Starting Blocks is the beginning of your journey to commercializing your technology.

The program is a 3-day workshop with customer interviews designed to help scientists and engineers of all types find a market for their innovations. The core concept encourages inventors to get out of the lab and talk to industry decision-makers to find out what problem the industry needs their product to solve.

This is the shortest, “introductory” version of the National Science Foundation's I-Corps™ methodology, which helps inventors build a customer discovery toolkit and learn to talk to industry and business funders about their technologies. Starting Blocks leverages the nationally-recognized Lean LaunchPad methodology, specifically designed for university researchers commercializing their inventions.

The program consists of:

  • Three virtual half-day lectures on customer discovery and interviewing
  • 10 to 15 interviews during the week done in a target industry during the program
  • Weekly check-in meetings with staff and mentors

Any innovator can attend, includng outside the CU System. Find out if you qualify.

Apply today

Questions? Contact Emily Klein, eklein@colorado.edu.