Learn About the Activate Fellowship

Welcome and again, welcome to our Activate informational webinar. Really excited to spend the time with you all today. My name is Rick Kopinski. I'm the director for Fellowship recruitment. So I am here to help you answer all your questions, give you some information, just overview of the program. I'm joined here with my colleague Joshua Wells, who's going to be helping us monitor the chat as well as making sure everyone's let into the room and all the other logistics associated with this webinar. So Josh, thank you again. So. So we're going to go ahead and get started and really discuss during our time together, we're going to go over this following information, starting with our story and purpose of why and how Acctivate was created. We'll then go into a little bit more detail about the fellowship experience itself. We're going to discuss our impact and results so far and review the application timeline and what we look for in an applicant. Please feel free to put your questions in the chat at any time throughout the presentation, but we will and we'll do our best to answer them via the chat, but we're also going to have a live Q and A session at the end where you can have the opportunity to raise your hand and and ask your question directly. There's a lot of people today obviously in this meeting, as you can all see. I don't know if we can get to every question. So if you don't, if we don't get to your question, you can always send us an email@applyactivate.org at any time and we're happy to answer it later if we don't get to it today. So thank you for that. So why don't we first talk about our story and our purpose Activate. This is our mission. We empower Scient to re and engineers to reinvent the world by bringing their research to market. So what does that mean? We saw a gap in support for early stage entrepreneurial scientists and really built this fellowship to meet that need. We created this pathway, this intentional pathway for science scientists whose research was a little bit too applied for basic science, but really too early for industry. Then that created an impasse for them. Right. So we really, there was really nowhere to go. There was nowhere they can go to. So our fellowship is that intentional path that enables scientists and engineers to transform that idea or that innovation into a product that addresses real and profound societal needs. We'll get into what that means a little bit deeper in a minute. But here is the I Fellowship is a premier program for scientists on a mission. This is our most recent cohort that was just announced last week. We met with everyone in June. This is at our retreat in Boston just about a month ago. And we exist to support our fellows, full stop. And this really shows that I think our job is to support you, not, you know, in your transformation from scientist to entrepreneur. We're really looking for leaders who want to become CEOs of their companies, leaders who want to manage people, scientists who want to understand the way, you know, how to commercialize a product, how to build a company and sustain a company, and so that we can ensure that your innovation really makes that impact on the world. And so this includes staff, this picture includes staff and includes current and alumni fellows. Building community is important to us and it's really the cornerstone of our program. We always hear this from Fellows that their number one value added of participating in the Activate Fellowship was the community aspect. And we can get more into that as well and answer any questions about that later. So this slide really just shows that we, like I said, we, we're going to mention this a lot, so get used to hearing it, but we exist to support our fellows. We don't, we don't take any equity in the, in the companies. We're really there to help you get to whatever milestones, whatever goals you want to accomplish, which looks different to each person. And there, therefore, it's a really customized way to, you know, help you and your journey, but go along with a cohort of other Fellows so you're not lonely on that journey. We're there to help all of you succeed in whatever, whatever, whatever that looks like to you. We also make things right. We're really looking for people to create a product, create a prototype while they're in the Fellowship. That's really going to then be something that can be potentially commercialized and scaled up to, to help really solve these problems. And then we really, you know, are really there to solve those problems to. It's a purpose. Those are. We're very mission driven and we really need to help, you know, reinvent our economy to be sustainable, resilient and equitable. And you all are there and our Activate Fellows are there to make that happen. And we want to help you with that along the way. So all Activate Fellows share a common purpose. They're very mission driven. They're there to really build their companies to, as leaders to improve the world through science. But just as there's no single solution to any global crisis, there's no real single Persona, path or story behind what an activated Fellow is. So we really take, you know, inclusion and accessibility really seriously as part of our program. We really want more backgrounds. We want different perspectives represented in the fellow community across all of our different communities, particularly through individuals from historically marginalized and underrepresented communities. We do feel that the richer the fellowship experience will be for everybody to have that diversity within the cohorts. And so we do take it very seriously. We have a case study here of one of our, our, one of our success stories. We just like to show Tasha Cave. She was in our first cohort in 2015 in Berkeley. She came out of Stanford. Her and her co founders came out at an idea. They were working on a research idea in Stanford, and then they founded the company 12 along with. She founded the company 12 along with two other founders. And 12 transforms carbon emissions into critical chemicals, materials, and fuels that today are made from fossil fuels. And so they got early funding, but they, but a lot of the investors really kept asking them to see what they've built, you know, what, what their prototype was, and they weren't going to invest in them until they actually had something. So they applied to the ACTIVATE Fellowship and really took the two years in the fellowship program to develop that technology, to build her team, to build the team of people who are going to be successful and to make sure that the technology was, you know, viable, was