Job Title: Business (Co-)founder – Deep-, High-, or Bio-Tech Startups
Organisation: Via Delft Enterprises (Delft University of Technology)
Location: Delft, Netherlands
About Us: At Delft University of Technology (TUD), our academic research frequently leads to groundbreaking inventions and intellectual property (IP) that can be transformed into significant economic and social value. One method of achieving this is by founding deep-tech, high-tech, digital and bio tech spin-off companies. On behalf of TUD, Delft Enterprises aims to create and accelerate these spin-offs. Each year, we oversee the development of approximately 15 new projects, guiding them from concept to market.
Position Overview: Academic researchers at TUD provide initial insights into potential markets for the developed IP. You will build on these leads and validate the commercial potential of the IP by engaging with numerous market stakeholders. During this market validation phase (3-6 months), you
will gather enough evidence so we can collectively decide whether to incorporate a spin-off. As the market expert for this IP, you often naturally
progress to becoming the co-founder of the spin-off. During this period, you will be guided by Delft Enterprises, Impact Studio, and optionally by YES!Delft or other incubators. This role suits ambitious individuals who thrive in uncertain environments and are eager to take a risk to start a deep-tech company. We are continuously seeking part-time and full-time candidates.
Key Responsibilities
Commercialization, Market Research, and Management
- Validate potential market needs for IP by engaging with numerous potential customers and partners. And acquire new projects and clients.
- Create a short-term and long-term business plan, and execute it.
Funding and Financial Management
- Identify and pursue funding opportunities, including grants, strategic partnerships and investments.
- Develop a roadmap for product development, financial resources and other resources, informed by your market research and validation.
Team Building and Strategic Leadership
- Set a high bar for execution, build a collaborative team, and foster a culture of innovation and progress.
Qualifications
- Experience in executive leadership roles within deep-tech, high-tech, or bio-tech startups or technology-driven companies. Or tech-related commercial, business development, or management consulting roles.
- Proven track record in commercializing technologies, customer discovery, startup incubation, sales, and/or securing R&D subsidies or venture capital investments.
- Entrepreneurial mindset, fast learner, and highly results-driven attitude, along with strategic thinking and decision-making skills.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to coordinate, inspire, and motivate a diverse team.
- A master’s degree in a relevant field (engineering, business, innovation, entrepreneurship, or a related discipline).
Compensation
Becoming an entrepreneur of a spin-off is a unique opportunity, but it does involve risk; it’s your responsibility to apply for subsidies such as TTT or Take-Off 1. Once funding is secured, you can draw a modest, startupappropriate salary as co-founder, or in some cases initially as freelancer (ZZP). If market traction justifies founding the startup, the company can be officially incorporated (generally within 6-12 months). You can then be compensated with shares in the spin-off company. By raising investments, you can also keep paying yourself a startup-appropriate salary.
How to Apply
Interested candidates can submit their resume to r.b.j.bonants@tudelft.nl with the subject line “Application: Business Co-founder – [Your Name].” Please include min. one, max. two of the below cases of your interest in the email.
| Industry | Project | Description case | Ideal profile |
| Chemical | Rheometer | Analytical instrument (rheometer) for viscoelasticity of inks & coatings. | Profile from Ink, Coating or Analytical Instrument industry. |
| Energy | Optical H2 Sensor | Optical hydrogen sensors, inherently safe, small and inexpensive. | Tech-profile that is able to build the sensors. |
| Energy | Solidum | Battery innovations e.g. next gen. electrolyte for solid state batteries. | Experienced professional from Process or Battery industry. |
| Food | ProteoT | Software with proteomic fingerprint database of raw food ingredients, to improve food safety / quality control. | Experienced professional from Biotech / Food Quality industry, (knowledgeable about SaaS). |
| Materials | Geopolymer Concrete | New concrete type with 80% lower CO2 emission and 60% lower LCA. | Profile from Construction / Concrete industry, fluent Dutch. |
| Materials | Reloy | High precision sorting of rare earth mining. | Experienced professional from Mining industry. |
| Medical | AptaQuest | Analysis device that reduces proteinbased therapeutics R&D times. | Experienced professional from Biopharmaceutical industry. |
| Medical | Insonify | Imaging system for automated diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis. | Experienced professional from Medical Imaging industry. |
| Semicon | AIMS (founded) | Imaging system and algorithm to detect defects on EUV chips. | Experienced professional from Semicon industry. |
By applying to this vacancy, you agree that we share your information and resume with the researcher(s) and/or founder(s) of the cases of your interest.
We’ll save your resume in our internal Delft Enterprises database for max. 6 months, so we can reach out to you to see if you are interested in other similar new cases. After 6 months, we delete your information.
We are committed to diversity and inclusion and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and experiences.
Join us on the frontier of deep-tech innovation and be a key player in bringing the potential of transformative technologies to market!