We help great scientists and engineers become great founders.
Early bird applications for our US cohort are open until March 23.
Rolling applications are open until April 13
To recommend someone to 5050, fill out this form.
To be notified of future cohorts, sign up here.
Rolling applications for our UK cohort are open until March 15.
In partnership with the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), 5050 is coming to the UK.
To recommend someone to 5050, fill out this form.
To be notified of future cohorts, sign up here.
We help scientists and engineers start deep tech startups.
250
scientists and engineers have gone through 5050. All of them started off curious about startups but with no clear path to starting a company.
55
companies got started by 5050 alumni, many of which wouldn’t have started if it hadn’t been for 5050.
Mark Budde co-founded Plasmidsaurus: ultra-fast DNA sequencing as a service.
Josie Kishi co-founded Digital Biology: revolutionizing functional sequencing.
Niccolo Cymbalist co-founded Clippership: autonomous sailboats to decarbonize maritime shipping.
Michelle Lee founded Medra: automating repetitive wetlab tasks using robotics and computer vision.
Dan Moore founded Type III: rebuilding the American tech tree.
Michael Chavez co-founded Enoda: transforming cells into cures for cancer, autoimmunity, aging, and beyond.
Binbin Chen co-founded Vcreate: high-throughput screening and ML to design immunotherapies.
Brandon Wilson co-founded Range Bio: translational proteomics to enable molecular health monitoring.
Floris Engelhardt co-founded Kano Therapeutics: safe, effective genetic payloads to enable genetic cures.
Nikita Khlystov founded Huminly: using enzymes to make clothing infinitely recyclable.
Eric McShane and Evan Gardner co-founded Electroflow: sustainable, cost-effective lithium chemical production.
Caitlyn Miller co-founded TwoStep Therapeutics: expanding the reach of targeted cancer therapies.
and many more!
5050 alumni are creating massive positive impact:
We help scientists and engineers translate breakthrough science and start deep tech startups.
250
scientists and engineers have gone through 5050. All of them started off curious about startups but with no clear path to starting a company.
55
companies got started by 5050 alumni, many of which wouldn’t have started if it hadn’t been for 5050.
Mark Budde co-founded Plasmidsaurus: ultra-fast DNA sequencing as a service.
Josie Kishi co-founded Digital Biology: revolutionizing functional sequencing.
Niccolo Cymbalist co-founded Clippership: autonomous sailboats to decarbonize maritime shipping.
Michelle Lee founded Medra: automating repetitive wetlab tasks using robotics and computer vision.
Dan Moore founded Type III: rebuilding the American tech tree.
Michael Chavez co-founded Enoda: transforming cells into cures for cancer, autoimmunity, aging, and beyond.
Binbin Chen co-founded Vcreate: high-throughput screening and ML to design immunotherapies.
Brandon Wilson co-founded Range Bio: translational proteomics to enable molecular health monitoring.
Floris Engelhardt co-founded Kano Therapeutics: safe, effective genetic payloads to enable genetic cures.
Nikita Khlystov founded Huminly: using enzymes to make clothing infinitely recyclable.
Eric McShane and Evan Gardner co-founded Electroflow: sustainable, cost-effective lithium chemical production.
Caitlyn Miller co-founded TwoStep Therapeutics: expanding the reach of targeted cancer therapies.
and many more!
5050 alumni are creating massive positive impact:
Penicillin, fiber optics, DNA’s double helix, MRIs, monoclonal antibodies, the electric motor, the telephone, and the World Wide Web were all invented or discovered by brilliant UK minds.
But not a single one was successfully commercialised in the UK.
The UK is a powerhouse of invention.
5050 will help the next wave of UK invention be commercialised and built in Britain.
Whether you’re validating an idea or ready to build — 5050 is for you.
Over 16 weeks, you’ll work with the 50Y team to answer the following questions: How do I turn breakthrough science into a startup? Am I addressing a problem with a large enough market? How do I recruit a world-class team? Am I the right person to do it?
You’ll explore if entrepreneurship is right for you, what it takes to be a founder, and how to develop the traits great founders have. You’ll learn how to translate your research into a startup and assess whether your idea could become civilizationally important.
