Seed fund supporting entrepreneurs solving the world's biggest problems.
There’s a sea change coming in business as big as the shift from desktop to the cloud, or from web to mobile. Fifty Years supports the entrepreneurs heralding in the new economic renaissance. Read our view here:
http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/02/impact-is-the-new-mobile/
Since Fifty Years led the pre-seed round Astranis Space Technologies has:
Launched satellites
Sold $1B in satellite services
Assembled a world class team of 350
Established a massive technical moat
Won $16.5m+ in US gov contracts
Built a satellite factory in SF
Raised $750M
Seeing the cofounders John Gedmark and Ryan McLinko go from an idea on a whiteboard to here has been thrilling. Astranis is building something historic. The march continues to connect the ~4B unconnected!
5050 gave me the conviction to end my nearly 12-year academic career at MIT and open a new chapter to maximize the impact of my science by building the company I envision with Tay Shin.
I have always wanted to create something unique and valuable for people and the world, but the transition from scientist to entrepreneur seemed daunting. 5050 helped me find a community of people who share the same passion and face similar challenges. Through 5050, I see a clearer path to overcome these challenges and develop both the company and myself as a founder.
Most importantly, the 5050 team truly, truly cares about founders as people. We’ve learned not only how to focus on our vision and execute tactically day by day with maximum speed but also how to develop and cultivate the traits of great founders.
5050 is the *bestest* founder education I have ever received! Please apply if you are a scientist/engineer who wants to become a great founder.
Founder & investor using technology to solve the world's biggest problems.
The world needs 10x more scientist-founders.
5050 helps scientists and engineers become great founders and start indispensable companies. Applications open!
Startups are the best way to make a real impact with research, but where do you get started? How do you know if entrepreneurship is for you?
Whether you’re validating an idea or ready to build — 5050 is for you.
You’ll learn what it takes to become a great founder, how to choose the right problem, technology, and market, and how to build a deep tech startup.
“It’s a cheat code for starting a deep tech startup.” – Eric McShane, 5050 alum.
• Eric McShane and Evan Gardner spun out of Stanford and co-founded Electroflow Technologies to tackle the lithium shortage. They’ve scaled their tech by 200x in 6 months.
• Mark Budde joined 5050 as a postdoc at Caltech. Two years later, Plasmidsaurus enables scientists across all 50 states and most European countries to go much faster.
• Niccolo Cymbalist joined as a Tesla engineer. Three months later, he co-founded Clippership and is building autonomous sailboats to decarbonize maritime shipping.
• Chi Zhang and Tay Shin joined as postdocs at MIT. Within weeks, they spun out and are now working to enable in vivo cell reprogramming.
At Fifty Years, we’ve built deep tech companies ourselves. We’ve backed over 100 deep tech startups from the earliest stages and helped them raise over 4.6 billion dollars.
We distilled everything we know about deep tech startups into 5050: a free program to help world-class scientists and engineers start indispensable companies.
Phase I: Explore
We’ll help you answer: How do I turn my breakthrough science into a business? What do I need to make a startup idea work? Am I ready to be a founder?
You’ll learn if entrepreneurship is right for you, identify the idea to build, and pivot quickly if necessary. We’ll guide you through the early days of building in deep tech.
At the end of Explore, those ready to build a startup will be invited to the next phase, Build.
Phase II: Build
You’ll join a cohort of fast-moving founders who will challenge you to ramp up. We’ll coach you to level up into a great founder and guide you through the early days of building in deep tech. Build will help you de-risk your technology, hit key milestones, raise a first round, and reach takeoff speed fast.
Helping great scientists and engineers become great entrepreneurs is our jam.
Apply / nominate! fiftyyears.com/5050
5050 gave me the confidence to leave MIT with my amazing friend and co-founder, Chi Zhang. The 5050 team truly cares about founders as people! We’ve learned not only how to accelerate our progress but also how to grow and develop the qualities of great founders. I highly recommend applying for this program. Oh, and it's FREE!
Founder & investor using technology to solve the world's biggest problems.
The world needs 10x more scientist-founders.
5050 helps scientists and engineers become great founders and start indispensable companies. Applications open!
Startups are the best way to make a real impact with research, but where do you get started? How do you know if entrepreneurship is for you?
Whether you’re validating an idea or ready to build — 5050 is for you.
You’ll learn what it takes to become a great founder, how to choose the right problem, technology, and market, and how to build a deep tech startup.
“It’s a cheat code for starting a deep tech startup.” – Eric McShane, 5050 alum.
• Eric McShane and Evan Gardner spun out of Stanford and co-founded Electroflow Technologies to tackle the lithium shortage. They’ve scaled their tech by 200x in 6 months.