something that could be sustainable and that could be scaled up. And really proud of all the work that she's done since our, since she's graduated. And she's now has 200 employees at 12. And they've really excelled from taking that innovation from her graduate school and built that company out of that one idea and that one research idea. And they've most recently gotten funding and support to launch their first commercial facility to manufacture, to manufacture sustainable aviation fuel to fuel the skies later this year. So really exciting time. Definitely Google them. Really an exciting company. Great. So let me give you a little bit more about specific details about what the program actually gives you, what the benefits are of participating in the Activate Fellowship. So the first thing you're going to see is that we embed you in a community, right? You are going to work really closely with people in your community. We have five different communities. We've got the Berkeley community, the Boston community, the New York City community. We have the Houston community, and then we have our virtual community called the Anywhere community. And we're going to talk a little bit more about that later. But it's really embedding you in that community and that ecosystem that you're going to be a part of, that'll be. That makes the most sense for you and for your company to strive. And so really it's. The first part of our program is really building that community. The second one is obviously, you know, money. You need money to build a company, you need money to be successful, and you also need money to, to survive. And so we give you all of that in order to start your company, in order for you to develop your technology, in order for you to build your team. So we're really there to help you make that progress by giving you those resources to make your first product. We helped you develop your skills. We have a whole educational component that is really helping you as a scientist, learn how to build your business acumen, right? Like you need to know how to hire people, you know how to need to know how to do accounting, you need to know how to do all those things that you haven't been spending probably too much time learning. And really this should be the first time that you're hearing this and developing those skills. And so we're really there to help you through that during the two years of the fellowship experience and then finally connecting you with the right people in order to get that capital to launch your program after you've developed a prototype and to scale up and commercial commercialize your product. And so we make those connections, we give you that network of the ecosystem partners that are really going to help you in government. From anywhere from government to academia to nonprofit to philanthropy to corporations, we have all of those connections that are going to help you launch after that. So more specifically, you get $100,000 per year as a stipend. You also get travel allowance to go to conferences. You have health insurance reimbursement and relocation. If you do happen to have to move to in residence community that you're selected for, you get $100,000 through a grant recoverable grant in research and development funds that can be used for technical, that's specifically used for technical development of your product and development of your, of your idea. And then we have a venture partner program that you also have access to and opt into if you want additional access to some capital. Like I said, you have a community of folks. You not only have your fellow fellows that your, your alumni, your current group, you also have the activate team. Each community has a managing director, a fellowship manager and a fellowship associate making sure that you are hitting your milestones, making sure that you're getting the mentorship that you're Building your advisory board that you're hitting, you know, all of the, all of whatever success looks like to you and making sure that you're hitting those along the way. And then obviously all of the other folks within your ecosystem, the Greentown labs, the ions, all the different accelerator incubator programs as well, who are building their own ecosystem and then helping us support entrepreneurial scientists. And I have already mentioned this, but the educational component is of value. It's so important for you to be able to grow as a leader, to really develop your business acumen and to really learn. Just take the opportunity to learn while you're in the fellowship. And then finally we bottom right here, it's really giving you access to the labs in order to develop your technology. We have great relationships with research facilities. We want you to be developing your own IP and protecting your own IP as you are building your ideas and technology. It's really important to us and we help you make sure that that is part of the process. And then obviously, if you need technical equipment, we also have access to experts as well to help you with anything that you need that isn't easily accessible for you. All right, so you made it into the fellowship. Congratulations. What do you have to do? You are on a weekly basis, meeting, meeting, doing your professional development programming. We have educational components all the time. We have guest speakers, we have educational content called the elements of Entrepreneurship. And the first seven. I'm sorry, the first. I can remember how long it is. I think it's seven weeks, 10 weeks where you are learning how to all the basics of starting your company from the ground up. And then we, we also have community connections where you're having happy hours, dinner, socializing with your, with your community teams and then additional small group meetings. And those are probably happening pretty weekly on a monthly basis. You're looking at one on one mentorship check ins with your managing director, making sure again that you're hitting your milestones, that you are getting the mentorship that you need to be successful, that maybe if you have to pivot, they're helping you decide where to pivot, what are the right places to pivot, which industries that you might have, might not have been thinking about, that your technology can impact. And they're there to help you as a mentor through that process. On a quarterly basis, you're creating your advisory board meetings with additional folks who are going to help you in the ecosystem and help your company be successful. And then annually you're doing reflection meetings on how the year went, where you want to go for the future in your second year, we have the new fellow