Positron Ventures

♠️ Did we create a card deck for a festive evening with family and friends? Not quite. But we did create a card deck—just not for poker. So, why did we create it? It’s a practical way to kickstart a conversation in your team about ‘who is responsible for what’. In young organisations (ours included! 🫣), we’ve noticed that responsibilities often lack clear ownership. That’s where our ‘game’ comes in: a set of 30 cards representing (hopefully all) the key areas of responsibility within an organisation. Once the stack is empty and all cards assigned, every responsibility has an owner. Bonus? You can easily compile a job description from the cards you hold. Are you an early-stage, science-based startup tackling the challenges of team building? Think this card deck could help? Drop us a note, and we’ll happily send you one. P.S. This is a beta version, so your feedback would be much appreciated! Co-created with BR-ND People - B Corp / Ayu Koene

♠️ Did we create a card deck for a festive evening with family and friends? Not quite. But we did create a card deck—just not for poker. So, why did we create it? It’s a practical way to kickstart a conversation in your team about ‘who is responsible for what’. In young organisations (ours included! 🫣), we’ve noticed that responsibilities often lack clear ownership. That’s where our ‘game’ comes in: a set of 30 cards representing (hopefully all) the key areas of responsibility within an organisation. Once the stack is empty and all cards assigned, every responsibility has an owner. Bonus? You can easily compile a job description from the cards you hold. Are you an early-stage, science-based startup tackling the challenges of team building? Think this card deck could help? Drop us a note, and we’ll happily send you one. P.S. This is a beta version, so your feedback would be much appreciated! Co-created with BR-ND People - B Corp / Ayu Koene

One last blog post to end the year - one last post on tech transfer negotiations. Which are sometimes fraught with misunderstandings and accusations. I think we can absolutely get to a smoother negotiation process if we understand the different sides involved better. So today, I'll take a look at the obvious points of friction between research organization/TTO and startup - and think about: what could each side do to tackle them better? https://lnkd.in/ehyd_hNx More on scientists as founders, building teams, communicating to a non-technical audience, different financing strategies,... coming up in 2025 at https://lnkd.in/esTbW7fe

🌟 At Positron Ventures, we like to dive deep into frontier science topics. From now on we are sharing some of our findings on our blog. 👉 If you’re curious about the potential of different methane capture technologies, check out our first blog post:  https://lnkd.in/djjrPRGz ✉️ Reach out to Julia Wagner if you are working on methane capture research. We’d love to hear your thoughts! 

'The incentives in academia and research are stacked against transferring technology via startup companies' Read Anna-Lena Schindl's latest take on tech transfer agreements.

📢 Come and join us! 🔬 Positron is not an ordinary early-stage science investor. We are looking to expand our team with someone who fits our unusual approach. More info here: https://lnkd.in/eBQb47f2

Joseph and I started Positron Ventures out of a passion for science, early-stage company building, and solutions to big problems. But we had nothing more than an idea. To the extent we can yet claim any success at Positron, it is thanks to the exceptional people we have brought on board. One person in particular embodies everything we stand for at Positron. That is Anna-Lena Schindl. When we first met Anna-Lena she was working at a synbio startup. We got particularly excited about her background in doing exactly what we want to do: helping scientist-entrepreneurs build companies. Anna-Lena has a unique insight into how we can meaningfully work towards our mission to help scientist-entrepreneurs bring breakthrough innovations to market. For instance, by building up a network of amazing scouts across Europe, or by writing about how scientists can become entrepreneurs. She has a unique talent for connecting with those on that journey and can build deep relationships with founders before and after we invest. When it comes to assessing science, teams, and ideas, she somehow quickly builds up intuition about whether something is in our scope or not. Whenever we get excited about something new, our first reaction is, ‘What would Anna-Lena say?’ Anna Lena has helped shape Positron into what it is today, and we feel lucky to have her as part of the team. We are celebrating her contributions to Positron with her new job title of Principal - and we look forward to making many more ‘bold bets on science’ together.

🌎 Very much looking forward to The Drop in Malmö next week! Our team member, Julia, will be in Malmö on September 15-17. She’s excited to connect with others in the climate and deep tech community to discuss scientific breakthroughs in climate tech. 📣 If you’re attending and share our passion for harnessing technology to create a sustainable future, we’d love to connect!

🚀  Come join Birte, Fabian and others - learn about our scout network and become part of it! ❗48 hours left to apply for our scout network

🌟 Join Our Mission to Transform Science into Startups! 5 days left ⏳ 🔍 Are you a Master, PhD, or PostDoc student with a passion for scientific innovation? Become a Scout and help us uncover the brightest minds in European academia! 🤝 Collaborate with a community of like-minded individuals and gain insights into the venture capital world. 👉 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/dWmgkCqg