A webinar series titled “From Discovery to Commercialization: Valuable guidance to enhance the success of your startup” was launched during the 2020-21 academic year by the USC Stevens Center for Innovation and the USC Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors.

The webinars cover a wide range of topics for USC researchers who are interested in exploring what it takes to have a successful startup. The series features guest speakers from a variety of fields, including venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, startup founders, lawyers, and more.

Topics and presenters from past webinars can be viewed below, along with a link to a recording of the webinar on YouTube (when available). The entire webinar playlist can be viewed at bit.ly/DtoCwebinars

Visit the events page on our website for information about upcoming webinars and other events, or go to the USC events calendar. We also share upcoming event information on our social media channels.

Webinar Topics and Recordings

2021-22 Webinars

Hot Topics in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (March 9, 2022)
Presentation by Jerrah Edwards, Acting Assistant Regional Director of the USPTO Silicon Valley office. View the recording on YouTube or download the presentation.

Meet the Investors: Rhapsody Venture Partners (Feb. 9, 2022)
Presentation by USC alumna Rebecca Wilson, PhD, Associate at Rhapsody Venture Partners. No recording available.

How to have a successful TAG application (Jan. 19, 2022)
Panel discussion with Hallie Kuhn, PhD, Alexandria Venture Investments/Alexandria Real Estate Equities; Caleb Smith, Salem Partners LLC; and Dr. Paula Cannon, Keck School of Medicine of USC. View the recording on YouTube.

Intellectual Property in the Creative Arts (Nov. 16, 2021)
Presentation by Seth Levy, Partner at Nixon Peabody. View the recording on YouTube.

Meet the Investors: Material Impact (Nov. 3, 2021)
Presentation by Sidney McLaurin, Partner at Material Impact. View the recording on YouTube.

Patent Law Basics in the Physical Sciences (Oct. 27, 2021)
Presentation by Jaime Choi, PhD, Partner at Snell & Wilmer. View the recording on YouTube.

Meet the Investors: Emerson Collective (Oct. 6, 2021)
Presentation by Beverly Lu, PhD, Investment Associate – Health and Dan McHugh, Director. No recording available.

Female Founders: Beyond the Glass Ceiling (Sept. 15, 2021)
Panel discussion with Chorom Pak, CEO and Co-founder of LynxBio; Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, CEO and Co-founder of AOA; Jennifer Rohrs, Co-Founder, Biosystems Modeling and Analytics Engineer at Embody Biosciences; and Sally Wang, VP of Business Development at PepLib; former CEO, Co-founder of DocFlight. View the recording on YouTube.

2020-21 Webinars

Creating a Successful Exit Strategy (April 29, 2021)
Panel discussion with Tom Tullie, Executive Producer/Managing Partner of VCs in a Van, LLC, and Mark Bowles, Chairman of the Board at Hyduro, Inc. View the recording on YouTube.

Meet the Investors: Alexandria Venture Investments (April 14, 2021)
Presentation by Hallie Kuhn, Ph.D., Principal – Science & Technology. No recording available.

Winning Business Strategies for Startups (April 7, 2021)
Presentation by Todd Sigler, Esq., CPA, CFE. View the recording on YouTube.

Meet the Investors: Anzu Partners (March 24, 2021)
Presentation by Jimmy Kan, Ph.D., Principal at Anzu Partners. View the recording on YouTube.

Keeping Your Investors Happy (March 17, 2021)
Panel discussion with David H. Crean, President & CEO of Regen BioPharma Capital One; Matthew Michelson, Ph.D., President of Genesis AI | Genesis Research; and Amit Singh, Co-Head, SoCal Venture Technology Group at Dentons. View the recording on YouTube.

SBIR and STTR Funding Programs (March 11, 2021)
Presentation by Nancy Kamei, Pharm.D., MBA and Christie Canaria, Ph.D., Program Directors at the National Cancer Institute. View the recording on YouTube.

Investing in Clean Energy for the Future (March 3, 2021)
A discussion with Aaron Fyke, Founder and Managing Partner at Thin Line Capital, powered by Wavemaker, and Matt Gardner, Chief Executive Officer at the California Technology Council. View the recording on YouTube.

