Program

Evolutions

Seven Core evolutions. Nine Medical Specialization evolutions. One structural training.

Evolution
C1

UnbreakableThe Resilient Entrepreneurial Mindset

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Overview
Entrepreneurship tests you before it tests your business. Markets shift, deals collapse, partners leave, and capital disappears. The difference between the innovators who survive and the ones who don’t is not luck or talent. It is whether they built resilience into a system or relied on adrenaline and hope.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Physician-founders and clinician-innovatorsFirst-time healthcare foundersResearchers launching a spinoutPost-failed-trial recoverySpinout management teamsExecutive teams navigating setbacks
Founder on phone at glass-walled office, contemplating next move
Evolution
C2

BrandingBuilding Authority Through Story

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Overview
Most healthcare innovators think branding is about logos, slogans, or awareness. It is not. Branding is about building faith, trust, and confidence, systematically, until the market recognizes your company as credible, consistent, and competent.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Clinician-founders building a company brandAcademic spinouts pre-launchMedtech/biotech positioningOperating companies repositioningInvestor and KOL communicationPhysician advisors and KOLs building their market voice
Christopher Velis keynoting at Chengdu Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum
Evolution
C3

Capital & ValueFunding Pathways & Deal Mechanics

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Overview
Every capital decision you make today determines what happens at exit. The valuation you accept, the terms you sign, the preferences you grant, and the governance provisions you overlook do not disappear after closing. They compound.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Physician-founders preparing to raiseMedtech and biotech fundraisingCap table and dilution for clinician-foundersOperating companies preparing the next roundPhysician advisors understanding their equity and compensationClinician directors reading the cap table
Chris Velis meeting with Mubadala sovereign fund delegation in Silicon Valley to discuss US healthcare entrepreneurship
Evolution
C4

NegotiationHigh-Stakes Deals & Everyday Power

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Overview
Healthcare innovators do not lose value because they lack a good product or a strong market. They lose it because the deal was shaped before they sat down. This evolution teaches you how to design leverage, manage cognitive traps, and control the narrative in every deal that determines your outcome.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Physician-founders at the deal tableHospital partnership and licensing dealsPharma/device strategic partnershipsManagement teams negotiating commercial dealsPhysician advisors negotiating role, comp, and scopeClinician directors in board-level deals
Chris Velis with FBI hostage negotiator and author Chris Voss
Evolution
C5

Boards & GovernancePower, Duties, and Control

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Overview
Most healthcare innovators who lose control of their companies do not lose it to a competitor, a market downturn, or a failed product. They lose it in a boardroom, to provisions they signed and structures they accepted before they understood what those documents allowed.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Clinician-founders building or joining boardsPhysicians joining a board for the first timeClinician directors orienting to fiduciary dutyHospital-spinout governanceOperating-company CEOs managing the boardAdvisor vs. director role clarity
Large boardroom session with standing presenter addressing full room
Evolution
C6

ExpansionThe Architecture of Scale

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Overview
The systems, culture, and leadership that take you from 1 to 10 will not carry you from 10 to 100. Expansion is not addition. It is transformation. This evolution teaches you how to design growth as an architect, not chase it as an operator.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Multi-site clinical rolloutHospital-system partnership strategyPost-funded medtech scale-upMedical affairs and field team buildManagement teams scaling operating companiesSpinout executives taking it from pilot to market
Miraki Innovation team presenting full company roadmap on wall-mounted board
Evolution
C7

Exit StrategyLiquidity and Legacy

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Overview
How exit structure, timing, and stakeholder alignment determine whether healthcare innovators capture the value they created or lose it in the transaction. Covers exit pathways, deal mechanics that silently shift value after closing, buyer and investor psychology, and the personal design of legacy beyond the transaction.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Physician-founders preparing for acquisitionAcademic spinout exit planningStrategic acquirer dynamics in medtech/biotechEarnout and CVR structureManagement teams through liquidityPhysician advisors and directors through liquidity events
SSII public offering ceremony at Nasdaq
Evolution
H1

