WPI’s i3 Lab Helps Student Entrepreneurs Turn Ideas Into Startups

Inside WPI’s i3 Lab: Ideation, Innovation and Incubation

By-Hank Stolz
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Worcester, MA-Ardian Preci, director of Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s i3 Lab, joins the Aux Talks podcast to discuss how the program supports student entrepreneurs through three stages: ideation, innovation, and incubation. As he says it’s a three-stage funnel: ideation (crystallizing ideas, pitching, business models), innovation (validation), incubation (space and intensive mentoring). “That’s why the I3 lab is called the i3 lab because the three I’s are ideate, innovate and incubate” he tells us.

Helping Student Entrepreneurs Test Their Ideas

Drawing from his experience as a necessity entrepreneur, Preci explains that the lab helps students validate business ideas through structured mentorship and customer discovery rather than dismissing unconventional concepts outright. And he says, “You want to walk them through the frameworks and how you build a startup. And then if it is not good enough, then they will end up on the decision themselves”

Why Coachability Matters for Startup Founders

The program emphasizes coachability as a key predictor of founder success, providing students with frameworks to test assumptions, pivot when necessary, and develop practical business skills.

Preci said, “For me is the ability from the founder to be open or to open themselves to being coachable. If you can open yourself to being coachable by your mentors and by the team that surrounds you that’s trying to help you build your startup, you have a higher chance of success” he also said, “We have other people… they are close to feedback and they’re sometimes pretending they’re taking feedback, but they’re really not”

Giving Students the Freedom to Try and Fail

Preci notes that student founders possess unique advantages—minimal financial obligations and freedom to fail—that make the university environment ideal for entrepreneurial experimentation. “The world is your oyster. Go and try. Go and fail”

Building Connections Across Worcester’s Startup Community

The i3 Lab connects with broader Worcester ecosystem partners including Auxilium, creating pathways for more mature ventures. Looking ahead, the lab plans expansion into specialized industry verticals including climate tech while actively seeking additional mentors to support growing student interest in entrepreneurship.