We’ll help you identify the right team, technology, and market, coach you to level up into a great founder, and guide you through the early days of building in deep tech.
Building amongst a cohort of ambitious, entrepreneurial scientists and engineers tackling pressing world problems will challenge you to ramp up.
Through our curriculum specifically created for scientific entrepreneurs, weekly workshops, one-on-one mentorship from 50Y Partners, and a 3-day cohort camp, we’ll get you ready to start a deep tech startup.
Our first UK cohort runs from March to June ‘25. Sessions are held in London and online. We’ll host the entire cohort in London for the kickoff and closing weekends.
Whether you’re validating an idea or ready to build — 5050 is for you.
Over 16 weeks, you’ll work closely with the 50Y team to answer the following questions: Do I have an idea worth pursuing? How do I turn breakthrough research into a startup? Am I addressing a problem with a large enough market? How do I recruit a world-class team? Am I the right person to do it?
You’ll explore if entrepreneurship is right for you, what it takes to be a founder, and how to develop the traits great founders have. You’ll learn how to translate your science into a startup and assess whether your idea could become civilizationally important.
We’ll help you identify the right team, technology, and market. We’ll coach you to level up into a great founder and guide you through the early days of building in deep tech.
Building amongst a cohort of ambitious, entrepreneurial scientists and engineers tackling pressing world problems will challenge you to level up.
Through our curriculum designed for scientists and engineers, weekly entrepreneurship workshops, one-on-one mentorship from 50Y Partners, visits to successful startups, and a 3-day cohort camp, we’ll get you ready to start a deep tech startup.
The cohort runs from April 25 to August 2. Sessions are held in SF, Boston, and remotely. We'll fly the entire cohort to SF for the kickoff and camp weekends.
Learn what it takes to become a great founder
Choose the right problem, technology, and market
Learn how to build a deep tech startup
From SpaceX, Tesla, and Anduril to building deep tech startups.
Hear from the 5050 alumni:
5050 was the fundamental catalyst for founding Huminly! Huminly would have had a very different start, if at all!
Office hours helped me focus on a select number of objectives I needed to hit to spin out of Stanford and fundraise. I remember Alex told me early on to focus on the polyester monomer and to meet the technical specs at a viable cost. That advice is something we’re now chasing at full speed!
Nikita Khlystov, co-founder of Huminly. Prev. Cochran lab at Stanford
Our team completed 5050, and we started Externa. We built our first pitch deck and negotiated our first client deal during 5050! The 50Y team gave us key advice when spinning out our startup. After 5050, the cohort has become a fantastic network to lean on.
Helena De Puig, co-founder of Externa. Prev. Collins lab at Harvard
The caliber of scientists that Fifty Years brought together was incredible. You gain insider knowledge you’d only gain if you talk to and share with peers who are also trying to figure out the entrepreneurial journey themselves.
Floris Engelhardt, co-founder of Kano. Prev. Bathe lab at MIT
Before 5050, the chances of us starting a company were ~10%. They’ll tell you if it’s a bad idea and help you land on something worth pursuing. Within weeks, we quit our jobs at Tesla, and we’re now building the startup full-time.
Niccolo Cymbalist, co-founder of Clippership. Prev. Tesla and PhD from Caltech.
We joined right as we were spinning out, and it's been a game changer. There were numerous times I heard a tip from a 5050 event and used the advice the next day at our company. It's run by former founders who really get it and have been there, done that.
Eric McShane, co-founder of Electroflow Tech. Prev. Cargnello lab at Stanford
As a mechanical engineer, bouncing ideas off a cohort with a deeply technical background in chemistry and biology expanded my sense of what’s possible. From working on a problem in manufacturing with no market opportunity, I pivoted to something I am deeply passionate about in the energy space.
Daniel Rahn, founder in stealth. Prev. SpaceX
Surrounding myself with incredibly kind and supportive scientists, founders, and 50Y team gave me the confidence to pursue entrepreneurial ideas that I otherwise would not have even considered exploring.
Erin Huiting, Bondy-Denomy lab at UCSF
5050 is run by 50Y. We’re experts in deep tech entrepreneurship.
