Northwest Region NSF I-Corps Hub
Transform your innovative technology into a startup
About us
As part of the Northwest Region NSF I-Corps Hub, each month UC Berkeley hosts an immersive 10 day virtual customer discovery training. You'll learn how to conduct 20 customer interviews to identify your top customer segment and value propositions, validate your commercial market, and accelerate finding product market fit.
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Testimonials
Respira Labs wouldn’t be what it is today without the help of the NSF Bay Area I-Corps node. As a first-time founder without business experience, learning the ins and outs of customer discovery positioned us to get into the most competitive national programs and secure almost $2M in grant awards from NSF and NIH.
Whenever I meet an early-stage founder, especially those who are not well represented in the tech industry (women and POC), I always tell them to complete this course before spending any time fundraising or building a product.
I-Corps was pivotal in my decision to pursue Intropic Materials. I came in knowing our technology platform was a deep innovation, but it was the customer discovery process that validated the real market need for our solution.
During I-Corps, I was taught how to apply my scientific training to the process of understanding a customer and humanizing their needs. This shift away from a purely technical focus, into one that brings value to an individual has been transformative to how I approach my business.
"I-Corps was a demanding and rewarding program! The teaching team forced us to identify and test our assumptions with real users. I learned to ask for help, ask well-researched but open-ended questions, and actively listen to the responses. Our team finished I-Corps with a better product, stronger narrative, evidence of customer demand, and a deeper connection to our users."
“As a computer science faculty with no experience in commercialization, I found participating in Bay Area I-Corps an incredible experience. The amazing team of faculty and teaching assistants gave me and my team a more practical attitude towards customer discovery and commercialization in a fun, educational and unique setting. The experiences we gained at Bay Area I-Corps prepared us well for our subsequent participation and completion of the NSF National I-Corps program.”
NSF I-Corps is designed for academic researchers and early stage founders to validate their commercial market and de-risk the tech commercialization process. Teams with an early stage tech innovation based startup or startup idea in the Northwest Region (Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska) are eligible to apply.
Our Team
Each NSF I-Corps course is taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who will give you clear feedback and direction throughout the week.
RHONDA SHRADER
Hub Director - NSF I-Corps Northwest & Executive Director Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship
DAVID WEINER
Program Director, UC Berkeley NSF I-Corps
SEO YEON YOON
Hub Instructor, National Faculty
Teams who complete the NSF I-Corps course may also be eligible for no cost resources from SBDCTech @ Berkeley Haas, such as tailored advising to help secure non-dilutive funding from the Tech Futures Group, finance advising from the SBDC Finance Center, and the NorCal SBDC Restaurant Program, which includes resources such as one-on-one advising and a 10-week food business startup accelerator.
Apply below for the March NSF I-Corps course, with online sessions from 5-8pm PST on March 17, March 20, & April 2. For the March course, we are excited to offer a second class happening at the same time: I-Corps @ LSEC, our collaborative course with the UC Berkeley Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center. Taught by Seo Yeon Yoon, I-Corps @ LSEC offers an I-Corps curriculum tailored to early stage life-science startups.
