0

1

2

3

4

5

VW programs

6

7

8

We are going to spend the next few talking about our grants and competitions

Has anyone here gotten a faculty or E-Team grant from us?

VentureWell awards more than $1.2 million in funding annually via our two grants

programs—E-Team and Faculty grants.

E-Team: for for student led teams commercializing a technology innovation that solves a big

problem;

Faculty grants are for courses or programs teaching technology entrepreneurship to

students, who we hope will form teams and apply for E-Team grants.

In this way we see our grants programs as on a continuum— courses and programs funded

by faculty grants feeding the E-Team program

Faculty grants first

9

Faculty grants are for new courses or programs or to enhance, expand or improve existing

courses or programs in technology entrepreneurship

10

Here are some things about faculty grants you need to know

We have one proposal intake a year, in the fall

We’ve got about $600K to award

Each grant can be up to $30K

And each grant can be 1 to 3 years in duration

Between 15 and 25% of proposals get funded

11

There are requirements in order to apply,

These are the two areas that hang folks up when they’re working on their application

How does your school become a member? It’s easy, just pay the annual fee!

Any department or office can pay the fee, often it’s the Office of Sponsored Programs or

Research and it’s good for the entire university or college

Learn more about membership on our website

12

So how do you know whether your course or program is a fit for a VentureWell faculty

grant?

It should include all of these parts:

Successful proposals should include all of these:

1. A focus technology entrepreneurship; need to have both technology AND

entrepreneurship

2. The course or program should be experiential

3. The tech focus should be on projects with a positive environmental or social impact

3. Teams should form. We call them all E-Teams but they don’t have to apply to the E-Team

program

3. The course should be part of an entrepreneurial ecosystem to support teams interested

in continuing

4. Plan for financial and administrative sustainability after the grant; a few years ago we did

a survey and found that more than 90% of the courses or programs we funded are still

going in some form or another

13

What do you need to submit? Proposals are submitted electronically via our online

application portal

You’ll submit a five page narrative and up to five supporting documents– answer a series of

questions.

What’s the course? Is it new, is it an improvement of something that already exists?

Guidelines

How does what you’re proposing fit into what already exists

How will E-Team be formed? Any student team is an E-Team

A workplan – what’s the timeline, what milestones do you hope to hit during the grant

period

Who’s your team and what are their roles?

What does success look like?

You’ll find this in much greater detail in the faculty grants guidlines

14

You’ll need to demonstrate that there’s institutional support for what you’re doing. And the

way that we do that is by getting these four folks to electronically verify that they support

what you’re doing

To show institutional support you’ll need to ID these four folks in your proposal. Verification

of support is requested electronically via our application system, and it sometimes takes

some time for these busy people to respond. So when you’re preparing to submit, you will

want to send these verification requests well in advance of the deadline. This is one area

that’s out of your control and can cause anxiety.

The PI could be you, could be someone else. This person has overall responsibility for the

grant and the reporting requirements

Dean of Faculty and the Department Chair – to indicate awareness and support for

your proposal

Administrative Contact –most often from your Office of Sponsored

Programs/Research, this person is a grants administrator or fiscal officer authorized

to commit the institution to the terms of the grant

A budget – how do you plan to spend the grant? The budget should align with your

narrative. Allowable expenses include: prototyping materials and supplies, personnel costs,

related travel, etc.

15

At least one and up to three letters of support -

Resumes

15

We notify all applicants of their status within 90 days of the deadline. You may be asked to

resubmit – reviewers saw something interesting but didn’t think the idea was fully baked

At various times during the grant period, we will ask you to submit some information—how

are things going, how much money have you spent

We do consider ourselves the kinder, gentler funder so if you have questions before or after

please call or email us

16

Any questions about faculty grants?

17

Our second grants program is the E-Team Program

Early stage funding and training to help students move their technology innovations out of

the classroom or lab and into the marketplace

18

As I mentioned this is a multi stage program that includes grant funding, training

and coaching.

Stage 1 teams get $5,000 and attend a three day workshop on product-market fit

and value proposition development.

Stage 1 teams can apply for Stage 2, which is a $20K grant and an additional 3 day

workshop focused on business model and workplan development.

Stage 3, now called ASPIRE provides tools and training to help teams prepare for

relationships with investors or strategic partners.

Teams who have successfully completed all three Stages may receive a matching

investment of up to $50K—VentureWell has a small pool of funds and invests in a

team or two per year.

There are three deadlines per year: in the FALL, WINTER and SPRING; the next one

is coming up in May

19

20

Basically, strong proposals demonstrate the development of innovations that are:

1—technically feasible

2—are solving a real world problem that impacts society or the environment

3—that are scalable and commercially promising

4--that are being driven by a strong student team—and by that I mean a team that’s

committed to bringing their technology to the marketplace and have a balance of both

technical and business expertise. Teams can include undergraduate and graduate students,

as well as faculty, advisors and mentors with relevant industry experience and connections.

BUT it should be the students that are serving as the entrepreneurial leaders of the team.

21

Just like the faculty grants all components are submitted electronically via our online

application tool.

Teams will answer a series of questions about the problem they’re solving and their

solution, market potential, value proposition, competition, team and team support,

workplan and outcomes

22

Just like the the faculty grants;

Advisors and supports are a bit different for E-Teams

Faculty – if you are asked to be PI on an E-Team proposal you have overall responsibility for

the grant and reporting requirements, AND to provide guidance and help the team navigate

your university bureaucracy

Department Chair – to indicate awareness and support for your proposal

Administrative Contact –most often from your Office of Sponsored

Programs/Research, this person is a grants administrator or fiscal officer authorized

to commit the institution to the terms of the grant

23

24

If you’d like to see the kinds of teams and technologies we fund join us tomorrow evening

at Open Minds. Thirteen teams will be on hand to showcase their products. We hope you

take the opportunity to meet each team, check out their products and ask them some

challenging questions!

25

Any questions about the E-Team program or anything else?

26

I also would like to briefly mention our biomedical competitions—there are two

BMEidea is open to both graduate and undergraduate teams.

Strong competition entries describe a new health-related technology that is technically

feasible and addresses a real clinical need.

In addition to $18,500 in prizes, winning teams are automatically considered for our E-

Team program

There still time for your students to submit, deadline is April 6

27

In addition

We recently teamed up with the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and

Bioengineering, or NIBIB to create DEBUT, a biomedical engineering competition for

undergraduate-only teams. The submitted projects are most often from senior Capstone

Design courses, and many Capstone coordinators and faculty use the competition as a part

of the course itself.

Like BMEIdea, we’re looking for entries that describe a new health-related technology that

is technically feasible and addresses a real clinical need.

28

That was a lot of information I just covered—does anyone have any questions?

29

Now we’re going to hear from some of our grantees about their experiences with

VentureWell. Will our three panelists please join us here at the front? Welcome to you all.

Introductions

Q and A Laura

Questions from the audience

Thank you panelists

30

Questions for the panelists?

31

A couple of final notes: I’d like to give a shout out to two additional VentureWell program

sessions happening tomorrow. So if you’re interested, check them out!

32

If you’ve got questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email us.

Or ask a VentureWell staffer today or tomorrow

33

34