Webinar: Founder Recruitment Models for Academic Spinouts

Topic: Founder Recruitment Models for Academic Spinouts: CU Boulder's Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator & University of Michigan's Accelerate Blue Foundry

When: Tuesday, November 4, 2025 | 12:00pm ET

Registration:  Click Here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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Webinar Description:

Breakthrough technologies from academic institution need more than just great science—they need great founders. But what happens when no founder is waiting in the wings?

This webinar spotlights two pioneering programs designed to close that gap: CU Boulder’s Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator and the University of Michigan’s Accelerate Blue Foundry. Both initiatives proactively recruit entrepreneurial leaders and match them with promising university innovations to launch scalable startups.

In this session, Amy Dodenhoff (Director of Venture Development, CU Boulder) and Dave Repp (Innovation Partnerships, University of Michigan) will share:

• How their institutions are building founder-recruitment pipelines to expand startup formation capacity through these programs • How they each structured their programs
• Marketing and recruitment strategies for the programs
• Matching processes that align external founders with university IP/potential startups
• Success stories and challenges from program cohorts thus far
• Metrics for the programs

Intended Audience: Technology transfer and commercialization professionals, innovation hubs, academic incubators, and university leaders interested in models for recruiting founders into academic startups.

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