Beating the death valley curve | London Business School

In response to a recent article in the Financial Times, How to get UK university spinouts out of the ‘valley of death’ London Business School’s John Mullins, Associate Professor of Management Practice in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, writes:

Irene Tracey’s examination of why UK university spinouts are too frequently trapped in the valley of death makes an excellent case for “bold investment” and better proof-of-concept funding (‘How to get UK university spinouts out of the ‘valley of death’, FT, 10th October 2024). Proof-of-concept funding is certainly one important means to survive the death valley experience. There is also another divide that needs to be forged and it has much more to do with cultural transformation and education than funding.

In Britain, the past 25 years have seen a significant shift towards knowledge-intensive, service-based industries. Employment patterns have become more flexible, and individuals live in a more fluid, dynamic world than ever before. Early-stage entrepreneurial activity in the UK has grown from just above three per cent in 1999 to around 30 per cent of working-age individuals actively trying to start a business, or running their own business. This is a dramatic change to the employment landscape from when I first began teaching entrepreneurship in the UK. The thought that one’s daughter or son might become an entrepreneur was about as welcome in the late nineties as an offspring announcing that they planned to join a hippie commune in the 1970s.

Committing to the practice of creating new ideas, managing business contacts, and identifying opportunities, rather than following company rules, are key qualities to igniting new business success and surviving the long periods of dry when it simply will not rain. In short, fostering an enterprise culture is also crucial to creating and sustaining new businesses. Teaching enterprise and entrepreneurial skills is therefore essential. Contrary to the view that entrepreneurial mindsets and skills are attributes that “you either have or you don’t”, such capabilities can most certainly be taught. With that daunting valley of death in mind, entrepreneurs can also learn the skills requisite to survive and grow through periods of drought.