"A mother is continually training in how to manage her time and organise her work. This is key [to success in entrepreneurship], beyond having guts and imagination," says Claire Dutertre.

Although Hébrard advises anyone with a passion in astronomy to go for it, he warns that "keeping your eyes and mind open is a good way to start in such a research field."

Doing a Ph.D. on visual interfaces and usability is particularly useful, he believes, because it allows him to understand what the consumers would like to use and to guess whether a new product would succeed or fail.

The couple started looking "around in the world [to see] where we could both have nice positions," and they found what they were looking for in Spain.