Build Something Massive
Build Something Massive
Build Something Massive
Build Something Massive
The Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a non-profit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. Over nine months, participating startups attend four full-day sessions during which expert entrepreneurs, operators, investors, and scientists help ventures set three objectives to prioritize until the next session. The fifth and final event is Super Session, an end-of-year celebration for all graduating ventures from all sites.
CDL is a global organization that operates at 15 universities and runs more than 25 innovation streams. CDL does not charge fees or take equity. More than 4,500 companies have participated across the CDL network since its creation in 2012 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, and more than CAD $51 billion in equity value has been created through the program.
CDL-Wisconsin was launched in July 2020 by UW-Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business and School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences with support from American Family Insurance to support deep-tech startups that increase society’s resiliency. By encouraging startup growth, CDL furthers the UW commitment to The Wisconsin Idea, the principle that the university’s work should improve people’s lives beyond the classroom and impact people across Wisconsin, the nation, and the world. Today, CDL-Wisconsin operates a mentorship program through three innovation streams: Risk, Health & Wellness, and Advanced Therapies.
MENTORS
CDL’s success depends on a wide network of mentors and partners to achieve the goal of enhancing the commercialization of science for the betterment of humankind. Our mentors are impressive entrepreneurs, experienced operators and partners, and active angel and venture investors who regularly meet with ventures to help founders set and achieve their business objectives throughout the program’s duration.
Mentors meet with participating ventures in five one-day sessions October through June, identifying and customizing objectives on which the venture will focus during the following eight weeks.
CDL-Wisconsin has 190+ mentors from different countries, including many UW graduates and faculty. See the complete list of CDL-Wisconsin Risk Mentors and CDL-Wisconsin Health & Wellness Mentors.
VENTURES
CDL works with early-stage startups that employ technological innovations that promise a chance to deliver massive improvements to economic productivity and human welfare.
Five key elements help venture founders transform their projects into scalable, financeable companies:
- Objective-setting, which guides companies to focus on what is most important to their business.
- Focused mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs who have founded, led, and sold significant tech companies.
- Technical advice from world-leading scientists, engineers, and economists.
- Hands-on support from top UW-Madison students.
- Opportunities to raise capital, including from angels and venture capitalists in Europe and North America.
CDL-Wisconsin supports ventures from around the world in three streams as follows.
RISK
CDL Risk assists ventures that can help transform society’s ability to manage risk. Example technologies and innovations might include enhancing or improving risk management processes, addressing new types of risk such as climate and cybersecurity, loss prevention and mitigation, wearables/IoT devices, or unique data and AI/ML models to drive improved decision-making.
HEALTH & WELLNESS
CDL Health & Wellness seeks to enhance well-being and improve resilience through preventing, diagnosing, and treating medical conditions. This stream primarily engages with ventures that bring medical technology, digital health, healthcare platforms, and wellness innovations to market. Additional domain expertise is provided by the School of Medicine and Public Health, and the Center for Healthy Minds.
ADVANCED THERAPIES
CDL-Wisconsin is also an active participant in the Advanced Therapies stream. Founders in this stream strive to solve biological, medical, and healthcare problems using innovative applications of cell and gene therapies, biologics, antibody-drug conjugates, and other biological products.
Why CDL?
Hear from one of our graduate founders.
LIA WINTER
Health & Wellness Graduate 2022
CEO and Founder
Winter Innovations
See the complete list of companies that have graduated from CDL-Wisconsin.
Email us for information about applying to CDL.
Students
CDL’s ventures are eager to receive business development support from students who are just as eager to earn college credit while learning about entrepreneurship through engaging with innovators.
The CDL course is a two-semester course (in fall, MHR 640, and in spring, MHR 641) in which students receive mentoring, work with high-potential ventures, and experience how investment decisions are made. Students apply skills and knowledge in an actual business setting and conduct team projects with some of the top early-stage ventures in the world that are focused on risk and insurance, and health and wellness.
Lecturer Adam Bock teaches the course with the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship, which is housed at the Wisconsin School of Business.
Students build skills in business development, market research, financial modeling, scaling strategies, and more while moving CDL ventures forward. Students gain direct experience working in a technology startup and contribute to the advancement of meeting the company’s business objectives.
Students who start the CDL course in the fall*: there are no prerequisites. Any junior, senior, graduate, or professional student from any major interested in learning about entrepreneurship and innovation may enroll. If uncertain, please reach out for details.
*The typical sequence is to begin this two-semester course in the fall.
Students who start the CDL course in the spring: students should have taken MHR 322 (Introduction to Entrepreneurial Management for Non-Business Majors), MHR 422 (Entrepreneurial Management), MHR 722 (Entrepreneurial Management), or a similar course.
Consent of the instructor is required to enroll. Students can email course instructor Maia Donohue at jpdonohue@wisc.edu with their questions. Click the button below to submit your application to the course.
PARTNERS
Our partners include corporations and UW-Madison entities that contribute time, connections, and financial resources to help our ventures scale massively.
Founding Corporate Partner
Corporate Partners
University Partners
CDL-Wisconsin is an innovative partnership between the Wisconsin School of Business and the School of Computing, Data and Information Sciences (CDIS), leveraging the UW’s highly-ranked programs in Risk & Insurance, Computer Science, and Entrepreneurship.
Additional domain expertise is provided by the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Healthy Minds.
