The Program's Lean Startup approach helps accelerate business model concepts generated on campuses to better match market needs. Ideadvance encourages teams to try new ideas as part of a fail-fast, pivot, and move-on strategy.
7. IDEADVANCE
INTRODUCTION
STAGE 1: $25,000 to explore an idea
STAGE 2: $50,000 + match to execute a strategy
Funding not guaranteed but is earned as teams
complete commercialization milestones
Investment Committee representing state,
university and entrepreneurial backgrounds
select teams
Broad eligibility: ideas range from Arts to STEM
Over 95% of funds go directly to teams, not
operation
Education empowering subject matter experts
to consider entrepreneurship
8. STARTUPS ARE LEARNING UNITS
not small versions of big businesses
IDEA BUSINESS
STARTUPS ARE LEARNING ENTITIES
9. IDENTIFY AND TEST
ASSUMPTIONS
Stage 1 :Test the problem Stage 1- 2: Then test solution
(Learn and Confirm) (Learn and Confirm)
Customer
Discovery
Customer
Validation
Customer
Creation
Company
Building
Pivot
STAGE 1 STAGE 2
Talk with 60-80 customer and industry contacts in 3 months.
10. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
EDUCATION = EMPOWERMENT
Money is not
guaranteed….but
support is
Networking support
Customized metrics
Concierge lowers
activation energy for
participation
Business ideation
Grant writing support
Accountability
We challenge
assumptions building
new skills
Not business training
but scientific training
Talking to people
11. RESULTS/LESSONS LEARNED
Lessons learned
Education on critical business thinking skills helps teams access opportunities
including funding, customers and new ventures.
The program’s structure allows the Investment Committee to invest
first in the team, and second in the idea.
Program requires coordination between state and university partners
50 Teams; $1.8 Million (USD) awarded;
I have two master’s
degrees, and I feel
like I have a third one
because of
Ideadvance
~Faculty
Without the Ideadvance
program I would not be
where I am today.
~Student Entrepreneur
This program really taught
me the importance of
customer discovery. I use
this in my work with
students.
~Staff
(USD) reported capital
$4.1 MILLION
Innovation – supporting tech-based companies, partnering with higher ed, working with tech transfer offices
Developing entrepreneurs – entrepreneurship training, business planning, mentor groups, SBDC offices, conferences
Companies – financial assistance, accelerators, lean startup, technical assistance
Ecosystem – partner networks and relationships, resources that fit together to address complex needs, identifying opportunities and gaps, investor connections, seed funds,
Much activity in the Madison region
Madison leads state in tech startup activity – on national stage
Significant support resources
Thriving ecosystem
Capacity Building grant pilot program to address local and focused entrepreneurship opportunities. – Looking to make an ongoing program.
WARF Upstart
Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic
Results are de-duplicated 2015 annual reported numbers for WEDC operated programs
Jobs are maintained and created rollup
Payroll is estimated based on average wages reported
Companies we work with are almost exclusively pre-profitability so the total impact is much larger as they grow
Ideadvance draws from existing operations infrastructure and business experts, thus saving money on infrastructure and personnel, and resulting in more pass-through dollars to teams.
We reward Learning- Not a plan! (Mike Tyson punch picture
Making the uncomfortable comfortable.
Grant writing skills
Teaching a technician/subject matter expert to consider business,
Who is a concierge? Someone who is dedicated to training, mentoring. Someone with the ability to ask questions and lead someone to be curious. Empowers a team member.
I bring unique skills in research, subject matter expertise- but not a business expert. My goals are to train a process and give them tools to identify SME in business that elevate them to the next level
Getting out of the building and talking directly with people
Companies are tracked for up to 5 years measuring impacts like jobs, capital, sales and so on.
Lean Startup process
This paradigm of learning and confirming extends into Stage 2 where they present milestones towards scaling and customer acquisition
Lean Startup process
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face (people want to tell me about their plan. They don’t’ want to admit their learning goals. I give them freedom to admit learning and freedom to invalidate a hypothesis
Critically, the search for customers is where we start. We leverage the scientific method teaching them to identify and test critical business assumptions. With more than 80 customer data points, they can draw conclusions about first the problem, and then secondly the merit of their solution. This is a repeatable, learning process of customer discovery that starts in Ideadvance and continues as they grow their business.
*Add here that support is augmented by the community of ecosystem players that Aaron spoke about earlier*
Making the uncomfortable comfortable.
Grant writing skills
Teaching a technician/subject matter expert to consider business,
Who is a concierge? Someone who is dedicated to training, mentoring. Someone with the ability to ask questions and lead someone to be curious. Empowers a team member.
I bring unique skills in research, subject matter expertise- but not a business expert. My goals are to train a process and give them tools to identify SME in business that elevate them to the next level
Getting out of the building and talking directly with people
I’m so glad you have the opportunity to reach to people and help them walk through this process.
I’ve never applied for a grant before.
It is hard to translate what we do to the goals of the grant and into business language
And apply critical thinking skills to ask new questions
Intangible success are what our awardees say about their learnings in Ideavance
To date, participating Ideadvance teams have conducted more than 3,000 customer interviews in an effort to test more than 100 individual business-model assumptions.
No one person should claim ownership of a team’s success. But we do track the teams efforts/outputs in the program before and after participation.
Since its inception, 50 Ideadvance participants have received $1.8 million (U.S.) in grant funding to support their startup initiatives and have attracted an additional $1.4 million (U.S.) in additional capital through investments and crowdfunding support. Applications for intellectual property protection through WiSys have increased significantly over the same time period and licensing income exceeds $150,000 (U.S.).
Ecosystem players
SME Advisors (CTC), State Partners (WEDC) Business Advisors (free, generalists), Accelerators, Co-working spaces, Mentors, Community members, business leaders, University, Competitions