get good and well paid jobs, once they graduate. Hence, entrepreneurs amongst them need to start highly ambitious new companies to compete with what they would otherwise go for. This is probably the most important reason why young academics start growth-oriented businesses together with venture capital investors.

Adding to the importance of knowledge based entrepreneurs is the fact, that growth-oriented start-ups create more than 85% of the jobs within new businesses. Hence, the academic entrepreneur is a very special founder, worth our resourceses and attention.

(Q):  You ran a study with a Finish professor recently; what were the main findings?

(A):  The above as a matter of fact. You may add, that implicitly, entrepreneurship teaching in further education comes in as the number one most cost efficient industrial development program. Nothing else pays of so well, be it state-driven pre-seed programs, business incubators, business consultants and what have you.

(Q):  What are some of the best resources (incubators, events, etc.) for young Danish entrepreneurs?

(A):  I think that Venture Cup comes in as number one, here. This competition is a community, a network, an incitement and first and foremost a source of entrepreneurial infection, where many talented young would-be entrepreneurs got the kick. Young Enterprise, the business competition in the secondary schools and high schools is also a candidate for this title, but since Venture Cup exposes students in further education at a point in time when they make serious decisions about their future carreer, and since venture capital investors, science parks, universities, entrepreneurial teachers, etc. are part of the same demi-monde as Venture Cup, my prize goes to this grand competition.

(Q):  Is entrepreneurship in Denmark different from anywhere else?  Any national idiosyncracies foreigners should be aware of?

(A):  On a national level, Danes do not start that many growth-oriented companies. As a matter of fact, we are down to about one-third of the ratio between growth- and not-for-growth companies that we find in the highest performing countries. So what is this? A general lack of ambition, widespread laziness or a projection of historical developments in a very small country? I tend to believe that since language skills and an international outlook are preconditions for expanding companies in small Denmark in contrast to growing companies on a huge domestic market like USA or Germany, we just have one more barrier to growth-oriented company formation. That makes academic entrepreneurs even more interesting from a Danish perspective, and that is one of the reasons why we have taught entrepreneurship in English at DTU and Copenhagen University since 2006.

As to any foreigner, considering setting up a company in Denmark, I can only say, that apart from the immigration authorities, the barriers are low, and don’t forget that Danes are the happiest people in this world. In general we are easy to work with, have a lot of – sometimes rather robust – humor, most of us speak English very well and we like flat and informal management structures the best. So feel free to set up your company in Denmark – we are quite a few that will endorse you.

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