retreat from that picture that I posted earlier and we have some summits and other additional. We have demo days. We have things that are happening on a regular basis for you to help connect you and be successful. So these are some people you'd be working with. Jill is our managing director in our Berkeley office. Dan is in Boston, Andrew is in New York. Andres is in our anywhere managing director and Jeremy is our, our Houston managing director. I definitely encourage you to come to our webinars. If they're going to be there, they will speak, they will give advice, they will help out as much as they can and sometimes they have happy hours and opportunities within the ecosystem. So if you are in any of these cities, we definitely encourage you to sign up for our communications because a lot of things come through the communications. You could do that through activate.org apply and then you'll see things like Boston's having a happy hour. Where is it going to be? Let me talk to some current fellows, let me talk to some alumni fellows and let me talk to Dan from our managing director. So definitely opportunities to meet with these folks a little bit before just to learn more about about their philosophy and how they help mentor. And then we have like I mentioned, a fellowship manager and a fellowship associate. We have our partnerships team here who really help you connect with different investors and people who can help with all the different resources to, to get you launched after, after you graduate. This is just showing you that we're across the country again, we've mentioned this already, but we have this whole network of people across the country working specifically in different in residence communities. And Activate Anywhere like I mentioned, Activate Anywhere is the ability for you to stay in your current ecosystem if you don't live in any of these major cities and participate that way in a virtual way. Their programming is a little bit more virtual, more through the Zoom method. But they do meet quarterly in person, typically around big events. For example, they often the Activating Work community typically goes to Climate Week in New York as their fall trip. And so they're meeting with investors, meeting with people, demoing their, talking about their technology and building their network along with a lot of other people during that big event. And so it's a really good opportunity if you want to stay where you are. If you have reasons to not move family, whatever reasons it is for you, you can choose that in our application. You do get to rank the communities that you want to participate in. I will say the Activate Anywhere is our most Competitive as you can imagine because we get a lot more applications, almost double the applications to that program. So let's talk about our impact and results. We obviously, as you can see from our numbers, we it's working. We've since 2015, we've helped and supported 249 activate fellows who've created 196 science based companies. I always point this out, this number is different because our for our program you can apply as a solo founder on your own to start your company and to develop your idea or you can apply with the co founder. So you do have that option when you apply to the program. So if you do have someone that you want to, you want to be your co founder, they're kind of your, your peer, they're your counterpart. That's totally fine. You would just have to go through that application process together and then go through every part of the selection process together. I will say it's you can't add someone later. So if you do apply by yourself, you cannot later add somebody. But if you do apply together with two people, you can always take someone off. So if you are thinking about applying with somebody, I would encourage you to apply together at our application deadline. We've also seen success in Follow on funding after the fellowship. Our fellows have raised more than $2.3 billion after follow on funding. Really happy with that number. And then I always like to point out that they've also created, our fellow companies have created more than 2,000 new jobs in the US by other, by our Activate fellows. So they're not only helping their own scientific development but they're also helping other scientists and engineers and hiring scientists and engineers to have an impact on the world. So really exciting results there. And then we always like to talk about some case studies and you can always learn more about these companies on their website or on our website. But Umaro, you know, in the time that they are in the fellowship created delicious, crunchy meaty bacon made with protein from ocean formed red seaweed. I think they have, I think they are now selling the bacon in I think Whole Foods, a couple of other chains. Really excited for them. We also have Gradient who has created a commercial grade heat pump technology to create more efficient AC systems to homes and businesses. And then Melinda is their technology can be used in anything from cars to sporting goods to planes. And they developed a closed loop system for the recovery and reuse of carbon fiber composite. So as you can see, the point is that they've created a product, right? They've created a prototype they have during the fellowship, they were then able to talk to investors, get investors to give them more money, and order to then scale up their idea. And so just like to end here on a. Just a little testimonial from Caitlin Suarez from our Activate Cohort 2023, that Activate taught her that she could be an entrepreneur and that a scientist can move from lab into business and really open the fellowship, opened up that door for her. And so just a really good testimonial of saying that, you know, this is a viable career pathway. This is something that you can achieve, a lot of other people have Achie achieved, and we really want you to consider this going forward. All right, let's talk a little bit about the application timeline. Just so everyone's prepared and knowledgeable about that. We will be opening up our application. So we're running all these webinars so that people are prepared. They're thinking about their idea, they're thinking about ways to create their vision, create their mission, you know, things that they want to do. So that you're prepared on September 4th to begin your application. You don't need to finish it, but you can start it on September 4th. You've got until October 23rd to finish it. And so definitely make sure you. You hit that deadline. And then after the, after you, after the application closes, we go through our selection process. It's a pretty intense