USC Resources for Entrepreneurs (Feb. 24, 2021)
A panel discussion with Vasiliki Anest, Ph.D., USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center; Monica Dean, USC Marshall School of Business; Ellis Meng, Ph.D., USC Viterbi School of Engineering; and Donaldson Santos, USC Stevens Center for Innovation. View the recording on YouTube. Panelist presentations can be downloaded from this Google Drive folder.

Meet the Investors: 5AM Ventures (Feb. 18, 2021)
Presentation by Mira Chaurushiya, Ph.D., Partner at 5AM Ventures. No recording available.

Incubator Roundtable (Feb. 10, 2021)
A panel discussion with Adriana Embus-Figueroa, Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI); Brandon Florian, Starburst Aerospace Accelerator; and Gary Olsem, BioLabs. View the recording on YouTube.

Hot Topics: Biomarkers (Feb. 3, 2021)
Presentation by James Proscia, Ph.D., of the law firm Brooks Kushman. View the recording on YouTube.

Diversity on Company Boards (Jan. 27, 2021)
A panel discussion with Leslie Henshaw, Partner, Deerfield Management; Ronald Howell, CEO, Washington Research Foundation; and Silvia Mah, Ph.D., Co-Fund Manager, San Diego Angel Conference. View the recording on YouTube.

Meet the Investors: Kairos Ventures (Jan. 20, 2021)
Presentation by Alex Andrianopoulos, Chief Research and Development Officer, Kairos Ventures. View the recording on YouTube.

Building a Biotech: How to turn your science into a startup (Dec. 2, 2020)
A special event with JLABS @ San Diego. Presentation by Sanjay Mistry, Ph.D. (JLABS @ San Diego), Stephanie Culler, Ph.D. (Persephone Biosciences), and Chorom Pak, (Lynx Biosciences). No recording available.

Anatomy of a License (Nov. 10, 2020)
Presentation by Karin Immergluck, Executive Director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Stanford University, and Seth Levy, Partner and Co-Chair of the Life Sciences Practice at Nixon Peabody. View the recording on YouTube.

Hot Topic: Drug Repurposing (Nov. 4, 2020)
Presentation by Antoinette Konski, Partner and Daniel R. Shelton, Senior Counsel, at Foley & Lardner, LLP. No recording available.

Meet the Investors: Versant Ventures (Oct. 28, 2020)
Presentation by Clare Ozawa, Ph.D., Managing Director at Versant. View the recording on YouTube.

Founders Keepers: The Role of Faculty Founders in the Startup World (Oct. 21, 2020)
A roundtable discussion featuring Alex Andrianopoulos (Kairos Ventures), Alice Chen, Ph.D. (Accelerator Life Science Partners), Susie Harborth (Breakthrough Properties), and Raymond Stevens, Ph.D. (Bridge Institute – USC).  View the recording on YouTube.

Hot Topic: Artificial Intelligence and the Physical Sciences: Beyond Data Science, Autonomous Vehicles and Consumer Preferences (Oct. 14, 2020)
Presentation by Daniel Schwartz, Partner at Nixon Peabody. View the recording on YouTube.

Forming Your Company: Capitalization (“Cap”) Tables and Strategies (Oct. 7, 2020)
Presentation by Anurag Agarwal, Principal (Life Sciences) at Osage University Partners and Mustapha Parekh, Special Counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. View the recording on YouTube.

Hot Topic: Alice and Software Patents (Sept. 30, 2020)
Presentation by Jeff Sheriff, Associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. View the recording on YouTube.

Adding Value to Patents and Their Role in Commercial Success (Sept. 23, 2020)
Presentation by John Wetherell, Ph.D., Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. View the recording on YouTube.

Patent Fundamentals, Drafting and Prosecution (Sept. 16, 2020)
Presentation by Ketan Vakil and Jeffrey Morton, Ph.D., Partners at Snell & Wilmer. View the recording on YouTube.

Meet the Investors: Osage University Partners (Sept. 9, 2020)
Presentation by Kirsten Leute, Partner at OUP. View the recording on YouTube.

Life Sciences Collaborations During the Pandemic (July 29, 2020)
The webinar series kicked off with a presentation by Seth Levy, Partner at Nixon Peabody LLP. View the recording on YouTube.