At Fifty Years, we’ve built deep tech companies ourselves. We’ve backed over 100 deep tech companies from the earliest stages and helped them raise over $4.6 billion. We've helped our founders achieve many “firsts”:
the first carbon-negative molecule factory
the first cultivated meat approved in the U.S.
the first microgeo satellite for internet connectivity
the first in-orbit space factory that manufactured pharmaceutical drugs
the first de novo synthesis of a 1000+ base DNA molecule
and many more
We supported these founders when they barely had a working prototype. We backed Sean Hunt and Gaurab Chakrabarti when they had just built a janky prototype reactor with wood, PVC pipes, and zip ties from Home Depot. Solugen has now built a 63-foot-tall carbon-negative molecule factory that offsets over 30,000 tons of CO2 a year and is on the path to decarbonizing 90% of the chemicals humanity needs.
We backed John Gedmark and Ryan McLinko when Astranis was an idea on a whiteboard. They've now launched satellites, closed more than 1 billion dollars in contracted revenue, and are on the path to connecting 3 billion people to the internet.
The story of Plasmidsaurus
We started supporting Mark Budde, the founder of Plasmidsaurus, in the inaugural 5050 cohort. He was still a postdoc at Caltech, researching mammalian synthetic cell circuits.
We helped him realize the workflows he built to speed up his research could be the foundation of a great business. He set up a shack in his backyard and began delivering overnight plasmid sequencing.
Two years post-founding, Plasmidsaurus is the fastest-growing startup we’ve seen, profitable, and serving scientists across 50 U.S. states and most European countries.
Scientists and engineers have the potential to build civilization-bending companies.
We help you get started.
The 5050 experience
1. Identify civilization-scale problems that are good business opportunities.
5050 will help you answer: Do I have an idea worth pursuing? Is my science ready to commercialize? Can this startup become civilizationally important? Am I the right person to do it?
We'll help you diagnose and mitigate risks, pivot quickly if necessary, identify the problem you can uniquely solve, and make a solid plan to commercialize your tech.
Does the idea chunk nicely into milestones? Is it too risky, or not risky enough? Is there a market for it? Do the technoeconomics make sense? Does it pass the Mr Burns test? Is your invention 10x cheaper, better, or faster than how things are done today?
2. Learn everything you need to start a deep tech startup.
We’ll host weekly workshops on how to spin out of academia, move past the academic mindset, and execute fast. You’ll learn the best deep tech approaches to hiring, fundraising, selecting your co-founder, engaging customers, achieving product-market fit, and becoming a great storyteller to increase your chances of success.
50Y Partners will meet with you weekly to give mentorship, resolve challenges, and set the pace for execution. Recognizing that every delayed solution can cost real lives and entire ecosystems, 5050 will help you de-risk your technology, hit milestones, raise a first round, and avoid costly mistakes to commercialize your research much faster.
3. Grow into a great founder.
We’ll help you understand if entrepreneurship is right for you (it’s not for everyone!) and coach you through the early days of your startup. You’ll meet successful deep tech founders and learn what the early days of building a startup look like.
Most people have more potential than they realize, and we’ll help you reach further than you think possible. Personal growth workshops will help you push past your edge and develop traits all great founders share: thinking against the grain, high expectations, speed, optimism, audacity, risk-taking, relentlessness, and resourcefulness.
4. Join a community of future deep tech founders.
You’ll join a cohort of ambitious scientists, engineers, and builders tackling the world’s most pressing problems. Building alongside entrepreneurial peers will challenge you to ramp up and provide you with a cohort you can lean on for support. Since you’re all navigating the entrepreneurial journey together, it’s almost guaranteed that someone else in the cohort has just solved the exact challenge you are going through.
Additionally, 5050 alumni, many of whom are now deep tech founders and eager to share their founder journey with you.e grain, high expectations, speed, optimism, audacity, risk-taking, relentlessness, and resourcefulness.
5. What? When? Where?
Applications for our first UK cohort are open. The cohort runs from March to June ‘25.
