UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Invent Penn State’s NSF I-Corps Short Course is accepting applications for its virtual September cohort. The no-cost program helps researchers test a startup idea through customer interviews and educational programming on the lean startup methodology.
The cohort will begin on Friday, Sept. 12, and runs through Friday, Sept. 26. The cohort will meet virtually once a week during the month span. Teams must commit to conducting a significant number of customer interviews during the three weeks, and to completing asynchronous assignments. Participants should plan on spending 5-10 hours/week of their time on I-Corps during the short course duration.
Participants must apply and complete a self-guided I-Corps prep mini-course by Friday, Sept. 5.
TalkingSick — a Penn State startup that uses AI-driven pattern recognition to analyze short voice recordings and detect deviations from a user’s healthy voice baseline, indicating potential respiratory illnesses — recently participated in the I-Corps Short Course.
“It was great practice — we did 20 interviews in three weeks,” said TalkingSick co-founder Andrés Valdez, assistant research professor in biomedical engineering. “It got us out of the science mindset and into asking people, 'What’s your biggest problem?'”
The short course exposes participants to key stakeholders and funding resources in the entrepreneurship community, increases chances of receiving an SBIR/STTR award, and puts participants in a great position to apply for the National I-Corps Program that provides $50,000 in funding to assist with customer discovery.
The TalkingSick startup team also recently completed the NSF I-Corps National Teams program, which requires teams to complete at least 100 customer interviews in just seven weeks.
“In science, especially for international researchers like us, there’s often a fear of reaching out or conducting interviews,” said TalkingSick co-founder Anna Borisova De Valdez, an MBA and master of business analytics student. “I felt that too at first—but I’ve learned it’s not so scary. People are much kinder and more open than you expect. You just have to take that first step outside your comfort zone.”
Penn State teams are also welcome to apply to other regional short course offerings from the broader Mid-Atlantic region. Contact the Penn State NSF I-Corps Program Manager, Derek Gross, to find the best solution for your team.
About NSF I-Corps
Penn State University is part of the NSF I-Corps Mid-Atlantic Hub, a network of universities, NSF-funded researchers, established entrepreneurs, local and regional entrepreneurial communities, and other federal agencies. Hubs work collaboratively to build and sustain a diverse and inclusive innovation ecosystem throughout the United States. Learn more about NSF I-Corps at Penn State.