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Grupo Guayacán opens call for 8th I-Corps P.R. cohort

Grupo Guayacán Inc. (GGI) announced that it will offer the upcoming eighth cohort of its Customer Discovery Boot Camp, I-Corps Puerto Rico (I-Corps PR), at the Gurabo campus of Ana G. Méndez University (AGMU).

This marks the first time that
the idea validation program will be offered at this campus, and the second time
it’s offered at AGMU. I-Corps PR’s sixth cohort was offered in April 2018 at the
Carolina campus.

The program is open to students
and faculty of universities in Puerto Rico, as well as community-based
entrepreneurial teams looking to validate their business idea and build a
scalable business model.

“We’re proud to host this
extraordinary initiative to help entrepreneurs develop their business
ideas.  We need innovative and transformative ideas, now more than ever,
to contribute to Puerto Rico’s development and growth,” said David Méndez, dean
for UAGM, Gurabo campus.

I-Corps Puerto Rico is offered
through a partnership between GGI and the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT),
whose VentureLab manages the regional node for the National Science
Foundation’s Innovation Corps in the southeastern United States.

Since 2015, throughout seven cohorts, the program has graduated more than 100 teams, of which nearly 90 percent are still active. Approximately half of these teams have been university-based, meaning that they are led by students and/or faculty members.

I-Corps graduates have raised more
than $5 million in capital to continue developing their ventures, including
funding from the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Innovation
Research Program, and the Puerto Rico Science & Technology Trust.

More than 98 percent of all past participants
recommend the program as an ideal first step for idea-stage teams to carry out
an intensive customer discovery process over a short period of time.

“We’re extremely proud of I-Corps
Puerto Rico’s immense growth and progress. What started out as a pilot collaboration
between GGI and GT to spur the commercialization of innovations stemming from
local universities, has become a new cornerstone of the entrepreneurial
ecosystem in Puerto Rico,” said GGI’s Executive Director Laura Cantero.

“Throughout the past seven
cohorts, I-Corps has established itself as a key first step for entrepreneurs
at the idea stage, supporting them through a proven methodology for validating
the business potential of their idea and saving valuable time, money, and
resources in the development phase,” she said.

“We are excited to bring I-Corps
to the Gurabo campus and continue strengthening our collaboration with the Ana
G. Méndez University. We invite students, faculty and members of the broader
community to take full advantage of this opportunity and apply today,” Cantero
added.

The five-week program includes a three-day
kick off, two weekly meetings and a two-day conclusion workshop where each team
presents the findings from the customer discovery process.

The teaching team will be led by
Keith McGreggor, Venture Lab Director, entrepreneur, and veteran I-Corps
instructor. McGreggor will be joined by a robust local teaching team that
includes various entrepreneurs, professionals and other entrepreneurial service
providers who have been trained throughout the past I-Corps PR cohorts.

This upcoming I-Corps PR Cohort
is sponsored by the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company.

Through the intensive program
each team will learn about their potential markets by conducting over 100
customer discovery interviews with likely customers and market influencers.
Based on the feedback and evidence gathered through the customer discovery
phase, each team will build a business model canvas, detailing the venture’s
value propositions, customer segments, key activities, resources and partners,
sales/distribution channels, cost structures, and revenue streams.

Interested teams must submit a
brief online application. The application
process will be open until Feb. 15, 2019.

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This story was written by our staff based on a press release.
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