We’ll host the entire cohort in London for the kickoff and closing weekends. The remainder of 5050 consists of weekly office hours with 50Y partners, weekly afternoon workshops (held both in London and remotely) focused on essential entrepreneurship skills, and a 3-day off-the-grid weekend experience.
To be notified of future cohorts, sign up here.
The 5050 experience
1. Identify civilization-scale problems that are good business opportunities.
5050 will help you answer: Do I have an idea worth pursuing? Is my science ready to commercialize? Can this startup become civilizationally important? Am I the right person to do it?
We'll help you diagnose and mitigate risks, pivot quickly if necessary, identify the problem you can uniquely solve, and make a solid plan to commercialize your tech.
Does the idea chunk nicely into milestones? Is it too risky, or not risky enough? Is there a market for it? Do the technoeconomics make sense? Is your invention 10x cheaper, better, or faster than how things are done today?
2. Learn everything you need to start a deep tech startup.
We’ll host weekly entrepreneurship workshops. You’ll learn the best deep tech approaches to hiring, fundraising, selecting your co-founder, recruiting, engaging customers, achieving product-market fit, executing fast, and storytelling.
50Y Partners will meet with you weekly to give mentorship, resolve challenges, and set the pace for execution. Recognizing that every delayed solution can cost real lives and entire ecosystems, 5050 will help you quickly de-risk your technology, hit milestones, raise your first round, and avoid costly mistakes.
3. Grow into a great founder.
We’ll help you figure out if entrepreneurship is for you (it’s not for everyone!) and coach you through the early days of your startup. You’ll meet successful deep tech founders and learn what the early days of building a startup look like.
Personal growth workshops will push past your edge and help you develop traits all great founders share: thinking against the grain, studying the greats, high expectations, speed, optimism, audacity, risk-taking, relentlessness, work is life, and resourcefulness.
4. Join a community of future deep tech founders.
You’ll join a cohort of ambitious scientists, engineers, and builders tackling the world’s most pressing problems. Building alongside entrepreneurial peers will challenge you to level up and provide a community to lean on for support. Since you’re navigating the entrepreneurial journey together, it’s almost guaranteed someone in your cohort has just solved the challenge you’re facing right now.
5050 alumni, many of whom are now deep tech founders, are eager to share their experiences with you.
5. What? When? Where?
The cohort runs from April to August.
We’ll fly the entire cohort to SF for the kickoff weekend (April 26 - 27) and a 3-day off-the-grid experience (June 20 - 22). After the kickoff, every week you’ll join office hours with 50Y Partners and afternoon workshops focused on essential entrepreneurship skills. Workshops are held in-person in SF and Boston, and remotely for participants across the rest of the US.
To be notified of future cohorts, sign up here.
FAQ
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Scientists, engineers, and builders interested in entrepreneurship. Whether you're in the early stages of building a company or actively pursuing a PhD and deciding whether entrepreneurship is right for you, we can help you accelerate the journey to build a company to solve humanity’s biggest problems.
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Deep tech companies require deep technical expertise to drive breakthroughs in areas like energy, climate tech, materials, bioengineering, transportation, hardware, computation, communication, health, aerospace, and AI. If you're building something that could be a civilizationally important tech, we'd probably call it deep tech!
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Not at all. Many cohort members are simply talented, curious, and ambitious builders. If you do have an idea, you’ll make the idea even stronger during the cohort.
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3-4 hours per week for sessions and office hours with the 50Y team. We expect you to spend the rest of your time moving your research/startup forward. The cohort runs for 16 weeks. Commitments include:
A kickoff in-person weekend.
Weekly sessions are usually held in the evening during the week. Two of these sessions will happen on Saturdays. These happen online and in-person.
Weekly 1-hour long group office hour with 50Y Partners on Zoom.
Access to additional individual check-ins as needed.
A cohort-wide Friday - Sunday off-the-grid-eperience.
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Nope! The program is free.
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The goal of 5050 is to help more indispensable companies get started! Scientists and engineers are the best people to solve some of the world’s biggest problems; we want to increase their chances of success regardless of whether 50Y backs the founders who go through the program!
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Shoot us an email at ale@50y.com.