Phi Optics, a Serra Ventures client, was selected to participate in the NSF Lean Launchpad Course the week of March 20, 2012 in Stanford, California. The selection process was extremely competitive and selected winners were funded in part by a $50,000 grant to the company. Tim Hoerr, CEO of Serra Ventures, was selected as the Business Mentor for the course, one of three members of Phi Optics.
The course was held at Stanford University, ground zero and world leader in start-up entrepreneurship. The course was led by serial entrepreneur, author and lecturer – Steven Blank.
The Lean Launchpad curriculum provided real world, hands-on learning on what it is like to successfully transfer knowledge into products and processes that benefit society. The curriculum stressed that the goal of the course was not about how to write a research paper, business plan or NSF grant, but more on the end result of the entire team being engaged with the industry, talking to customers, partners and competitors, as the team encounters the chaos and uncertainty of transferring knowledge into products and processes that benefit society.