Hey Dustin,

Glad you've already working with some people in academia! I'm familiar with UW's Civil Engineering department and they have some great faculty members there who are very competent in what they do. That's awesome to hear!

As someone who is in academia currently, I can understand the hesitation. I'd like to clarify that I'm not suggesting you join academia, but simply use it as a vehicle to help with the initial networking of business partners and maybe use that as a resource to grow and get your "business-side" help that you're looking for. Basically a jumping off point. If you're already coordinating with a faculty member there, I'm sure they're more than happy to work with you.

Many universities also have technology transfer offices (moving the technology developed in-house/university level to industry) that might be able to support your aspirations. While their support is assuming that your technology is an IP from the University, they're very nice people and I think it might be useful to setup a meeting with them and chat with them regarding what advice they can offer. Also, they're incentivized to support students and the local community. To put it frankly, they're not there to screw you and aren't incentivized to. Universities recognize there are a ton of technical founders out there who are missing the business counterparts. While the university system (in my opinion) is slow to accommodate these needs, there are still initiatives and programs out there on the university's side that I think you can tap into.

One thing I've previously gotten support from is the I-Corps (Innovation Corps) program funded by NSF ([1] for National level and [2] for UW Level) which is targeted at technical founders who need a "bootcamp" on the business side. This includes building a business model, financial model, and also giving you access to potential investors. It won't replace someone who is experienced in business, but it'll give you the fundamental skills and initial knowledge to understand more of what you're looking for (at least for me). It also does come with $$$ but it's not a lot (and the money they do provide is mostly spent during the two months bootcamp trying to get customer surveys). By the way, while these programs are rooted in academia, they're open to everyone. You don't need to be affiliated with an institution to get these grants.

The meet and greet are perfect! I think Seattle is probably the perfect place for this type of work! From talking with colleagues here (this was before COVID), I heard the City of Seattle is very welcoming of new ideas and are happy to prototype new transportation technology. Not sure if things have changed, but I really like your application. It's fantastic.

Outside of academia, there are also programs that are available to get you started off the ground. VentureWell (office is in Massachusetts but I believe they have a nation-wide scope) has an E-team program [3] that's basically similar to NSF's I-Corps program but with different funding sources.

I really appreciate what you've done so far. It was one of the few things on Hacker News that I actually stopped scrolling and looked in-depth on. I wish I could throw my hat in the ring. I hope it continues to grow and I'd be happy to keep an eye on it!

Don

[1] https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/
[2] https://comotion.uw.edu/what-we-do/icorps-grants/
[3] https://venturewell.org/e-team-grant-program/