• Mark Budde joined 5050 as a postdoc at Caltech. Two years later, Plasmidsaurus enables scientists across all 50 states and most European countries to go much faster.
• Niccolo Cymbalist joined as a Tesla engineer. Three months later, he co-founded Clippership and is building autonomous sailboats to decarbonize maritime shipping.
• Chi Zhang and Tay Shin joined as postdocs at MIT. Within weeks, they spun out and are now working to enable in vivo cell reprogramming.
At Fifty Years, we’ve built deep tech companies ourselves. We’ve backed over 100 deep tech startups from the earliest stages and helped them raise over 4.6 billion dollars.
We distilled everything we know about deep tech startups into 5050: a free program to help world-class scientists and engineers start indispensable companies.
Phase I: Explore
We’ll help you answer: How do I turn my breakthrough science into a business? What do I need to make a startup idea work? Am I ready to be a founder?
You’ll learn if entrepreneurship is right for you, identify the idea to build, and pivot quickly if necessary. We’ll guide you through the early days of building in deep tech.
At the end of Explore, those ready to build a startup will be invited to the next phase, Build.
Phase II: Build
You’ll join a cohort of fast-moving founders who will challenge you to ramp up. We’ll coach you to level up into a great founder and guide you through the early days of building in deep tech. Build will help you de-risk your technology, hit key milestones, raise a first round, and reach takeoff speed fast.
Helping great scientists and engineers become great entrepreneurs is our jam.
Apply / nominate! fiftyyears.com/5050
5050 is seriously awesome! So many scientists are developing technologies that could change the world once they leave the lab. The 5050 program teaches you how. Apply to 5050 and help us build a better future!!! 🧪🥼⚡️
Founder & investor using technology to solve the world's biggest problems.
The world needs 10x more scientist-founders.
5050 helps scientists and engineers become great founders and start indispensable companies. Applications open!
Startups are the best way to make a real impact with research, but where do you get started? How do you know if entrepreneurship is for you?
Whether you’re validating an idea or ready to build — 5050 is for you.
You’ll learn what it takes to become a great founder, how to choose the right problem, technology, and market, and how to build a deep tech startup.
“It’s a cheat code for starting a deep tech startup.” – Eric McShane, 5050 alum.
• Eric McShane and Evan Gardner spun out of Stanford and co-founded Electroflow Technologies to tackle the lithium shortage. They’ve scaled their tech by 200x in 6 months.
• Mark Budde joined 5050 as a postdoc at Caltech. Two years later, Plasmidsaurus enables scientists across all 50 states and most European countries to go much faster.
• Niccolo Cymbalist joined as a Tesla engineer. Three months later, he co-founded Clippership and is building autonomous sailboats to decarbonize maritime shipping.
• Chi Zhang and Tay Shin joined as postdocs at MIT. Within weeks, they spun out and are now working to enable in vivo cell reprogramming.
At Fifty Years, we’ve built deep tech companies ourselves. We’ve backed over 100 deep tech startups from the earliest stages and helped them raise over 4.6 billion dollars.
We distilled everything we know about deep tech startups into 5050: a free program to help world-class scientists and engineers start indispensable companies.
Phase I: Explore
We’ll help you answer: How do I turn my breakthrough science into a business? What do I need to make a startup idea work? Am I ready to be a founder?
You’ll learn if entrepreneurship is right for you, identify the idea to build, and pivot quickly if necessary. We’ll guide you through the early days of building in deep tech.
At the end of Explore, those ready to build a startup will be invited to the next phase, Build.
Phase II: Build
You’ll join a cohort of fast-moving founders who will challenge you to ramp up. We’ll coach you to level up into a great founder and guide you through the early days of building in deep tech. Build will help you de-risk your technology, hit key milestones, raise a first round, and reach takeoff speed fast.
Helping great scientists and engineers become great entrepreneurs is our jam.
Apply / nominate! fiftyyears.com/5050
5050 was fantastic portal into the deep tech start-up world. As a part of it, I learned core skills for company creation, insight distilled from their collective years of experience building and investing in deep tech start-ups. Along the way I got to know (and have a lot of fun) with a group of scientists and engineers developing remarkable new businesses from battery tech to robotics to synthetic biology. Highly recommend to any scientists or engineers serious about building something positive for the world, and looking for guidance along the way.
Founder & investor using technology to solve the world's biggest problems.
The world needs 10x more scientist-founders.
5050 helps scientists and engineers become great founders and start indispensable companies. Applications open!
Startups are the best way to make a real impact with research, but where do you get started? How do you know if entrepreneurship is for you?
Whether you’re validating an idea or ready to build — 5050 is for you.
You’ll learn what it takes to become a great founder, how to choose the right problem, technology, and market, and how to build a deep tech startup.
