NSF Innovation Corps: Feeding the Spark of Innovation in the U.S.

Last month, True joined Steve Blank, Jon Feiber from Mohr Davidow and a small team from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to participate in the NSF-sponsored Innovation Corps program. This landmark effort, organized by the NSF, had the lofty goal of supporting innovation and boosting job creation in the United States.  That goal, one shared by all we do at True Ventures, was by all early measures exceeded by the incredible group of professors, engineers and graduate students in the program. The first cohort of the Innovation Corps, or I-Corps, program ended the week before Christmas in the same setting where it began back in October – the very heart of innovation in the Valley, the Engineering school at Stanford.  We thought success would be two or three of the 21 teams exiting the program to continue to build companies, but the early results show that only a few teams are not pursuing a path to commercialization.

The NSF announced the launch of the I-Corps program in July as a way to increase the level of commercialization of cutting edge research they fund on behalf of the country.  In the weeks following the launch, the teaching team of Steve Blank, Jon Feiber and myself interviewed nearly 80 teams from the top universities around the country.  Each team consisted of a professor, or Principal Investigator (PI), who had already been awarded an NSF grant, an Entrepreneurial Lead (EL), typically a graduate student, and a business mentor who would act as leverage to the teaching team when they were back on their home turf.

The first three days of I-Corps were 10-hour days on campus at Stanford, where we walked through all the components of a business model using Alexander Osterwalder’s “Business Model Canvas” as the basis.  We talked about distribution, customers, pricing, revenue, sourcing, IP, how to pivot – everything one may need to understand in order to forge a path from the lab to a viable company.  One of the most important things that happened during the intensive days at Stanford came from Steve Blank’s mantra about getting out of the building and talking to customers.  Most of the participants had never made cold calls before and had spent little time outside of their labs – talking to people who might buy their potential product was a foreign and somewhat daunting exercise. Through a combination of tough love and a little peer pressure, we got them out of the building and talking to customers. Over the course of the eight-week program, the teams made contact with over 2,000 potential customers – over 100 in just the first three days.  In the end, most found talking to customers to be one of the more rewarding aspects of the program.

I was surprised to see the speed and intensity with which the teams got engaged with the curriculum; their thirst for knowledge was awe-inspiring. It is a credit to the NSF – they have invested in an amazing group of technologies and scientists.

NSF and True

True and I got involved with I-Corps because of the tremendous respect I have for the work the NSF team does on behalf of the country and because of what Steve Blank has done for entrepreneurs all over the world.  Thanks to their efforts, the world of science and innovation is a better place and our country is stronger because of them. We took 67 people from around the country – who until then had no idea how to commercialize technology and create a company – and got them energized, educated and motivated to now go out and create a profitable enterprise.  Of course, there were a few teams who did not get a viable company together during the program.  An equally valuable lesson is realizing that the company you are attempting to build is just not worth the time and effort.

Innovation and company formation is a key driver of the US economy, and one that True Ventures strives for every day.  As True looks forward to our second True University this summer, we will again have Steve Blank and Alexander Osterwalder talking to our portfolio and bringing their innovative ideas to bear. With programs like True University and I-Corps, we strive to give people the tools and resources to create more and better companies, create jobs and feed that spark of innovation in the country. I’m excited to see the next iteration of the I-Corps program and to witness the lasting impact of this experiment.