process, as you can see, around six months long. You'll go through a couple of reviews with our subject matter experts, typically current alumni, fellows, some other subject matter experts who are in our network reviewing applications for us, making sure that your idea is something that Activate should invest in, that is aligned with all of our different verticals and that your technology is sound and you have some sort of customer discovery. You've done some sort of market analysis. January through February, if you're invited to be a semifinalist, you'll be doing a video interview with our selection committee. So really getting to know you as an individual, hearing your idea, hearing about why you want to go on this journey, and really making that case for them. And then, and then our finalist week takes place from March 24th to 28th. This is where you pitch your company to a virtual audience full of subject matter experts and the selection committees. In order to help the selection committee make their final determination on who the fellows should be for the next cohort 2025, you'll be selected and notified in April whether or not you've been selected. And then June 1st is when your fellowship begins and our retreat is in June. So you'll get to meet your fellow fellows from across the country all together. And so it's a really great way to kick off the program. All right, let me see where this. Okay, so you know, what are we looking for? What are we looking for when we ask about it? So there's no, like I said earlier, there's no one right Fellow, there's no one way to be a Fellow. But what we really common themes that we find that are really make a fellow successful are being committed, driven scientists and engineers who are really knowledgeable in your field. We want you to be able to, you should be able to take your idea and understand the technology and what needs to be developed in order to move that forward. And so you should be really knowledgeable in that field. You should be motivated to grow into entrepreneurs. You really want to soak up that, you know, how do you, how do you build this thing from the ground up? We really want you to be motivated to learn that, to develop as a leader. We want you to participate in the fellowship community. So all those things that I mentioned, all the programming, all the retreats, it sounds like a lot, but it's actually really valuable for you to participate in that. We're really looking for people who want that and want to grow by utilizing that community and then have the ability to lead the development of your technology that's obviously feasible, has a potential for impact, impact is really important and that it's aligned with our mission for science of good. And really we look at would that would receiving this fellowship, the activated fellowship support, make a difference to you as an individual, but also to your company. So that's why we go into the eligibility requirements, just basic requirements is that you must have a bachelor's degree and four plus years of post baccalaureate scientific research, engineering or technology development experience. That goes back to the whole, you know, we're looking for someone who has that scientific expertise to be able to develop the technology well. So you don't need a PhD. You could be at any point in your career, but you must have at least a bachelor's degree in four plus years of scientific research, right? And technology development experience. That includes schooling. So if you get your master's and you get your PhD, having a PhD counts as having that experience. You must be developing, you must be leading the commercial development of a hardware based technology innovation for the first time really it's, we really want to support first time founders. So if you've already done this before, if you already know how to start up a company, the fellowship would have benefit you, right? You've already know how to do all that stuff. You know how to build the company we're really around to help support that. First time founder, you must be committed full time to the proposed project or company for the fellowship, which is why we don't typically see a lot of people coming who are in a academic program. Usually as someone who's, if they are coming from academia, they're usually someone who's kind of ending their time in academia so that then they can work full time on their company developing their technology. Because you cannot be doing both at the same time, you have to be legally allowed to work in the U.S. that means we do accept foreign nationals to the program. As long as you have a pathway, a visa pathway that you're pursuing, you have an opportunity in the application just to discuss what pathways you're exploring. Unfortunately, Acctivate cannot hold any visas. You are not employees of acctivate. You are employees of your own company. You would have to discover what kind of. You'd have to work with your immigration lawyer, find an immigration lawyer, or talk to other folks who've been in this situation as well who can help you look at other ways and other pathways to work in the US Then you must be able to communicate proficiently in English. Then your project or companies should be based in the physical or biological sciences or related engineering disciplines. You have to still be in development and not yet ready for full scale product at the time of the application deadline. So that's where we go into the whole more of an idea, more of a proof of concept is pretty much where we end up taking a lot of folks who are really then going to use the Activate Fellowship to develop a prototype and then scale up. If you already have a, you know, you have a prototype, you've already got investors who are going to give you, you know, all this opportunity. Then you don't need us. You've already gotten there. And then in terms of money raised, you cannot have raised more than $2 million in, in any equity funding from non governmental sources. So any investors, angel investors, if you have more than $2 million already, you don't need us. However you can, we do encourage governmental money, so money from nsf, money from sbirs, sttrs. We encourage people to apply. There's no limit on, on that kind of funding, on the dilutive funding so, or non diluted funding. So you can, you know, have as much government funding as you, as you want. So just real quickly, some of our top FAQs some of you may have already been asking this in the chat. I'm not paying attention to the chat quite yet. Hopefully Josh is answering a bunch of this for you already. But like I mentioned, it's I'm a foreign national. Am I eligible? The