“It’s a cheat code for starting a deep tech startup.” – Eric McShane, 5050 alum.
• Eric McShane and Evan Gardner spun out of Stanford and co-founded Electroflow Technologies to tackle the lithium shortage. They’ve scaled their tech by 200x in 6 months.
• Mark Budde joined 5050 as a postdoc at Caltech. Two years later, Plasmidsaurus enables scientists across all 50 states and most European countries to go much faster.
• Niccolo Cymbalist joined as a Tesla engineer. Three months later, he co-founded Clippership and is building autonomous sailboats to decarbonize maritime shipping.
• Chi Zhang and Tay Shin joined as postdocs at MIT. Within weeks, they spun out and are now working to enable in vivo cell reprogramming.
At Fifty Years, we’ve built deep tech companies ourselves. We’ve backed over 100 deep tech startups from the earliest stages and helped them raise over 4.6 billion dollars.
We distilled everything we know about deep tech startups into 5050: a free program to help world-class scientists and engineers start indispensable companies.
Phase I: Explore
We’ll help you answer: How do I turn my breakthrough science into a business? What do I need to make a startup idea work? Am I ready to be a founder?
You’ll learn if entrepreneurship is right for you, identify the idea to build, and pivot quickly if necessary. We’ll guide you through the early days of building in deep tech.
At the end of Explore, those ready to build a startup will be invited to the next phase, Build.
Phase II: Build
You’ll join a cohort of fast-moving founders who will challenge you to ramp up. We’ll coach you to level up into a great founder and guide you through the early days of building in deep tech. Build will help you de-risk your technology, hit key milestones, raise a first round, and reach takeoff speed fast.
Helping great scientists and engineers become great entrepreneurs is our jam.
Apply / nominate! fiftyyears.com/5050
If you are even remotely thinking about turning your research into a deep tech company, I suggest to apply for the new 5050 cohort, which was just announced. 5050 will teach you everything you need to know about it. It is also a unique opportunity to become part of a community of brilliant, hard-working scientists focused on solving the world's biggest problems.
Founder & investor using technology to solve the world's biggest problems.
The world needs 10x more scientist-founders.
5050 helps scientists and engineers become great founders and start indispensable companies. Applications open!
Startups are the best way to make a real impact with research, but where do you get started? How do you know if entrepreneurship is for you?
Whether you’re validating an idea or ready to build — 5050 is for you.
You’ll learn what it takes to become a great founder, how to choose the right problem, technology, and market, and how to build a deep tech startup.
“It’s a cheat code for starting a deep tech startup.” – Eric McShane, 5050 alum.
• Eric McShane and Evan Gardner spun out of Stanford and co-founded Electroflow Technologies to tackle the lithium shortage. They’ve scaled their tech by 200x in 6 months.
• Mark Budde joined 5050 as a postdoc at Caltech. Two years later, Plasmidsaurus enables scientists across all 50 states and most European countries to go much faster.
• Niccolo Cymbalist joined as a Tesla engineer. Three months later, he co-founded Clippership and is building autonomous sailboats to decarbonize maritime shipping.
• Chi Zhang and Tay Shin joined as postdocs at MIT. Within weeks, they spun out and are now working to enable in vivo cell reprogramming.
At Fifty Years, we’ve built deep tech companies ourselves. We’ve backed over 100 deep tech startups from the earliest stages and helped them raise over 4.6 billion dollars.
We distilled everything we know about deep tech startups into 5050: a free program to help world-class scientists and engineers start indispensable companies.
Phase I: Explore
We’ll help you answer: How do I turn my breakthrough science into a business? What do I need to make a startup idea work? Am I ready to be a founder?
You’ll learn if entrepreneurship is right for you, identify the idea to build, and pivot quickly if necessary. We’ll guide you through the early days of building in deep tech.
At the end of Explore, those ready to build a startup will be invited to the next phase, Build.
Phase II: Build
You’ll join a cohort of fast-moving founders who will challenge you to ramp up. We’ll coach you to level up into a great founder and guide you through the early days of building in deep tech. Build will help you de-risk your technology, hit key milestones, raise a first round, and reach takeoff speed fast.
Helping great scientists and engineers become great entrepreneurs is our jam.
Apply / nominate! fiftyyears.com/5050
Can’t recommend this program enough!
3 months ago I was happily working at Tesla, and now I’m building autonomous cargo sailboats with Tae Rugh, Kai Matsuka, and Luca.
This wouldn’t have been possible without going through the 5050 program.
Founder & investor using technology to solve the world's biggest problems.
The world needs 10x more scientist-founders.
5050 helps scientists and engineers become great founders and start indispensable companies. Applications open!