Who Owns WhatOwnership, Assignment, and the Inventor's Starting Position

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Overview
Bayh-Dole and what it actually says. Stanford v. Roche. University IP policies. Employee invention assignment agreements. How ownership at company formation propagates through every subsequent deal. The structural difference between inventing inside vs. outside an institution.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Academic innovatorsHospital-based inventorsUniversity spin-outsDepartment chairsClinician advisors with co-inventorship stakesSpinout management teams inheriting IP
Issued patent document for medical device technology
Evolution
H2

The ForkLicense, Spin Out, or Walk Away

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Overview
The three structural paths for a protected healthcare innovation and what each costs you. Licensing economics vs. equity positions. The incubator model. Time-to-revenue differences between devices and drugs. The founder's illusion — equity that looks large on day one but dilutes to irrelevance.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Academic inventors choosing a pathPhysician-inventorsHospital-affiliated innovatorsDevice and biotech foundersAdvisors guiding the license-vs-spinout decisionSpinout management teams at formation
UMass Amherst Berthiaume Center Innovation Challenge winner receiving $35,000 check
Evolution
H3

Regulatory Pathway as Capital StructureHow FDA Classification Determines Your Cap Table

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Overview
Not regulatory training — structural consequence analysis. How 510(k) vs. PMA vs. IND-to-NDA pathways determine capital requirements, funding round count, dilution trajectory, and founder equity at exit. How acquirers price regulatory risk into deal terms.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Medtech founders (510(k), PMA)Biotech founders (IND-to-NDA)Academic labs preparing for translationOperating companies mapping regulatory risk to capitalSpinout management teams inheriting a pathwayClinician advisors shaping regulatory strategy
Physician conducting Arctic Fox injectable cryolipolysis clinical study with imaging device
Evolution
H4

Product-Market Fit and the Go/No-Go DecisionWhen to Continue, When to Kill, When to Pivot

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Overview
The continuous discipline of validating whether a healthcare venture should keep going. Product-market fit assessment, the structural inputs to a go/no-go call, and the institutional pressures that push founders past the rational stop point.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Physician-founders mid-ventureMedtech and biotech founders at key inflection pointsAcademic spinouts evaluating viabilityOperating companies at strategic pivotsSpinout management teams facing resource constraints
Coming Soon
Evolution
H5

Valuing a Technology Before There's a CompanyPre-Revenue Valuation in Healthcare Innovation

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Overview
EVCA valuation principles. Risk-adjusted NPV. Comparable transaction analysis in medtech and biotech. How early-stage valuation sets the structural baseline for everything that follows. The difference between what an angel values and what a strategic acquirer values.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Academic inventors valuing licensing dealsPhysician-founders pre-fundraiseUniversity tech transfer valuationSpinout management teams setting baseline valuationOperating companies pricing in-license opportunitiesAdvisors valuing their own equity offers
Executive dinner in art museum with investors and advisors
Evolution
H6

IP as ArchitectureBuilding a Portfolio That Protects Your Position

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Overview
Patent strategy as structural defense. Provisional timing. Freedom-to-operate. How acquirers evaluate IP in diligence. University tech transfer negotiation. Assignment traps that erode founder position. How IP portfolio construction affects valuation multiples.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Academic inventorsPhysician-foundersMedtech and biotech IP strategyUniversity tech transfer negotiationClinician co-inventors and IP advisorsOperating companies building portfolio defense
Two researchers in lab coats reviewing work in research laboratory
Evolution
H7

Bench to ProductionRequired: one of two paths. Both available at no additional charge.

