Applications must be received by 02/06/2025.
Course Description
Do you want to translate your research into impactful real-world applications? Join UW-Madison’s Technology Entrepreneurship Office (TEO) for the 2025 Spring I-Corps cohort! This free, six-week, non-credit, virtual workshop uses evidence-based strategies for achieving entrepreneurial success and is open to research faculty, staff, and students at any higher education institution. With help from NSF I-Corps™ trained instructors and the TEO Hi-Tech Mentor Network, participants will comprehensively understand their future customers and market ecosystem.
Learning Objectives
- Develop familiarity with Lean LaunchPad concepts and tools such as customer discovery, ecosystem mapping, and the Value Proposition Canvas
- Understand customers’ problems (“pain points”) from THEIR perspective
- Map your customer ecosystem to understand customer roles, requirements, and decision processes
- Build connections to the commercial ecosystem (i.e., customers, suppliers, funders) for your innovation
Course Benefits
- Explore pathways to launch a startup
- Evaluate the potential of your research discovery or technology
- Discover how your innovation can impact society as a usable technology
- Strengthen your next research proposal to secure funding
Course Schedule*
- February 27 (4:45-7:00 pm CT)
- March 6 (4:45-7:00 pm CT)
- March 13 (4:45-7:00 pm CT)
- March 20 (4:45-7:00 pm CT)
- March 27 (5:00-6:00 pm CT) (Attendance for this session is optional)
- April 3 (4:45-7:30 pm CT)
*This workshop will require a time commitment of approximately four-six hours/week, on average. This includes attending all required sessions, a minimum of four coaching sessions with an assigned team mentor, and a minimum of 20 customer discovery interviews (planning, scheduling, conducting interviews, and documenting results to be shared with instructors and mentors).