About the Pre-Seed Workshop
Designed for university researchers and students, the workshop team consists of a researcher with the idea, a post-doc or graduate student, an undergraduate, an MBA candidate and was led by an experienced start-up coach from the business community. Currently, PSW is a free program available to Cornell researchers and is underwritten by Cornell's Center for Life Science Enterprise and collaborating sponsors.
In the Workshop, the teams address fundamental questions that must be considered before starting up a company in a series of eight break-out sessions related to the technology, the market, the competition, the business potential, etc. Participants create an overall presentation of their idea and deliver it to a panel of experts. The expert panel then provided feedback on the merit of the opportunity.
The idea-teams complete two, intense 1-day session separated by 1-week of "homework."
To date, Cornell has held two Workshops with a total of 8 research teams participating. The next scheduled Workshop will be held in the Spring 2006 semester.
More information on the Workshop:
- The Pre-seed Process
- Sample Agenda
- Application Form for Research Teams
- PSW Creators: Mark Wilson and Judy Albers
- Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Roger Williams at 607-254-4815 for more information.
Tony Eisenhut, President, KensaGroup, a coach for the workshop:
“Currently, there is a gap between the raw idea discovered in a university lab and a start-up company ready to be funded by seed or venture capital. This type of workshop is essential to help ideas make the leap into start-up status."