Release date: June 10, 2025
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How do you take a spark of scientific curiosity and turn it into something people can actually use? In this episode, Phil Weilerstein pulls back the curtain on nearly 30 years of guiding student inventors, faculty change-makers, and early-stage startups through the messy journey from lab bench to marketplace. As the founder and CEO of VentureWell, he’s made it his mission to tear down the walls that too often trap great ideas in academic journals.
Phil gets candid about the real challenges innovators face — everything from assembling the right team to recognizing when a pivot is overdue. It’s not enough to have brilliant technology; you have to learn to tell its story in plain English, too. Along the way, he shares inspiring success stories, from a team that turned fungus into fire-resistant packaging to another group whose imaging tools help surgeons clear cancer more effectively. You’ll also hear how hands-on programs like I-Corps and Flip Space are opening doors to federal lab inventions that might otherwise stay hidden.
By the end of our chat, you’ll understand why a thriving innovation ecosystem depends on collaboration and strong support to help the best ideas truly flourish. Whether you’re mentoring someone just starting out or you’re the one with an inspiring idea, Phil’s down-to-earth insights and decades of experience offer a clear roadmap for making science-driven entrepreneurship more inclusive, effective, and ultimately, more impactful.
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In This Episode:
[01:55] Phil has been leading VentureWell since 1996. It all began with an idea to create pathways and educational experiences for people interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.
[03:35] The vision was to create a national organization that would encourage and promote higher education and research institutions in creating these pathways.
[04:12] He's a strong believer in experiential education.
[05:01] They've now worked with hundreds of institutions and thousands of innovators in partnership with higher education, philanthropy, and federal agencies.
[06:17] They help with all of the steps to take an idea from the lab to commercialization. They are eliminating the hurdles that many startup innovators have had to go through.
[07:36] Every scientist who wants to get involved in innovation should be literate in the tools of business.
[08:42] Entrepreneurs need to figure out what they don't know, including what others may think of their idea.
[11:23] I-Corps is an entrepreneurial training program that facilitates the transformation of invention to impact.
[14:04] Startups they've supported have raised over 6 billion dollars in funding.
[18:47] They've had high levels of success getting into business and with 5-year survival rates of startups.
[20:56] They try to create welcoming environments where people feel like they belong as opposed to reinforcing barriers.
[24:21] Phil talks about the FLIPspace program.
[26:34] We learn about recent success stories from new diagnostic imaging to detect cancer cells and working with fungus for broad uses.
[29:36] Exciting emerging trends include reducing the innovation cycle in multiple areas.
[34:35] Invention is one of the underlying values that makes the US different. Embracing inventions to improve prosperity is going to grow.
[35:54] Advice includes getting started. You'll discover what you need to know by starting.