Overview
How healthcare innovations move from laboratory to manufacturing at scale, from the founder's perspective. Required: one of H7a or H7b. Candidates may take both at no additional charge.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Coming Soon
Evolution
H7a

Bench to Production: Medical DevicesPrototype to Commercial Device

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Overview
The founder's path from prototype to commercial device. The manufacturing decisions, supply chain choices, and operational structure that shape unit economics, exit options, and acquirability.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Medtech founders at clinical stageDevice teams approaching design freezeCombination-product founders navigating dual pathwaysHardware spinouts scaling manufacturingOperating teams transitioning from prototype to GMP
Coming Soon
Evolution
H7b

Bench to Production: TherapeuticsPreclinical Candidate to Commercial Therapy

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Overview
The founder's path from preclinical candidate to commercial therapy across drugs, biologics, and cell and gene therapies. The manufacturing decisions, partnership structures, and operational choices that shape unit economics, exit options, and acquirability.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Biotech founders approaching INDCell and gene therapy teams scaling manufacturingBiologics founders selecting CDMO partnersAcademic spinouts transitioning to clinical-stagePharma founders navigating CMC strategy
Coming Soon
Evolution
H8

The Counterparty's PlaybookHow Acquirers, Investors, and Institutions Think

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Overview
What the other side of the table is optimizing for. How strategic acquirers evaluate targets. What VCs look for in diligence. How university tech transfer offices measure performance. Reading the counterparty's incentive structure to understand the deal they are offering you.
Format
Online
Recommended for
Physician-founders preparing for acquisitionAcademic inventors negotiating with tech transferStrategic acquirer and VC diligenceOperating companies reading the other side of the tableSpinout management teams in their first capital cyclePhysician advisors reading deal dynamics
Christopher Velis speaking on panel at Wyss Institute Diagnostics Accelerator Summit
Facilitation & Cohort

Chris and Christos personally facilitate every evolution.

Every live cohort session is led by one or both co-founders. Facilitation is where the curriculum meets your company, your term sheet, your board dynamic, your decision in motion.

Dr. Christos Kelepouris facilitating a classroom session in Italy
Christos facilitating a classroom session, Italy.
Christopher J. Velis mentoring innovators at the Harvard Innovation Lab
Chris mentoring at the Harvard Innovation Lab.
Multi-disciplinary cores

The seven core evolutions bring together founders, operators, lawyers, physicians, engineers, and investors — typically across multiple countries and continents. Peer learning is built into the design.

Specialized healthcare

The nine Medical Specialization evolutions narrow by design. As the curriculum moves into device, biotech, and clinical translation, the cohort concentrates on healthcare practitioners and operators.

Community that lasts

Classmates stay in touch online between sessions. We bring cohorts and graduates together in person on a semi-annual basis — relationships built in the room outlast the curriculum.

Enrollment

Four ways to enroll.

First Medical cohort launches September 2026. Capped at 20 seats. The price is the price — no founding-cohort discount, no equity fee.

Founder Seat
$12,000
12-month access · one person

Individual enrollment. For the physician founder or medtech/biotech CEO building on their own.

  • 16 evolutions (7 Core + 9 Medical Specialization)
  • Live cohort sessions
  • Templates, frameworks, handouts
  • Credential eligibility
  • Community access
Founder + Operator
$19,200
12-month access · two seats · $9,600 each

Two seats at a 20% team discount. For the founder bringing a co-founder or key operator into the same cohort.

  • Everything in Founder Seat, × 2
  • Shared community access
  • Credential eligibility for both
  • Team-level case study support
Founder + Strategy
$19,500
12-month access · one person · consulting tier

Founder Seat + private consulting with the principals. For founders mid-transaction or facing specific cap-table, term-sheet, or regulatory decisions.

  • Everything in Founder Seat
  • Two 90-minute private strategy sessions
  • Business plan review
  • Term sheet review & negotiation prep
  • Priority instructor access
Founder + Advisory
$48,000
annual retainer · 5-client cap

Annual relationship with the principals. For physician founders facing a significant transaction who need ongoing board-level access. Capped at five clients across both programs.

  • Everything in Founder Seat
  • Quarterly 1:1 with Chris Velis
  • Board-eligibility
  • Priority on all new curriculum
  • Direct async access year-round

A three-installment payment plan is available at a 5% uplift for the Founder Seat, Founder + Operator, and Founder + Strategy tiers. Advisory is billed annually.

Questions? admissions@aeiouacademy.org. Institutional partnerships: see the institutions page.

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Next cohort begins soon
Next Cohort begins June 17, 2026