University Gap Fund and Accelerator Programs: Conversations with Leaders Series: Michigan State University
Jacob Johnson
innovosource | Research Institution Proof of Concept, Startup Accelerators, Venture Funds | Collab Venture + Corporate Innovation
We asked the same five questions to 30 leading gap fund and accelerator programs to support active and developing university programs.
Over the past 20 years, these innovation and investment programs have supported translational research, proof of concept, and development of promising research institution technology and startups.
How would you describe the need for gap funding/accelerator programs to someone outside of the university tech commercialization/innovation community?
With funding support from MSU and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) for ADVANCE, Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization (MTRAC), Technology Transfer Talent Network (T3N), we can support all stages of technology development. Our TSGTD and ADVANCE programs fund early-stage technology development to do proof of concept work to enhance patent applications or development of first prototypes. Our statewide MTRAC Ag Bio Innovation Hubprogram is targeted to drive AgBioTech projects that have good proof of concept further toward commercialization, by funding industry-informed technology improvements, market assessments, and technology partner engagements. Our Spartan Innovations organization with funding support from the MSU Foundation and the MEDC T3N program manages Entrepreneurs-In-Residence and Venture Fellows to help write and refine business plans and create go-to-market strategies. Our Red Cedar Ventures organization works with University startups, providing active pre-seed coaching while making early stage investments with the in nascent startups, and larger co-investments in partnership to external investment rounds, and also operates our Conquer Accelerator program.
Briefly describe the gap funding or accelerator program(s) that you have put in place to address this need?
We have programs that act at all stages of technology development. Our TSGTD and ADVANCE programs fund early-stage technology development to do proof of concept work to enhance patent applications or development of first prototypes. Our MTRAC program is targeted to drive AgBioTech projects that have good proof of concept further toward commercialization, by funding industry-informed technology improvements, market assessments, and technology partner engagements. Our Spartan Innovations organization manages Entrepreneurs-In-Residence and Venture Fellows to help write and refine business plans and create go-to-market strategies. Our Red Cedar Ventures organization works with University startups, providing active pre-seed coaching while making early stage investments in nascent startups, and larger co-investments in partnership to external investment rounds, and also operates our Conquer Accelerator program.
What are the major challenges that you have experienced thus far and how have you addressed these in your program(s)?
Our biggest challenge is finding experienced talent. We always need talented and experienced entrepreneurs with domain expertise for our technologies to drive business plan development, technical development, and fundraising for our startups. We have an entrepreneurs-in-residence program, where we invest in people to spend time with us, our technologies, and our scientific founders. But our appetite for experienced talent outpaces our ecosystem's supply.
What are you most proud of [in relation to your program(s)]? What is a meaningful impact to you?
We are proudest of the progress we've made in developing an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship, where there was very little before. We see a steady and growing pipeline of opportunities and a growing number of sustainable businesses. Our survival rate is very high, and we credit that success to the people and programs we put in place to create a rationale runway for the launch of companies with decent plans.
What is one piece of advice to your university peers that are either launching or developing gap funding and accelerator programs of their own?
The temptation in a university is to fund people for time periods – a grad student for a semester. Change the script to funding investment in milestones toward commercial purpose. Identify the next step on the critical path, fund that work, then reevaluate. You will find that your money goes farther, and your outcomes are better. Also, make sure everyone is on the same page on why you're doing this. Returns are good, but so is job creation and building the innovation culture.
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