Customer Discovery

VENTURE LAB | Customer Discovery

Validate your innovation and accelerate to market 

Who should apply?

Faculty and Grad Students/Post Docs who have developed a science or technology innovation.  A team approach is recommended including a technical lead (typically faculty) and an entrepreneurial lead (typically a student).

What you'll get

• Training: Four sessions introducing the lean startup methodology and guiding teams through customer discovery research – customer, problem, solution and value proposition testing. 
• Funding: Stipends of $1,500 are given to each team
  Acceptable Expense Policy
• Mentorship and networking: Teams will receive mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs and innovators. Teams may also utilize many other programs offered by the Hub-affiliated institutions.
• Follow-on opportunities: Upon completion, Yale faculty-led teams are eligible for the national NSF I-Corps Teams program which provides an intensive 7-week training course and a $50,000 grant.
• Other benefits include:
  • Attracting more innovative graduate students to your lab (for faculty).
  • Reassuring potential investors that you have engaged the customer and have reflected their feedback in the development of your innovation.
  • Identifying the first licensees or customers for your product.

When is the best time to attend I-Corps?

We encourage teams to apply early in the development of their innovation.  While customer discovery work can be done as early as the idea phase, typically it is most efficient when the initial research is complete or when a prototype or MVP has been developed.  Completing customer discovery before seeking outside investors is ideal.
 

Yale I-Corps Curriculum