Stanford graduate students and postdoctoral scholars developing therapeutics or tools/diagnostics/devices to advance human health. Whether you are in the early research stages or actively deciding if entrepreneurship is the right path for you, we can help you find the market for your technology.

No. We highly encourage "pre-money" founders who are still testing different concepts in the academic lab setting to apply. If you do have an idea of the product, you’ll make the idea even stronger within the program.

We ourselves are grad student & postdocs here, and we know how busy everyone is. The core of the Ferment program is a series of private lunch or dinner hosted by our partnering investors, providing a relaxed environment to discuss your research and vision. If an investor selects your idea for further development, the only additional time commitment is a dedicated one-on-one coaching session. You gotta eat food anyways!

No. The program is grassroots, free, and no strings attached whatsoever.

Likely no. You will only be sharing non-confidential information about your research with investors. If you further develop your relationship with an investor and will be disclosing confidential information, please consult your PI and Stanford OTL for more guidance.

Please email organizer Steven stev(dot)wang(at)stanford