Startups are the best way to make a real impact with research, but where do you get started? How do you know if entrepreneurship is for you?
Whether you’re validating an idea or ready to build — 5050 is for you.
You’ll learn what it takes to become a great founder, how to choose the right problem, technology, and market, and how to build a deep tech startup.
“It’s a cheat code for starting a deep tech startup.” – Eric McShane, 5050 alum.
• Eric McShane and Evan Gardner spun out of Stanford and co-founded Electroflow Technologies to tackle the lithium shortage. They’ve scaled their tech by 200x in 6 months.
• Mark Budde joined 5050 as a postdoc at Caltech. Two years later, Plasmidsaurus enables scientists across all 50 states and most European countries to go much faster.
• Niccolo Cymbalist joined as a Tesla engineer. Three months later, he co-founded Clippership and is building autonomous sailboats to decarbonize maritime shipping.
• Chi Zhang and Tay Shin joined as postdocs at MIT. Within weeks, they spun out and are now working to enable in vivo cell reprogramming.
At Fifty Years, we’ve built deep tech companies ourselves. We’ve backed over 100 deep tech startups from the earliest stages and helped them raise over 4.6 billion dollars.
We distilled everything we know about deep tech startups into 5050: a free program to help world-class scientists and engineers start indispensable companies.
Phase I: Explore
We’ll help you answer: How do I turn my breakthrough science into a business? What do I need to make a startup idea work? Am I ready to be a founder?
You’ll learn if entrepreneurship is right for you, identify the idea to build, and pivot quickly if necessary. We’ll guide you through the early days of building in deep tech.
At the end of Explore, those ready to build a startup will be invited to the next phase, Build.
Phase II: Build
You’ll join a cohort of fast-moving founders who will challenge you to ramp up. We’ll coach you to level up into a great founder and guide you through the early days of building in deep tech. Build will help you de-risk your technology, hit key milestones, raise a first round, and reach takeoff speed fast.
Helping great scientists and engineers become great entrepreneurs is our jam.
Apply / nominate! fiftyyears.com/5050
The world needs 10x more scientist-founders.
5050 helps scientists and engineers become great founders and start indispensable companies. Applications open!
Startups are the best way to make a real impact with research, but where do you get started? How do you know if entrepreneurship is for you?
Whether you’re validating an idea or ready to build — 5050 is for you.
You’ll learn what it takes to become a great founder, how to choose the right problem, technology, and market, and how to build a deep tech startup.
“It’s a cheat code for starting a deep tech startup.” – Eric McShane, 5050 alum.
• Eric McShane and Evan Gardner spun out of Stanford and co-founded Electroflow Technologies to tackle the lithium shortage. They’ve scaled their tech by 200x in 6 months.
• Mark Budde joined 5050 as a postdoc at Caltech. Two years later, Plasmidsaurus enables scientists across all 50 states and most European countries to go much faster.
• Niccolo Cymbalist joined as a Tesla engineer. Three months later, he co-founded Clippership and is building autonomous sailboats to decarbonize maritime shipping.
• Chi Zhang and Tay Shin joined as postdocs at MIT. Within weeks, they spun out and are now working to enable in vivo cell reprogramming.
At Fifty Years, we’ve built deep tech companies ourselves. We’ve backed over 100 deep tech startups from the earliest stages and helped them raise over 4.6 billion dollars.
We distilled everything we know about deep tech startups into 5050: a free program to help world-class scientists and engineers start indispensable companies.
Phase I: Explore
We’ll help you answer: How do I turn my breakthrough science into a business? What do I need to make a startup idea work? Am I ready to be a founder?
You’ll learn if entrepreneurship is right for you, identify the idea to build, and pivot quickly if necessary. We’ll guide you through the early days of building in deep tech.
At the end of Explore, those ready to build a startup will be invited to the next phase, Build.
Phase II: Build
You’ll join a cohort of fast-moving founders who will challenge you to ramp up. We’ll coach you to level up into a great founder and guide you through the early days of building in deep tech. Build will help you de-risk your technology, hit key milestones, raise a first round, and reach takeoff speed fast.
Helping great scientists and engineers become great entrepreneurs is our jam.
Apply / nominate! fiftyyears.com/5050
A look back at our Bioforge Marshall groundbreaking in April! 👷♂️
Solugen leadership was joined by government officials, business leaders, and community partners to officially break ground on our new 500,000 sf biomanufacturing facility in Marshall, Minn.
In support of the project, Solugen has received conditional commitment for a $214M loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development also awarded the project $760K in financial incentives from the department's Job Creation Fund, and an additional $15M from the Minnesota Forward Fund.
A special thank you to the City of Marshall for helping us pull off an epic event, and for their invaluable support as we expand our footprint.