answer obviously I already said is yes. As long as you find if you have that pathway to legally work in the US and we have more information on our FAQ page, if you haven't checked it out on some pathways that other fellows have looked into and successfully obtained their visa through, that might be helpful to your own situation. Can I apply with the co founder again? I think I brought this up but again the question comes up. Yes, we do support up to two applicants as a fellows on a, as a, as fellows on a team. I will say we only give the money part, the $100,000 stipend to the primary applicant. There's a primary and a secondary applicant. The primary applicant is the one who receives the money and then the secondary applicant is able to participate in all the community stuff, that retreat, the programming, all the networking opportunities and so it is valuable for that person as well. How early is early stage? Again, I think I just mentioned this but just to reiterate, pretty early. Like I said, we ideally would you ideally have a proof of concept. You've done some customer discovery, you've done some market research. If you look at our activate.org learn page, it gives you a lot of great ways to get started and to really help you prepare and see if you're at that level to be a good applicant by the time our application closes. So I definitely encourage you to look that up. But again, if you've got an idea and you have an innovation and you think it's a pretty good, pretty good idea and you've already done a little bit of research, apply I think it's a good time and then your IP our agree our agreements are designed to protect your IP if there's any issues with ip. You would be working with your managing director in your community to make sure that you are working with the right folks to see if you need to, you know what you need to do to protect your IP. Oops. How do I spend the research funds? That's $100,000 like I mentioned earlier that you get of research and development funds that fund that grant is really meant for technical work. The details vary by fellowship sponsor. So the ins and outs you'll get to once you get into the fellowship and are selected for the fellowship, a lot more information is going to come on that. But really it's to develop your technology which might mean a lot of different things. It could be hiring an engineer, it could be needing to rent some equipment. It could be a lot of different things. So. But you have that money to spend in various ways. What does anywhere and activate anywhere mean? It means that fellows can work from any qualified lab in the United States. As long as you're not 70. You know, if you're 70 miles or more, 70 or more miles outside of any of our in residence community, you can obviously apply to activate anywhere. But if you're near Boston, you should, we definitely encourage you to, to put Boston there as your, as your main community that you're interested in. And then what about software technologies? We get this question a lot. We're very software, med tech, healthcare technologies and products. There are some restrictions and guidelines to help navigate whether the fellowship is the right fit for your non traditional medical technology. We typically don't, we don't invest in software pretty often. As long it's typically something. If it's a software technology, it's typically associated with some kind of hardware. So it could be a platform technology. Medtech health care, we don't really do a ton of straight pharmaceuticals. Like I said, everything. There's always exceptions. So you can always look at Popo Therapeutics on our website. Hopo Therapeutics, they have developed a pharmaceutical that removes I think lead metal, lead poisoning. So there's an environmental impact as well as a health impact. And so we did invest in that program and that company and that fellow, but it's not common. You know, there's, there's different pathways. We just don't have the sponsorship. We don't have the, the, we don't have the sponsorship related to healthcare. We don't have as much direct. We're more focused on the energy, the environment. But there are obviously some overlaps. It was Hopo, Hopo Therapeutics. And so what do you do now? We have our. You're doing it already. I think you're, you're coming to that. You're showing up, you're coming to our webinars. So thank you for taking this first step to becoming an Activate fellow. We have office hours coming up. Our website is chock full of information. Again, if you go to activate.org apply you can sign up to get our communications. If you're not already on our list. We will be reminding you of upcoming webinars, upcoming activities for you to participate in. So please do that. We have office hours coming up for you Just to ask your direct questions to us, you can listen because I'm sure a lot of people have the same questions you have. If you just want to do that, that's fine, but just show up and attend those events so that we can make sure that you have all the information you need to prepare for this program. Consult our website, our fellowship page, our FAQ page, definitely full of information, probably is going to answer a lot of your questions that you might have. You can always look at our companies that are founded by our fellows and alumni, all listed on our website. You could even do a search of, you know, if you're, if you do carbon management, if you're interested in that vertical, what other fellow, what are other fellows working on already? And so you can learn more about them and then obviously be thinking about which fellow community fellowship communities you want to participate in, what your technical vision and pathway is, what your. If you want to apply with someone, if you need to find someone to be your co applicant, that's good to think about now and then how the fellowship is beneficial to you and your project, because you're going to be asked that, you're going to be asked that a ton of times throughout the process. So be prepared to think about that and think about it to prepare for your application. All right, so I'm going to stop sharing because I've been talking for a pretty long time and then I'm gonna please again raise your hand. We can get to you, Josh, if I. If you see any questions in there that you didn't know, please feel free to bring it to my attention again if you did. If we don't get to your question today, just email us@applyactivate.org and someone will be very happy to answer your answer your question at a later time. So I will stop sharing and again raise your hand. You can go off mute and ask your question. And I'm happy to answer anything.

