What do over 400 startups with over $250M in seed funding have in common?

Most academic spinouts fail because they develop something Why I-Corps™? Most academic spinouts fail because they develop something no one cares about

no one cares about Why I-Corps™? Most academic spinouts fail because they develop something no one cares about Wow. Everyone will want this laser!

no one cares about Why I-Corps™? Most academic spinouts fail because they develop something no one cares about Do customers want something more efficient? or maybe just cheaper? or just smaller?

no one cares about Why I-Corps™? Most academic spinouts fail because they develop something no one cares about Do customers want something more efficient? or maybe just cheaper? or just smaller? What problem does this solve for my customers? Is that a big problem? or maybe just inconvenient?

no one cares about Why I-Corps™? Most academic spinouts fail because they develop something no one cares about Do customers want something more efficient? or maybe just cheaper? or just smaller? How do they adopt new technologies? What problem does this solve for my customers? Who make a purchase decision? Is that a big problem? How do I reach new customers? or maybe just inconvenient? The answers are not in the lab and not even on campus

over 100 potential customers evaluate market opportunity What is I-Corps™? I-Corps™ provides $50k for a team to travel to meet with over 100 potential customers and partners 7 week intensive training program to get out of the lab to learn how to actually evaluate market opportunity

What is I-Corps™? Business Model Canvas: value propositions, customer segments, key activities, key resources, key partners, channels, and revenue streams To address this you will be interviewing face to face over 100 potential customer and potential partners. This is what we call “customer discovery”. We put all this into a conceptual framework called the business model canvas, a sort of living document that you use to actively capture your current thinking on the overall business model, split into its components (value propositions, customer segments, key activities, key resources, key partners, channels, and revenue streams ), throughout this customer discovery process. We expect folks to be new to this, so please don’t be dissuaded just because you haven’t seen these terms before. We work from the Customer Discovery method developed by Steve Blank & the Business Model Canvas popularized by Alex Osterwalder.

Taught by I-Corps National Instructors: deep entrepreneurship, investment & business experience

Focus on Product-Market Fit Evidence for an informed Go/No Go Decision What is I-Corps™? Focus on Product-Market Fit Evidence for an informed Go/No Go Decision Sense of Urgency Team-based: 2 people + 1 mentor Focused mainly on pre-startup formation… why launch a company if there isn’t a viable business model? …but it works well at any stage where you have real market risk.

The Network I-Corps is National! The National Innovation Network 8 Nodes 87 Sites >1200 Teams I-Corps is National!

Steve Konsek: skonsek@nsf.gov Interested? Want to learn more? I-Corps™ website: http://www.nsf.gov/i-corps Program Director: Steve Konsek: skonsek@nsf.gov If you are interested in learning more check out the I-Corps website and the Teams FAQ!

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NSF Investments Private funds Public funds Resources Invested Valley of Death Research Proof-of- Concept Early Stage Prototype Product Development Commercialization 14

NSF Investments ENG overall NSF overall Private funds IIP Domain Public funds Translational Research $B Resources Invested Valley of Death Research Proof-of- Concept Early Stage Prototype Product Development Commercialization 15

IIP Programs startups SBIR/STTR PFI:AIR-TT PFI:AIR-RA PFI:BIC I/UCRC GOALI PFI:BIC PFI:AIR-TT PFI:AIR-RA I/UCRC I-Corps NSF overall ENG overall Private funds IIP Domain FY15 IIP Budget Request $M Note: I-Corps FY15 funding request = $25M across the NSF Public funds Translational Research Resources Invested Valley of Death This is the chart I use to describe AIR in the context of IIP. Note: I-Corps budget shown is only ENG request. Overall I-Corps FY-15 request is $24.8M across the Foundation with contributions from: Biological Sciences $1M Computer and Information Science and Engineering $10M Engineering $10.6M Geosciences $1.4M Mathematical and Physical Sciences $1M Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences $0.5M Education and Human Resources $0.4M Research Proof-of- Concept Early Stage Prototype Product Development Commercialization 16

If only things were this easy IIP Programs startups SBIR/STTR GOALI PFI:BIC PFI:AIR-TT PFI:AIR-RA I/UCRC I-Corps NSF overall ENG overall Private funds IIP Domain If only things were this easy FY15 IIP Budget Request $M Note: I-Corps FY15 funding request = $25M across the NSF Public funds Translational Research Resources Invested Valley of Death This is the chart I use to describe AIR in the context of IIP. Note: I-Corps budget shown is only ENG request. Overall I-Corps FY-15 request is $24.8M across the Foundation with contributions from: Biological Sciences $1M Computer and Information Science and Engineering $10M Engineering $10.6M Geosciences $1.4M Mathematical and Physical Sciences $1M Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences $0.5M Education and Human Resources $0.4M Research Proof-of- Concept Early Stage Prototype Product Development Commercialization 17

If only things were this easy IIP Programs startups SBIR/STTR GOALI PFI:BIC PFI:AIR-TT PFI:AIR-RA I/UCRC I-Corps NSF overall ENG overall Private funds IIP Domain If only things were this easy FY15 IIP Budget Request $M Note: I-Corps FY15 funding request = $25M across the NSF Public funds Translational Research What does this mean to them? Resources Invested Valley of Death This is the chart I use to describe AIR in the context of IIP. Note: I-Corps budget shown is only ENG request. Overall I-Corps FY-15 request is $24.8M across the Foundation with contributions from: Biological Sciences $1M Computer and Information Science and Engineering $10M Engineering $10.6M Geosciences $1.4M Mathematical and Physical Sciences $1M Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences $0.5M Education and Human Resources $0.4M Research Proof-of- Concept Early Stage Prototype Product Development Commercialization 18

NSF Investments ENG overall NSF overall Private funds IIP Domain Public funds Translational Research Resources Invested Are you facing a Valley of Death? Valley of Death Research Proof-of- Concept Early Stage Prototype Product Development Commercialization 19

Translational Research Resources Invested NSF overall ENG overall IIP Domain Public funds Translational Research Resources Invested Or maybe this? Private funds Research Proof-of- Concept Early Stage Prototype Product Development Commercialization 20

Translational Research Resources Invested NSF overall ENG overall IIP Domain Public funds Translational Research Resources Invested Black Hole of Death? Private funds Research Proof-of- Concept Early Stage Prototype Product Development Commercialization 21

NSF overall ENG overall Private funds IIP Domain Public funds Translational Research I-Corps helps would-be entrepreneurs learn how to identify market potential Resources Invested Private funds Research Proof-of- Concept Early Stage Prototype Product Development Commercialization 22

I-Corps helps would-be entrepreneurs learn how to identify market potential 23

Most academic spinouts fail because they develop something no one cares about I-Corps helps would-be entrepreneurs learn how to identify market potential 24