Jones Seminar: The Physics of Failure—Engineering startup survival through a reluctant entrepreneur's lens

Optional ZOOM LINK
Meeting ID: 963 3025 4065
Passcode: 956285

Why do so many startups collapse while a few endure? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 80 percent of all businesses fail by their fifteenth year. To engineers, that statistic looks less like bad luck and more like a system under stress: variables interacting unpredictably, feedback loops amplifying errors, and external shocks that can destabilize even the most carefully built model. Survival in business, much like survival in engineering, depends on identifying weak points, correcting for instability, and designing systems that can withstand real-world conditions.

In this lecture, Mike Konrad shares his journey as a reluctant entrepreneur. While he possessed strong technical skills, he lacked any real business acumen. Armed only with ego, passion, arrogance, ignorance, and a poor sense of risk, he stumbled into entrepreneurship. Those traits fueled early progress but nearly ended the venture before it began. Through near-misses and unexpected turns, he came to understand that entrepreneurship is not a straight line but more akin to an experiment—filled with hypotheses, failed tests, and occasional breakthroughs.

The talk explores what the data reveals about startup survival and what it hides. Survival curves show where most companies drop off, but they do not explain why some founders adapt while others collapse. Konrad blends statistical evidence with technical analogies to show how the principles of engineering—feedback, resilience, iteration, and systems thinking—apply directly to the world of business. He unpacks common causes of failure, from underestimating risk to ignoring environmental stresses, and highlights the strategies that can help shift a startup onto a more stable trajectory.

Konrad also introduces the concept of conscious marketing, a counterintuitive, research-supported approach where education replaces promotion, trust outperforms hype, and credibility becomes a company’s most valuable asset. He illustrates how this approach not only transformed his company but also aligns with principles students already know: reduce noise, increase signal, and focus on long-term stability over short-term gain.

Blending data, humor, and hard-earned lessons, this talk reframes entrepreneurship as both a scientific experiment and a personal journey. Students will leave with more than statistics; they will gain a practical framework for engineering survival in their own ventures, whether as startup founders, innovators within established companies, or future leaders navigating uncertain environments.

Hosted by Professor Ron Lasky.

About the Speaker(s)

Mike Konrad
Founder & CEO, Aqueous Technologies

Nearly four decades after entering the electronics manufacturing industry, Mike Konrad continues to dedicate his career to advancing reliability within the industry. In 1992, he founded Aqueous Technologies, an equipment manufacturer serving the electronics sector. Becoming an entrepreneur was never part of his plan, but when his employer declined to build it, he realized the only way forward was to create it himself. He is a strong advocate of "conscious marketing," moving beyond traditional chest-thumping advertising toward education-driven authority building. By offering value through knowledge rather than hype, Konrad helps organizations connect with a new generation of decision-makers who prefer independent research over bold claims.

Konrad is a sought-after speaker at technical conferences and symposiums, where he addresses topics such as electronic reliability, cleaning, and process control, as well as on university campuses, where he speaks to engineering students about the realities of entrepreneurship. He is also the author of The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Anatomy of a Business Startup—From Uncertainty to Unstoppable, plays a leadership role in the Surface Mount Technology Association, and is the host of two popular podcasts: "Reliability Matters" and "The Reluctant Entrepreneur."

Contact

For more information, contact Amos Johnson at amos.l.johnson@dartmouth.edu.