I have a question in the chat. So yeah, I'll raise my hand and ask it out loud. So we were considering between going to one of the locations and doing the Anywhere program because we are already renting lab space outside of the University of Florida. But what we wanted to understand is do you rent the lab space if you go to, say, Boston or any of those locations? And also do you have access to equipment like a prep HPLC for free or do you pay for use hours on those?

Yeah, those are all very specific to whatever community you end up going into. So I guess to answer the question more broadly, each of Our communities have relationships with labs in the community and the ecosystem. So there might be discounts that they provide. There could be potential free space that they rent out is probably not free more often. But there might be some sort of agreement that each of our community has with a specific lab. So I would encourage you to go to. We have upcoming webinars for each of the communities happening in September. August, September, timeframe. They're going to be a little bit more focused on what the ecosystem can give you. I encourage you to attend those just because each, each community is a little bit different and obviously the anywhere community is even more different because, because, you know, we don't, they don't have. Exactly. They don't have a relationship with every, every place around the country, but they would help support you in those conversations and working towards getting not only lab space or office space or renting equipment, they would just help guide you and, you know, mentor you on that process.

Great. Thank you so much.

Yeah. But a very good question. I have three quick questions. Okay. The program is one year long. I thought I heard you maybe say two, but one year. Two years. Yep, two years. Two years. Okay. And if you're in anywhere, do you still get the stipend for. Okay. And how are the proposals graded? Yeah, graded, yeah. You mean the applications themselves? Yeah, application, yeah. So they're look, so, so, so yes, you can. Each community, no matter what, wherever you're located, any community, it's all equitable. Everyone's getting the same amount of money. They're getting a hundred thousand dollars a year for the two years. Right. So you're getting a hundred thousand dollars stipend in year one, $100,000 of stipend in year two. The $100,000 of research and development grant that I mentioned is over the two year period. So that's just one, one lump sum of a hundred thousand. One hundred thousand dollars. Right. So. And then. Sorry, remind me what the last part of the question was. It was, Yeah, the stipend. And then how were the proposals graded? Proposals graded? Yeah. So we have a selection committee that we have each, each community has a selection committee of about three to four people, typically subject matter experts in multiple fields. And so, and we also have the selection process includes different internal and external review processes along the way. They're really looking for the vibe at each different section. So there's an external review, credibility review that we do in the beginning. Well, first we check the eligibility review. So people are just making sure you meet those quick eligibility requirements that I mentioned. You know, making sure you're a first time founder, you haven't raised more than $2 million, all that kind of good stuff. And then we have a credibility review which is subject matter experts making sure your, you know, your, your technology is viable. That is something that is not too far out there that you know, we would not invest in immediately, you know, think about or learn more about immediately. And then the, the committees are looking at, you know, you as an individual. There's essays that you put into your application. So they're really looking at scoring you based on those answers that you put on your interest in becoming a science entrepreneur. They're looking at your vision and mission that you're putting together your slide deck, you know, that you're going to end up submitting to the application of how you want to get from, you know, start to what your, you know, end goal is going to be for your company and making sure you, you have done that in a, in a really, well, you know, written way. And then, then you're going to do a video interview and then obviously they're scoring you and looking at you on how well you, what potential you have as a leader and, and then also again the technology and how you're going to develop that technology and what industries you're looking at, all that kind of stuff. And then they're also looking at our sponsors and their interests. So there are some sponsors. For example, in New York we have NYSERDA as one of our sponsors. They're very interested in carbon management. So a lot of our fellows are in the carbon management space who end up getting a slot in that community. Not all of our communities have that imperative but, but New York does and so they want to, we need to make sure there's some alignment as well with your idea as well as our sponsors. There's a lot of different, different ways that this all comes together. Again, that's a little bit too much in the weeds. But it's really, we're looking at you not only as an individual but as a company, as your company as well.

I have a few, three quick questions as well.

Okay.

First, do the difference sites or the different programs, do they have any specialties as far as the verticals go?

So like I mentioned, New York has carbon management. The other ones are a little bit more flexible. There's not so much. But you know, Berkeley has a bunch of energy related, Houston is energy related. There's oil and gas and stuff in Houston as well. So we are looking, it all depends on what sponsors we get There might be some imperatives that we mentioned, but we will communicate that out to people if there's a specific thing. But New York is really our major community that really has any of that restrict that technology restriction currently. Yep.

And then is there a preference to submitting earlier in the application window or later, or does it not even get looked at until after the deadline?

Well, as the director of recruitment, my answer is please apply early, as early as possible. So I encourage you to. There's no. If your question is probably more like, is there preferential at all? We all go through the process at the same time, but we do encourage you to apply early so that you're not waiting to the last minute to get everything done. Yeah.

And then last quick question. Is there like, are we competing against the alumni network of companies? Like, I have an idea and maybe somebody else in the past has had a similar idea. Am I competing retroactively novel ideas or are we kind of merit based or, I don't know, based on our.

