Spin-out veteran shares his experiences

“Professor Graham Richards, former head of the chemistry department at the University of Oxford, has authored a new book, “Creating Businesses from University Intellectual Property,” to be published on January 19th by Harriman House. Richards has worked with spin-out companies since 1988, when he was involved in the founding of Oxford’s technology transfer company, Isis Innovation Ltd, where he served as director for 20 years. In the book, Richards uses illustrative examples of start-ups in which he was personally involved, drawing extensively on the case study of Oxford Molecular, Ltd., to show how this company was spun out and the lessons learned in the process. Richards founded the company in 1989 and was helped run it until it was sold in 2000. He also lays out the key steps required for taking an academic’s intellectual property from the lab to a start-up company, and ultimately to a public stock offering.”