Eligibility Standards

Eligible teams must include a UW System affiliated alumni, staff, student or faculty to assist the team to complete lean startup & discovery activities. The eligible UW System team member does not need to be a founder or hold equity in the company, but ideally should play a significant role in the project and/or company outcomes. Competitive teams include both UW System and non, UW-System affiliated members. Non, UW-System teams exploring the commercialization of licensed technology from the WiSys Technology Foundation or the UW-Milwaukee Research Foundation are eligible.  Contact us with eligibility questions.

Program Overview

New for 2021 – Choose One of the Stage 1 Tracks (Guidelines)

• Small Business Innovation: Applicants are early stage, likely startup, with at least two dedicated full time or part time employees. Small Business Innovation track awardees are likely to pursue next step, follow-on funding through revenue, angels or venture capital funding, and therefore focus Lean Startup learning objectives towards a sales launch with pilot customers and consider debt financing and/or equity financing.
• Partnered Innovation: Applicants may be established businesses or startups with no more than 50 employees and appropriate annual receipt size exclusions (below). Awardees should be actively engaged with or expect to require partner expertise towards commercialization of an innovative process or deep technology. Partnered Innovation Track awardees are likely to have more technology risk and pursue next step, follow-on funding through a partner strategy, grants, contracts, or equity investment; and therefore, focus Lean Startup learning objectives towards a pilot or fully executed partner agreement or engagement for competitive grant/contract, debt and/or equity financing.
  Check out this video for a quick overview.

Which stage 1 track is right for me?

Stage 2 (Guidelines)

Applicants must be companies that have participated in Ideadvance Stage 1 programs and have completed Stage 1 deliverables. These applicants must have a milestone driven approach for customer acquisition & follow-on funding towards a scalable business model.

Lean Startup Framework

The Lean Startup provides a scientific approach to creating and managing startups and get a desired product to customers’ hands faster. The Lean Startup method teaches you how to drive a startup-how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere-and grow a business with maximum acceleration. It is a principled approach to new product development that involves early customer interaction to help guide the process.