By Dennis Abremski, Executive Director, Institute for the Global Entrepreneur (IGE), Jacobs School of Engineering, and NSF I-Corps Hub: Desert and Pacific Region Project Director, University of California San Diego

If you are a potential startup founder and new to the NSF I-Corps™ program, please read on. I hope this post will spark your interest and encourage you to learn more. If you are familiar with I-Corps, I hope you can relate to what follows and recommend this post as an interesting take on a program that has positively impacted the lives of many tech entrepreneurs.

I oversee an NSF I-Corps program at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), developed over 10 years ago within the Jacobs School of Engineering. We are proud to be a part of the NSF I-Corps Hub: Desert and Pacific Region, led by Arizona State University and seven other collaborating universities in Arizona, California, Idaho, Hawai’i, and Nevada.

I want to start with a short story…

As I was driving to campus last week, it dawned on me that I was on the same section of the freeway that years ago, I had answered a pivotal phone call.

Before I worked at UCSD, I was a partner in a healthcare tech accelerator. In my spare time (yes, that’s a joke), I volunteered as an I-Corps industry mentor. Our team was developing advanced baby monitors for both consumer and clinical applications. During said call, I talked to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurse about how she performed her duties and how she monitored her “preemie” patients.

When I look back, that call was the beginning of many “Aha” moments. At the time, our team was striving to complete the 100 customer discovery interviews required for the NSF National I-Corps Teams program.

Ok, so why did this phone call matter? Was it because we wanted to get to our 100 interviews ASAP, or was it that we wanted to be recognized as having conducted the most customer interviews?

No – The phone call was significant for two reasons: first, because I was willing to do whatever was needed to help our team by answering my cell at the end of a long workday, and second, for what our team learned as a result of that initial call.

As it turned out, this particular nurse trained all the new nurses as they entered the NICU. She was a wealth of knowledge on the processes they went through during their indoctrination and throughout their rounds. This call resulted in follow-on calls with the entrepreneurial leads (we had two) where they learned the ins and outs of what was important to daily operations.

It should be noted – she was an end-user and influencer, but not what we considered our intended buyer. Though she wasn’t the economic decision maker, or buyer, she played an important customer role in the use and adoption process of new products; she was an important part of the ecosystem that defined the environment, and the reality of what the team’s potential customers faced every day. Learning what worked and, as importantly, what did not work, was extremely beneficial.

Back to the freeway, I mean journey…

In my experience as an entrepreneur, there have been many “Aha” moments along the way, but is it a “journey” or a process, or both?

In I-Corps, we teach extensively about customer discovery, and for many it will be the first time teams will reflect on their idea from the customer’s point of view. The personal connections you can establish with potential customers can lead to greater insight if you can be receptive to what you hear and experience. Sometimes this is referred to as having an open mindset. Indeed.com says “An open-minded person is willing to acknowledge and explore different ideas, cultures, perspectives, and concepts. They can accommodate different values, even if they don’t align with their beliefs. Having an open mind is an essential trait for professionals, especially those that work with others.”

If you are dipping your toes into the waters of what I-Corps is all about, experiencing an “Aha” moment might have already happened to you. If that is the case, I-Corps can be an onramp for many more moments and successes. If not, I suggest you read on and apply for one of the Hub’s many regional I-Corps courses. We are happy to help.

Remember:

– Keep an open mindset – significant insights can come from places you least expect

– “Aha” moments – hard to describe, but easy to appreciate

– Connect with mentors that share your passion

Epilogue: The baby monitor team did, in fact, log the most interviews in its cohort. It also went to the White House and met President Barack Obama at the first ever White House Demo Day on August 4, 2015. Now I sit on the other side of the table, helping more teams interview potential customers and hopefully experience their “Aha” moments. It has been an interesting journey, to say the least.

Interested in joining an I-Corps course?

Apply for one of our upcoming regional I-Corps courses and take the next step in validating your idea: desertpacificicorps.org/apply