Yeah, that's a really good question. I mean, you're not. Compared to the alumni. You would just have to demonstrate why your innovation, why your idea or innovation is different. You know, why, you know, what is the novel idea that you're coming with? It could be related. It could be something, you know, similar. We've had similar companies not in the same cohort. So it's fine. You know, we, we want to. There might be some new technology that you're creating on addition in a different way, but you just. I would just demonstrate your own. You're not competing with them. I would just demonstrate your own innovation and what impact is going to have. Have. And you know, the impact is really important. And then the technology is really important. Innovation is important. Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Yeah. All right, so it looks like, Derek, you're next. Hey, Rick, thank you so much. Are letters of recommendation or references required? And any preference to the type of reference and then concurrent or past activate fellows give any referrals. Yeah. So the first question is there's no requirement for letters of recommendation. Excuse me? We had it as optional last year. I don't even, I don't know if we decided that we're doing that or not this year. So I can, I can follow up with you on that. But we, but it's not requirement. So there's no preference in any way. It was really much more of a supplemental material if people wanted to edit. But it's not a requirement in any way. Yes. A fellow. If you, you have the opportunity in the application to. Well, we have a nomination process, so they can always nominate you through that process. Happy to have them do that or let them know about that, remind them about it. But you also have, when you go in the application, the how hard section will ask you who refer. Like, you'll. You can mark off that you were referred and then you could put their name in of the. Of that alumni fellow or current fellow. Okay, great, thank you. Yep. Anders. Hi.

Yeah, thanks so much for your time. I have two questions. It's just around the health care thing. Fitting into the life science vertical.

Yeah.

So it lists on your website medical devices. And I know you said that there's been a couple of companies that have come through that didn't really fit your. Your verticals, but they've been accepted for various different reasons. When you say medical device, you're looking specifically at hardware. Is that, Is that the distinction?

Yeah, it would have to be a product. Yeah. Some sort of prototype, but. And typically it would have to have some sort of impact on the environment as well. Yeah.

Impact on the environment as well.

Okay.

And then my second question is, is there any community out of the ones that you have that is. That is typically best for. For that vertical?

That's a good question. Not particularly. Like, I would look at the different companies that we've supported in the past and see what communities they're in and maybe, you know, reach out to them on LinkedIn. You can always do that and see if they're willing to talk to you. I would also say Houston, you know, is our. Is our first year in Houston. I think Houston has a pretty big life sciences presence. I don't know, but I think I would maybe connect you with the managing director there to see what he like, what he sees as in the ecosystem in that particular vertical. We can definitely connect you.

Okay, that'd be great.

Yeah, thank you very much. Yeah. Hi.

My hand raise is not working. Can I chime in?

Yeah, sure. Go for it.

All right, thank you. My name is Somia. I have two questions about the impact and as well as proof of concept. Proof of concept could be very like, definition of proof of concept is pretty variable. So I just wanted to know what is the minimum proof of concept that is expected, especially when you are accepting applications from anywhere who has raised money less than $2 million. So their proof of concept is very different from somebody who's just going to start out. And my first, my other question is about impact. Something like a breakthrough energy or likewise. They have very clear metrics of what we need to hit in terms of saying that this particular technology has X impact on climate. So do you have such metric that we have to hit or how do you really evaluate the impact metrics?

Yeah, I'm not on the selection committee, so I have a hard time answering a second one and so I might need to have someone follow up with you on that second one. Just more to give more detail on that because I'm not part of that committee. But I would say in terms of the, the first part of your question, which was remind me what it was again.

I'm like the proof of concept.

Yeah, proof of concept. Yeah. I mean we've seen everything from a piece of paper on an app, you know, people who thought about it on a piece of paper napkin to someone who has a really clear, you know, have done a ton of customer discovery and market research and techno economic research and analysis and are ready to kind of really jump off as soon as they start. There's, there's no right or wrong way. I think it's, it's really just if you can communicate it well, if you think you're ready to start a company and really commerce, like take your idea to and create a prototype by the end of the fellowship, you know, I think that it's, it can be anywhere between that. It's just, it can't be too early where it's just barely developed at all to. And you've done like, no idea about it and it's just like, I don't know, maybe I'll put together, you know, a bunch of stuff and then, you know, it'll be fine or in. But if you've already created a prototype and are ready to like scale it up, that's way too, way too far for us. And so we really want, we want it, it goes back to the. How would this fellowship benefit you? How will it, like, how in what impact are you going to have on any of our verticals? Right. Any of the industries that we work in. And so we really want to make sure that you and your application are, when you're preparing it, thinking about those ideas and really what the impact is and, and in which industries that it might impact or industry. And, and that you've thought about it more than just, you know, I don't know, I'll try it and see if it works. You know, you definitely need to have some sort of like, I've, I've already. I think this is going to work and this is how I think it's going to work. Yeah.

Just one follow up on that. Just to wrap what you just mentioned is. So you are saying for example, let's say I am in the biotech space is what I'm thinking about for agriculture and I do not have any lab based, nice, let's say sample to show you. I have previous experience in that but I don't have it right now because it is cost intensive. But I have all the other numbers that you have mentioned, the techno economic analysis done. So is that, would this, can I still apply to activate with this state at this stage?

Absolutely. Yeah. It sounds like you've done enough analysis to know that this is what you want to think about. You don't have to have that, that sample yet. You don't need to have that prototype or whatever people are working on. But you, but I think that sounds like you're at a right stage. As long as you can do it full time. As long as you, you know, are ready for this journey and really want to go this pathway, I would just. Yeah. Start preparing. Yeah. Alex, hi.

