This article provides an overview of how you can use foundational concepts of business strategy and business development to help achieve your research goals and move a research program forward. Starting and running an academic research laboratory has many similarities to starting and growing a company. While many academics have tended to avoid business lingo, we invite the reader to keep an open mind with respect to the ‘business speak’ that has been deliberately built into this article, as we believe that it provides a useful context for thinking about laboratory leadership duties.

     The first years of starting your research lab will involve many decisions about developing and expanding your research program. A research program encompasses projects, personnel, collaborators, finances, and other technical and administrative aspects. A study of over eight thousand science PhDs found that skills such as setting vision and goals, time management, ability for teamwork, and career planning are among the skills that would be beneficial in developing research-intensive and non-research-intensive careers (Sinche, 2017).  Read more.