VC firm Fifty Years helps scientists launch startups via free program

1 week ago7 min read

Niccolo Cymbalist, a former Tesla engineer, was on paternity leave in 2024, contemplating a radical idea for an autonomous, wind-powered cargo ship, when he stumbled upon a free program that would change his trajectory. That program, called 5050, is the brainchild of the San Francisco-based VC firm Fifty Years, and it exists to solve a critical bottleneck in deep tech: the chasm between academic discovery and commercial venture.Cymbalist’s startup, Clippership, now has its first vessel under construction in the Netherlands, a direct outcome of the accelerator he credits for its very existence. He is one of 100 founders launched through 5050, a cohort tackling humanity's grand challenges, from Huminly’s enzyme-based textile recycling to Plasmidsaurus’s ultra-fast DNA sequencing, which has already hit a $50 million run rate.The core insight from Fifty Years’ founding partner Seth Bannon is that transitioning from academic scientist to founder is paradoxically harder than the classic Silicon Valley path of the sophomore dropout. Scientists are trained in a culture of caveats and data-driven skepticism, a language ill-suited for rallying teams, securing funding, or capturing press.The 13-week 5050 program, blending in-person workshops and Zoom sessions, acts as a translational layer. It guides participants through a ‘story of self’ workshop to crystallize core motivation, helps them assess which of their ideas is actually ripe for commercialization—as with the Plasmidsaurus founder who pivoted from a decade-out medical product to a ready-now research tool—and coaches them on navigating the thorny process of university IP negotiation.With a stunning 96% fundraising success rate for its graduates, the program is proving its model. In an era of shrinking federal grants for basic research, Bannon notes a surge in scientists at a career crossroads, viewing startups not just as a commercial path but as a means to continue their life’s work. The result, as Bannon frames it, is a portfolio of ‘counterfactual companies’—enterprises like Daniel Rahn’s Metal as Fuel, decarbonizing heavy industry—that combat climate crisis and disease, entities that likely wouldn’t exist, or would have been critically delayed, without this deliberate bridge from lab bench to boardroom.

#featured

#Fifty Years

#5050 accelerator

#deep tech

#commercialization

#scientist founders

#climate change

#biotech

#autonomous shipping

#research translation