OSU Advantage Accelerator

The OSU Advantage Accelerator was created in 2013 to help develop high-growth, innovative products and services by taking companies through all phases of the startup process. We assist faculty, staff, students and the broader community to commercialize research and concepts. Our staff, mentors, and student interns work directly with innovators and entrepreneurs to explore markets, develop products, and obtain customers.

We share the greater vision of Oregon State University to create a collaborative, inclusive and caring community that strives for equity and equal opportunity in everything we do; that creates a welcoming environment and enables success for people from all walks of life; and that shares common, fundamental values grounded in justice while looking to our diversity as a source of enrichment and strength.

We recognize that innovation can come from anyone at anytime, so whether you feel you’ve nailed it or you just have an idea you want to test, you’ll find us open and willing to help you determine your path forward.

The main components to the OSU Advantage Accelerator Program are overviewed below:

ITERATE – Iterate Your Idea

This hybrid program consists of four workshops that equip clients with a toolkit to evaluate ideas from a entrepreneurial mindset. Clients in this stage work to identify a potential product, market and industry for their idea.

ACCELERATE – Accelerate Your Growth

This ten-week program focuses on product market fit. Each Accelerate client engages in customer and develops a minimal viable product. Clients in this stage will test the feasibility of their startup and validate their business models. Feasibility develops early adopters – target customers, and clearly articulates the benefits as compared to competitors.

LAUNCH – Launch Your Company

Clients in this stage will launch their startup. Launch is a five-month, immersive program designed to make each startup fully operational - from completeing the team to developing a repeatable sales model. Clients focus on execution through a strong market and competitor knowledge, operations, building a customer pipeline and fufilling early orders. This phase is focused on growth, project management and efficiency. At this stage, clients are seeking to ramp up their company from a research and development company to becoming a product manufacturing and marketing company.

‍