ACCELERATING CORNELL UNIVERSITY STARTUPS
Cornell University runs two elite on-campus incubators that support about 25 startups. Many founders are brilliant researchers but struggle to generate enthusiasm with investors, customers, and potential hires. Cornell hired Otto as a portfolio-wide strategic resource to sharpen company stories, build investor decks, and position them for growth. As Praxis director Bob Scharf put it, “Otto is one of the most impactful resources we’ve ever offered to our founders.”
THE BACKGROUND
Cornell’s has two incubators inside academic departments to nurture frontier-tech companies emerging from university research:
Praxis Center for Venture Development (Engineering): robotics, photonics, materials, energy, hardware, advanced computation
Center for Life Science Ventures (Biotech): diagnostics, therapeutics, synthetic biology, molecular tools, medical devices
Founders typically bring extraordinary scientific depth—but limited experience with venture fundraising, customer acquisition, or market storytelling.
Cornell brought Otto in to work one-on-one with every startup that needed support, helping them articulate their mission, define their markets, and communicate with investors and industry partners.
THE CHALLENGE
Across both incubators, teams faced similar hurdles as they transitioned from academia to commercialization:
Shifting from academic communication to business communication. Too many founders pitch the science, not the opportunity.
Fundraising. Companies needed decks and narratives that could quickly convey value, urgency, and differentiation.
Finding customers and partners. Many teams had groundbreaking technology but struggled to land pilots or industry conversations because their messaging was unclear.
Building confidence. As one founder said, before working with Otto: “I knew my science, but I didn’t know how to talk about my company.”
Producing polished materials quickly. SBIR deadlines, investor meetings, partner introductions, and demo days required fast, high-quality output.
THE RESULT
"The scope of what Otto was able to offer was way broader than I anticipated," said Bob Scharf, director of Praxis. "The match between Otto and the startups has been heaven-sent. It's made dramatic differences in the outlook for these startups."
The companies in the two incubators have now raised over half a billion in equity investment at a close to $3B valuation. In terms of revenue funded per square footage, Praxis is now near the top of all labs on campus.
"Otto helped us craft a really succinct relatable story," said Austin Hickman, founder co-founder of Soctera. "We took that press release and Otto helped us get it on the top relevant publication in our industry, Semiconductor Today. We got a lot of inbound interest from relevant key partnerships, as well as potential customers down the line. All of this was possible because of the message that we crafted with Otto." Soctera subsequently won $1m in NSF funding.
"We are developing a technology that could revolutionize drug development, but it's also a very complicated story to tell," said Matt Cheng, co-founder of Kanvas Biosciences. "Otto found a great framework and series of analogies that really captured the power of what we're creating. His deck worked. We closed an oversubscribed $12m Series A at a great valuation led by top-tier VCs." Kanvas has now raised over $24m total and Pitchbook predicts a 92% chance of a successful exit.
