Venture Fellows
Accelerating the campus entrepreneurial ecosystem, the Venture Fellows Program supports UC San Diego laboratory innovators and early-stage founders to evaluate the commercialization potential of new technology and to validate the potential of new ventures.
To date, 148 students from 12 disciplines have participated in 39 projects.
Eligibility
Founders: Graduate students, alumni, and faculty with commercially promising science or technology.
Student Venture Fellows: Students from any discipline. Graduate students are favored, but undergraduates are often selected. Recent graduates can also be considered.
Project Objectives
Under the guidance of Center Senior Staff and a seasoned Mentor, the Founder(s) and Student Venture Fellows collaboratively address the following, as applicable:
- Deep market research
- Competitive analysis
- Customer discovery
- FDA assessment
- Drafting SBIR commercialization plans
- Craft pro forma financials (for more advanced startups)
Each project culminates in a presentation of the consolidated findings by the Student Fellows to the Founders, Mentor, and Staff/Instructor.
Timing and Commitment
New projects are launched quarterly.
Projects can range from 10-12 weeks and require:
• A one-hour weekly virtual meeting
• Founder’s active participation for 1-2 hours per week
• Student Fellows commitment of 6-8 hours per week
Students: Interested? – fill out this form
Faculty & Founders: Get started by filling out this form
Sample Projects
Neuretix - Health Sciences/Orthopedics
Deep market, regulatory, and reimbursement research for a new venture providing graft free biomedical device for the treatment of severe peripheral nerve injuries.
CTGT - Data Sciences
Deep market and patent research and draft business model for a new venture developing technology to rapidly speed up (up to 500x) machine learning models.
NinTeq - Health Sciences/Radiology
Deep market research, strategic partner evaluation, and preliminary go-to-market strategies for new venture providing superior non-invasive and cost-effective brain health assessment and monitoring.
Third Element Bio - Biomedical Sciences/Therapeutics
Develop pro-forma financials for a new venture developing innovative therapies to address neurological diseases and disorders.
RAN Vasculo - Health Sciences/Vascular Surgery
Deep market, regulatory and pricing research for a new venture providing a novel thrombectomy device to address clotting issues among dialysis patients.
OxyLo - Bioengineering/Therapeutics
Deep market and competitive research and regulatory determination for SBIR submission for a new venture offering novel enzyme-based microcapsules to starve cancer tumors of oxygen.
What people are saying
“Venture Fellows gave us an opportunity to broaden our team. The program brought new ideas and has been invaluable!” – Fiza Singh, MD, Co-Founder, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, UC San Diego Medical Center
“As a Founder, the Venture Fellows program offered a unique opportunity to collaborate with a cross-functional team (many with clinical experience) to map customer workflows, gain the voice of the customer, and drive insights that bridge innovation with patient impact was a priceless experience we can't recommend enough!” – Jarrett Southern, Co-Founder of VitalVis, Rady MBA ‘24