Thank you very much for all the information. I have a couple of questions. So first is other in expectations on the prime receiver of this fellowship in terms of how far along they are in their career. Do you prefer people who are just finishing up their PhDs or still in the PhD program or is it not a criterion? And my second question is if you apply with a co founder, do they need to be a scientist, an engineer or an engineer as well or can they be sort of kind of the business part of the company you're working on? Thank you.

Yeah, great questions. So the first one around what stage? Nope, we are looking for all different stages of careers. We have people who are coming right out of a PhD program all the way to. We actually have this year two professors who full professors who are taking a leave of absence. They're actually in their second year from University of Washington and just really believe in this idea and this innovation and are doing great and they're really committed to. As long as you have that again that commitment to the community you're interested in building, you know, being an entrepreneur and really just really want to learn all that process and, and as long as you know you've hit all those eligibility requirements, it doesn't matter what career stage you're in. So yes, please apply. We have people from all different career stages and the second part is the co founder. So we do. The primary person has to have technical experience in order to develop the technology and move it forward. Right. So typically that's not a business person. It's usually the scientist side of things. You don't have to be the CEO. You can be the cto. Like, we don't care what your title is, as long as you have that technical expertise to develop the technology and help build it and have the decision authority to build your company. The. We're a little bit more flexible with the co founder, the secondary fellow. We do have some folks who are business people as secondary founders. We're just, we're more flexible and I think you would just note that in your application and then why that person. What value they. They bring as well, you know, all their information and there. So there is more flexibility with that. On the, on the secondary person. Yeah. Thank you.

Can I have a quick follow up on that? On the secondary person is the expectation also that they're full time and the progress, I mean, in the program. So basically they have to stop their current job to participate. Is that the expectation?

That is the expectation. It doesn't mean there's not exceptions to that. I think it would just, again, I would just be transparent about that in the selection process, about the time that they have. But yeah, I mean, they're. They should be committed full time. I mean our, our preferences that they're committed full time. Unless there's some sort of commitment that you, you know, there's. They need. They can demonstrate that might take. No way. That might be an exception. But again, it would, it would be between you and the managing director on that. Thank you. Yeah. Mario. Hey, Rick. I was curious if it was a positive or negative. If you've already gone full time on.

Your endeavor, does that affect your eligibility or.

No, it doesn't affect you. I mean, that's great. I mean that's what we're here for is because I'm sure you're. You might really benefit from Activate to can, you know, to I don't know if, you know, not go in debt and not, you know, and really, you know, move things forward and get the resources and connections that you need to develop your company. But no, if you're already doing it. A lot of our fellows already, you know, come with that. They've been working on maybe their company for a few years and are now in the fellowship. Awesome, thanks.

Yeah.

I think we have only time for one more question. So Nordine, I think you're it. And then we have a quick poll that we're going to ask you all just to fill out, just to see if we've answered all, given you enough information and it was helpful. So, Nordine, why don't you ask your last question and then we'll launch the poll. Yeah, sure. Let's have a question about the life science vertical. So if you're developing a medical device that is improving the quality of life of people with disability, is that something that fits within what activity is looking for? Because I thought you said at some point that it has to have some sort of environmental component to it. Yeah, I just mean we don't typically, a lot of our sponsors just aren't in that space. Like, it's just not a vertical. That's like we have a lot of fellows in. Right. And so it is one of our verticals and it's something we're exploring. But I think right now we are typically. What I, what I'm sharing is that we typically, when we do invest in people in the life sciences, it typically does have some sort of component of environment as well. I don't know enough about your technology, but if you want to email us a little bit more information, I'm happy to have someone look at it and see whether or not it's a good alignment with you taking the time to apply to the program. Okay, sounds good. Thank you. Send us an email@applyactivate.org with more information and we can get you some more, you know, a much clearer answer. Okay, thanks. Yeah. Okay, Joshua, I think you can launch the poll for the team, for the group and just take a few minutes. It shouldn't take you more than a minute or so to fill it out, but just want to make sure that, you know, this was helpful to you all and learn a little bit more about each of you. And in the meantime, like I said, if you, if you have any additional questions, if we didn't get to your answer, any of your questions, a, check the FAQ page because there's a good chance that the, the answer is there and B, you can always send us an email at applyapplyctivate.org and one of our recruitment staff is happy to answer your question and get back to you in a reasonable amount of time. But I just want to say thank you to everyone who's attended again. Hopefully we'll see you at a future, future events, either in person or virtually. And you all are doing a great job by just taking the first step of learning and hopefully this was helpful information and, and please follow up with additional questions you have. But once you fill out the poll, you're free to go. And thank you all again for attending.