The day Experiment bought us coffee.

A few days ago, we made a trip to the city to meet up with Cindy and Denny, co-founders of Experiment.

I’m ashamed to say that when I was in grad school, I’d never heard of them. But this formidable group of scientist-entrepreneurs are taking on the biggest challenge in academic research: $$$$.

Nationwide, there are thousands of scientists (far too many, in my opinion, but that’s a post for another day) with science that needs to get done, and all of them are vying for a despairingly limited number of grants. The problem goes beyond just not having money to do experiments. While the general public condemns their tax dollars going toward basic science research (because why don’t we have a cure for cancer yet?), the criteria for being awarded a grant become more and more stringent. Getting funding depends on proving that what you’re doing is worthwhile and when you can’t do that before the reagent money in your pocket runs out, you start getting desperate. What does that result in? Lower quality research, more retracted papers, falsified data, mental anguish, poor work environment, etc. etc. It’s an ugly, neverending cycle.

Experiment seeks to at least somewhat ameliorate the struggle for science funding through crowdfunding. People can financially support research projects of their interest and thereby directly play a hand in shaping the science that’s being done. Really cool stuff.

Obviously, researchers aren’t the only ones out to convince rich folks (or government institutions to give them money. From the stories Cindy and Denny told us, pretty much every start-up has had its own money struggles. So that’s where we’re at now. Not quite living out of our cars, but certainly very actively seeking connections and investments before we get to that point.

So when Cindy and Denny took us out for coffee and conversation, we chatted about science and Truthly and fundraising and Y Combinator on the way from their sparsely furnished office in Mission to Coffee Bar. I mentally winced as I reached for my wallet to pay for my Vietnamese iced coffee when Denny stopped us and said, “I got this.”

A co-founder that he knew once told him that there was an unspoken rule in the start-up world. “When two co-founders meet, the one that’s making more money pays.” He went on, “I remember the first time when we bought someone else coffee — it was a great feeling.”

What a wonderful way of measuring success, I thought, as I put my wallet away with relief. Right now, I’m working two freelance jobs to pay the bills while juggling time with Truthly and I anticipate things are going to get tougher before they get easier. But I look forward to the day I can buy someone else coffee.

Like this:

Like Loading…