NJII Venture Builders Program

Build your next company with the NJII Venture Studio.

Apply as a Venture Builder

What It Is

The NJII Venture Builders Program recruits experienced founders and operators to work hands-on with high-potential university technologies: stress-testing the business case, running customer discovery, and determining whether to lead the venture as a founding executive.

Venture Builders work alongside the NJII Venture Studio team and academic inventors at a critical inflection point: after initial diligence has been completed, and before a company is formed. Their job is to bring market judgment, commercial discipline, and execution credibility to technologies that are ready for that next step.

Ventures that clear the program may be formed and backed by the NJII Venture Studio.

How It Works

A Venture Builder enters after the NJII Venture Studio has completed its initial diligence on a specific opportunity. You receive a structured technology brief and a curated set of market hypotheses — your job is to stress-test them. The Venture Builders should expect to commit 10–20 hours per week over a 12–16-week sprint focusing on the following:

Conduct customer discovery and market validation

Pressure-test the business case and identify gaps

Define the go-to-market approach and competitive positioning

Position yourself, if desired, to lead the venture

Best fit for: Operators and founders who want a defined concept to evaluate and develop, with clear milestones and a bounded time commitment. A commitment to be a founding executive, post-launch, is not required.

NJII’s Commitment to our Venture Builders: Expense budget for customer discovery (provided in a lump sum stipend), cap table equity for the build and – considered separately – equity as a founding executive. Specific equity values are subject to negotiation and anchored in the realities of each unique venture build.

Industry Focus

We recruit Venture Builders with domain expertise in our priority verticals. We are currently sourcing opportunities and entrepreneurs in:

Healthcare

Digital health, medical devices, diagnostics, and health systems technology (not therapeutics).

Defense

Dual-use technologies, sensing, autonomy, and defense-relevant deep tech including advanced manufacturing.

Domain expertise matters. We look for entrepreneurs who understand their industry deeply enough to run credible customer discovery, evaluate competitive dynamics, and engage meaningfully with buyers and investors in the space.

Frequently Asked Questions

Venture Builders are given access to a curated set of technologies that have passed an initial commercialization screen by NJII in coordination with the NJIT IP & Technology Licensing Office.

Technologies are selected based on:

  • Market relevance
  • Technical defensibility
  • Commercialization feasibility
  • Alignment with NJII’s Venture Studio model and priority verticals

In parallel, Venture Builders are encouraged to actively explore NJIT’s broader research ecosystem by meeting with faculty, attending open sessions, and identifying additional opportunities. New opportunities identified during the program can be evaluated and added to the pipeline, subject to NJII and NJIT IP office review.

Yes. All technologies in the program are NJIT-owned or controlled and come through the NJIT IP & Technology Licensing Office. NJII works closely with the IP office to ensure a clear path to licensing or optioning if a startup is formed.

While terms vary by technology, NJIT licenses generally include:

  • An exclusive field-of-use license
  • 5% equity to NJIT
  • Commitment from the licensee to pay past patent expenses incurred by NJIT
  • A royalty on product revenue
  • Guaranteed annual fees

NJII’s Venture Studio structures these licenses in a startup-friendly way and negotiates on behalf of the new company.

Each opportunity includes a structured technology brief covering:

  • Technical summary
  • IP status
  • Known use cases
  • Market context
  • Prior industry interest (if any)
  • Key risks and unknowns

Most fall into one of three categories:

  • Lab-validated prototypes
  • Early working systems
  • Patented methods or platforms with proof-of-concept

Some will have prior industry conversations or inbound interest; when that exists, it is shared.

Each venture is structured individually. A typical cap table includes NJIT (via the technology license), NJII (as Studio and capital partner), the founding Venture Builder and key inventors, and an ESOP reserved for future employees and investors. Specific terms depend on the nature and timing of each party’s contribution.

The intent is for the Venture Builder to lead the venture. The exact title and role depend on the individual’s fit and interest, and the team assembled around the opportunity.

The Studio contributes:

  • Venture Studio infrastructure and co-building support
  • Company formation mechanics (incorporation, cap table structure)
  • Fractional HR, legal, and finance services
  • Physical workspace on the NJIT campus
  • Access to investors, industry partners, and the NJII network

The NJII Venture Studio participates as a co-builder, not a passive investor.

We’re recruiting 3–5 Venture Builders.

Initially, yes. After early exploration and a matching process, Venture Builders may self-select into specific opportunities aligned with their domain expertise.

Typically 10–20 hours per week during the active sprint.

It is a defined 12–16 week commercialization sprint with:

  • Milestones
  • Customer discovery goals
  • Market and venture readiness checkpoints

Yes. We expect Venture Builders to test more than one hypothesis early in the program. Focus increases as signal emerges.

In customer discovery, use-case definition, market sizing, go-to-market thinking, and investor and partner engagement. That is precisely what most NJIT research teams need, but do not have.

Faculty bring technical depth, IP, and research credibility. The Venture Builder brings market perspective, commercial judgment, and execution discipline. The Venture Studio works with both to ensure alignment and productivity.

NJII screens applications. Selected candidates interview with two members of the NJII Venture Studio team. Final Venture Builders are invited to join the cohort by mid-February.

Matching happens once the IP set is finalized at the launch of the program in March.

The most valuable thing a Venture Builder brings to a university technology is domain expertise — the ability to run credible customer discovery, assess competitive dynamics, and engage meaningfully with industry buyers and investors. We match people and technologies by vertical whenever possible, particularly in healthcare and defense, where our portfolio is deepest.