The Center for Advancing Innovation
  • Home
  • Approach
  • Startup Challenges
    • Innovate Children's Health Challenge
    • SCALE Challenge
    • Brain Race
    • Freedom from Cancer Startup Challenge
    • Virginia Beach Bio Startup Challenge
    • Space Race
    • Nano Startup Challenge
    • Neuro Startup Challenge
    • Breast Cancer Startup Challenge
  • Awards
  • Testimonials
  • News
  • Podcast
    • Executing in Sports and Entrepreneurship with Torii Hunter and Rodney Woods
    • Becoming a Tech Guru with Esther Dyson
    • Strengthening the DC-Baltimore Corridor Through Equitech with Kory Bailey
    • Taking the Oops Out of Unexpected Periods with April Roy
    • Supporting Minority-Owned Businesses with Brandon Hunter
    • How to Kick Off Your Business as an Entrepreneur with Steve Mandell
    • The Future of Streaming with Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur, Alexander Gallego
    • Do You Have Grit? True Entrepreneurs Have It with Cari and Shahin Enayati
    • Finding Your Pot of Gold Through Government Grants with Sedale Turbovsky
    • Great Mentors are the Foundation of Great Entrepreneurs with Gil Price
    • Choose Your Message Carefully and Ensure it's Clear with Joe Fuld
    • Words of Wisdom from Sheldon Himelfarb - Bringing Peace to the World Through Entrepreneurship
    • What's in Store in the Next Regime with Brain Bonlender
    • Connecting Talent with Opportunity with Nick Donofrio
    • Using Your Strengths to Find Your Superpower with Tien Wong
    • Be Nice, Work Hard, and Get A Great Education. Insights from a maestro with Maurice Jones
    • Innovation in Children's Health with Kolaleh Eskandanian & Vasum Peiris
    • Making an Impact with Neil St. Clair
    • Virtual Reality Brain Training with Amir Bozorgzadeh
    • Curriculum, Community, and Capital for Underrepresented Founders with Bjorn K Simmons
    • Retain Your Best Customers and Turn them into Raving Fans with Joey Coleman
    • Jordan Carlisle: Founder, Investor, and Northwest Arkansas Community Builder
    • Fighting Like a Mother to Cure SLC6A1 with Amber Freed
    • The Future of Family Office Investing with Arthur Bavelas
    • Preparing for a post-COVID future with Louis Efron, Founder of World Child Cancer
    • Transformational Leadership with Lara Stein, Co-Founder of Boma Global and TEDx
    • Susan and Robert Gold, the co-founders of Feynman School
    • Charles J. Andres, Patents & Innovation Associate with Wilson Sonsini
    • Why Doctors Skip Breakfast with Gregory Charlop
    • Leveraging technology transfer to drive economic growth with Katherine Hill Ritchie
    • How the US bounces back after Coronavirus with Think Tank Superstar Ross DeVol
    • The secret power within the microbiome with Ross Youngs
    • The Coronavirus Episode with Ivan Delgado Orlic
    • The Super Connector, Richard Lofgren
    • Sheri Sobrato and CAI's upcoming children's health challenge
    • Leading GA Tech into a top 10 tech transfer organization with Terry Bray
    • The pioneer who established Stanford's Tech Transfer as a global leader, Kathy Ku
    • How Keith Marmer is helping turn Salt Lake City into a tech transfer powerhouse
    • Engaging Regulators for Success with Marty Rosendale
    • Infusing Startup Culture into Tech Transfer with Tom Stackhouse
    • Investing in the Biggest Challenges in Child Healthcare with John Parker
    • Policymaking, Keys to Innovation in Bio, and More with Jim Greenwood!
    • Incorporating the Bragg Factor into Your Work
    • Aligning Tech Transfer to DEFEAT Brain Diseases with John Boockvar
    • Why Tech Transfer is Key to Winning the Innovation Arms Race
    • Pioneering a New Era of Tech Transfer with Ruben Flores
  • About Us
    • Differentiators
    • Our Partnerships
    • Contact Us
  • Internship Program
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How We Launch Startups

Challenge: The Center for Advancing Innovation's startup challenges begin with a planning phase followed by our challenge program. We tailor our approach to what is most appropriate to the needs of the organizations with whom we work. Our challenge is unique in that inventions from our database of 170,000  from 120+ institutions are the topics of the challenge

Accelerator: In  addition to the challenge, CAI provides a rigorous 8-month virtual program designed to accelerate early-stage technology companies. Training includes mentoring from world-class leaders; virtual webinars; company building exercises; engagement with other founders, investors and potential clients along with several program tools

Boots on the Ground: CAI also has developed a global Ambassador network, so that there are champions in regional geographies that can galvanize local entrepreneurial resources and ecosystems to provide startup support in-person

Challenge Planning


  • Determine invention topic; pull inventions. Perform due diligence. Ensure inventions are available
  • Perform stakeholder engagement planning and outreach
  • Determine branding; develop marketing collateral; recruit teams, judges, mentors, advisors and other stakeholders

