Should You Start a Company After Your PhD? 3 Questions to Ask First

Many PhD graduates in climate tech, deep tech, and frontier tech feel the pull toward entrepreneurship — but the decision to become a founder deserves more scrutiny than most give it. Any PhD can be an entrepreneur. But not every PhD should be.

Before you take the leap, here are three foundational questions to answer honestly.

1. Are you mentally prepared to be an entrepreneur?

Startups are a roller coaster of highs and lows. Founders regularly navigate funding collapses, technical setbacks, team changes, and long stretches of isolation — all while sacrificing financial stability and personal time. More than half of founders report burnout. If you don't have the drive to weather the hard times and the resilience to bounce back from failure, entrepreneurship may not be the right fit. Ask yourself: How do I handle uncertainty, rapid decision-making, and setbacks?

2. Are you solving a problem someone will pay you to solve?

Big scientific problems — climate change, cancer, pandemics — aren't automatically good business opportunities. A viable startup needs a specific customer with a specific pain point and the willingness to pay for a solution. Before moving forward, you should have spoken with dozens of potential customers who confirm the problem is urgent, understand what it's currently costing them, and know how likely they are to switch to a new solution.

3. Can you afford to be an entrepreneur?

New PhD graduates often have limited savings and no guaranteed salary. Fortunately, there are pathways designed for this exact situation: university commercialization fellowships, DOE national lab programs, private fellowships (such as Breakthrough Energy Fellows), nonprofit programs like Activate, and federal SBIR/STTR grants. Friends-and-family funding is also a common bridge. The key is having a concrete plan to pay yourself before you start.

The most successful founders ask these questions before they're swept up in the excitement of launching a startup. Taking time to reflect now can save years of heading down the wrong path.

Want to go deeper? Read the full article on Building for 2075: The Questions Every PhD Founder Should Answer Before Starting a Company