Free Program Turns 100 Scientists Into Startup Founders

Niccolo Cymbalist had a brilliant idea for an autonomous, wind-powered cargo ship while working as a Tesla engineer. But like most scientists with game-changing inventions, he had no clue how to turn it into a business.

Then, during paternity leave in 2024, he discovered a free program called 5050. Weeks after finishing the course, he launched Clippership, and his first ship is being built in the Netherlands this year.

Cymbalist's story isn't unique anymore. The program has now helped 100 scientists and engineers launch businesses, from Huminly, which uses enzymes to make clothing infinitely recyclable, to Plasmidsaurus, which offers ultra-fast DNA sequencing.

The course is run by Fifty Years, a San Francisco VC firm focused on deep tech that tackles massive problems like disease and climate change. When the firm started a decade ago, they noticed a troubling pattern: brilliant ideas were gathering dust in university labs.

"The transition from academic scientist to founder is actually much more difficult than the transition from sophomore dropout to founder," says Seth Bannon, a founding partner at Fifty Years. "The best people to start these startups weren't doing that."

So they created 5050, a 13-week program mixing in-person weekends with weekly Zoom sessions. It helps potential founders figure out if their idea is worth pursuing and whether it's ready for the real world.

The program saves scientists from costly mistakes. The founder of Plasmidsaurus, a Caltech postdoc, initially wanted to turn his research on synthetic gene circuits into a medical product. The 5050 team helped him realize that idea was about 10 years from being ready.

But they spotted something else: technology he'd developed to speed up his own research was ready now. He pivoted, and the company took off.

The Ripple Effect

Plasmidsaurus crossed a $50 million run rate in just one year. The company has been profitable every single month since launch and is now one of the most beloved names in biology.

These aren't just feel-good stories about scientists getting their shot. Each startup represents real-world solutions moving from theory to practice, from climate-saving cargo ships to medical breakthroughs that might otherwise have stayed locked in research papers.

By removing the barrier between brilliant minds and business know-how, Fifty Years is proving that the path from lab to market doesn't have to be impossible.

One hundred startups in, they're turning the world's smartest problem-solvers into the world's newest founders.