I-Corps has achieved notable success, helping to launch 1,377 startups that raised $1.5 billion over nine years. The I-Corps approach has been groundbreaking, popularizing the idea that having better technology alone was not a sufficient predictor of success. In the I-Corps process, solutions to real problems validate the market. Technology is useful only if its application answers a need for the user or buyer. I-Corps teams focus on ‘product–market fit’ .
The PIP would be resource-intensive, offering high-touch guidance from experienced mentors. Modeled on private accelerators, it would provide dedicated mentorship, selective training, a peer group, network connections and exposure to capital sources. The threshold for application would be a validated product–market fit established during the initial I-Corps program. I-Corps faculty could recommend outstanding teams from their cohorts.
The PIP process would begin with a company evaluation and ‘reality check’, performed by a national biotechnology mentor network leveraging the existing NSF I-Corps Industrial Mentors network. The program would be time-limited to four to six months, requiring companies to focus on a value inflection point that increases the likelihood of private investment.