How To Go From Researcher to Founder

Google, Anthropic, and Databricks were all started by founders with PhDs. But they’re exceptions to the rule. Many of the instincts that help researchers succeed in academia can often work against them when building a startup.YC Visiting Partner Francois Chaubard knows both worlds. He’s currently a PhD student, previously did research in Fei-Fei Li’s lab, and founded and ran Focal Systems (W16).In this episode of Startup School, Francois breaks down 10 mindset shifts researchers need to make to become formidable founders, from learning to thrive without grades or deadlines to distinguishing interesting problems from important ones, moving faster with imperfect information, and starting with what customers actually want.