Phase 0:
​Enter Challenge

  • Choose one to three inventions
  • Sign CDA and Founder's Agreement
  • Provide resumes and/or LinkedIn

  • Create 2-minute elevator pitch recorded video
  • Provide 350-word executive summary
  • Public voting on YouTube

Phase 1:
Elevator Speech


Phase 2:
Business Plan

  • Develop 10-page business plan & 10-page pitch deck
  • Perform live pitch (web conference)
  • ​Incorporate startup

  • License invention
  • Apply for dilutive/non-dilutive funding
  • Finalize management team

Phase 3:
Startup


Concurrent Accelerator Training
​8 Months

Webinars



40+ webinars
12+ company building exercises

Mentoring



Engage with world-class mentors from around the world

Tools & Team



Stakeholder engagement
Market analysis
Financial models​

Discovery



Voice of the customer, supplier &  other stakeholders

Investor Forums



Challenge spinouts pitch to investors
The Center for Advancing Innovation, Inc 2015
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  • Home
  • Approach
  • Startup Challenges
    • Innovate Children's Health Challenge
    • SCALE Challenge
    • Brain Race
    • Freedom from Cancer Startup Challenge
    • Virginia Beach Bio Startup Challenge
    • Space Race
    • Nano Startup Challenge
    • Neuro Startup Challenge
    • Breast Cancer Startup Challenge
  • Awards
  • Testimonials
  • News
  • Podcast
    • Executing in Sports and Entrepreneurship with Torii Hunter and Rodney Woods
    • Becoming a Tech Guru with Esther Dyson
    • Strengthening the DC-Baltimore Corridor Through Equitech with Kory Bailey
    • Taking the Oops Out of Unexpected Periods with April Roy
    • Supporting Minority-Owned Businesses with Brandon Hunter
    • How to Kick Off Your Business as an Entrepreneur with Steve Mandell
    • The Future of Streaming with Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur, Alexander Gallego
    • Do You Have Grit? True Entrepreneurs Have It with Cari and Shahin Enayati
    • Finding Your Pot of Gold Through Government Grants with Sedale Turbovsky
    • Great Mentors are the Foundation of Great Entrepreneurs with Gil Price
    • Choose Your Message Carefully and Ensure it's Clear with Joe Fuld
    • Words of Wisdom from Sheldon Himelfarb - Bringing Peace to the World Through Entrepreneurship
    • What's in Store in the Next Regime with Brain Bonlender
    • Connecting Talent with Opportunity with Nick Donofrio
    • Using Your Strengths to Find Your Superpower with Tien Wong
    • Be Nice, Work Hard, and Get A Great Education. Insights from a maestro with Maurice Jones
    • Innovation in Children's Health with Kolaleh Eskandanian & Vasum Peiris
    • Making an Impact with Neil St. Clair
    • Virtual Reality Brain Training with Amir Bozorgzadeh
    • Curriculum, Community, and Capital for Underrepresented Founders with Bjorn K Simmons
    • Retain Your Best Customers and Turn them into Raving Fans with Joey Coleman
    • Jordan Carlisle: Founder, Investor, and Northwest Arkansas Community Builder
    • Fighting Like a Mother to Cure SLC6A1 with Amber Freed
    • The Future of Family Office Investing with Arthur Bavelas
    • Preparing for a post-COVID future with Louis Efron, Founder of World Child Cancer
    • Transformational Leadership with Lara Stein, Co-Founder of Boma Global and TEDx
    • Susan and Robert Gold, the co-founders of Feynman School
    • Charles J. Andres, Patents & Innovation Associate with Wilson Sonsini
    • Why Doctors Skip Breakfast with Gregory Charlop
    • Leveraging technology transfer to drive economic growth with Katherine Hill Ritchie
    • How the US bounces back after Coronavirus with Think Tank Superstar Ross DeVol
    • The secret power within the microbiome with Ross Youngs
    • The Coronavirus Episode with Ivan Delgado Orlic
    • The Super Connector, Richard Lofgren
    • Sheri Sobrato and CAI's upcoming children's health challenge
    • Leading GA Tech into a top 10 tech transfer organization with Terry Bray
    • The pioneer who established Stanford's Tech Transfer as a global leader, Kathy Ku
    • How Keith Marmer is helping turn Salt Lake City into a tech transfer powerhouse
    • Engaging Regulators for Success with Marty Rosendale
    • Infusing Startup Culture into Tech Transfer with Tom Stackhouse
    • Investing in the Biggest Challenges in Child Healthcare with John Parker
    • Policymaking, Keys to Innovation in Bio, and More with Jim Greenwood!
    • Incorporating the Bragg Factor into Your Work
    • Aligning Tech Transfer to DEFEAT Brain Diseases with John Boockvar
    • Why Tech Transfer is Key to Winning the Innovation Arms Race
    • Pioneering a New Era of Tech Transfer with Ruben Flores
  • About Us
    • Differentiators
    • Our Partnerships
    • Contact Us
  • Internship Program