Metrics That Matter
A Better Way to Measure Venture Studio Progress in Deep Tech
In the startup world, people usually obsess over fundraising milestones. But in the world of R&D venture building—especially inside a university—those metrics come way too late.
When you're building companies from cutting-edge research, real progress happens long before incorporation. It looks like a new venture idea formed between a physicist and a policy expert. A PhD student beginning to see the commercial potential of their thesis. A cross-department collaboration that unlocks a new application for fusion technology.
These moments don’t show up on a cap table. But they’re exactly what you should be measuring in an R&D venture studio.
At MIT Proto Ventures, we use a channel-specific metrics framework—not just to track success, but to shape behavior. Each of our venture channels (like Clean Energy & Fusion) defines objectives during the Definition phase. These goals are specific, time-bound, and tied to both venture outcomes and institutional transformation.
Here’s how we do it.
🔍 Clean Energy & Fusion: A Real-World Example
Our Clean Energy & Fusion channel is built around four strategic objectives. Each one is tied to a distinct mode of impact—and measured by key results that reflect true progress, not vanity metrics.
Objective 1: Launch high-quality deep tech startups rooted in MIT research
Key Results:
50 technological capabilities assessed
50 market needs identified
25 venture ideas assessed
3–5 team projects created
1 or more high-quality proto ventures ready for incorporation and investment
This isn’t a numbers game—it’s a selectivity engine. We’re not aiming to generate dozens of companies. We’re aiming to generate conviction. Every venture idea passes through structured technical and market assessment before a team forms. Every team project is tracked until it either launches or is deliberately retired.
Objective 2: Increase translational thinking among MIT researchers
Key Results:
75 researchers engaged in venture-relevant activities
20 researchers shifted from passive interest to active participation
This is about changing culture. Success means that more researchers are asking, “Who could use this?” and “What else could it do?”—and acting on those questions through interviews, experiments, and venture sprints.
Objective 3: Catalyze new collaborations across MIT’s research ecosystem
Key Result:
15 new collaborations between the Plasma Science & Fusion Center and other labs, departments, or centers
We measure the connective tissue of venture building. A materials scientist working with a fusion theorist? That’s venture potential. A policy student exploring regulatory pathways for a new reactor design? That’s a proto venture in motion.
Objective 4: Codify and share the studio model
Key Result:
1 publication (report, book, etc.) that captures the Proto Ventures approach
Because if we want other institutions to follow our lead, we have to do more than build companies — that’s why we build the R&D Venture Studio Playbook.
🎯 Finding the Right Metrics for Your Program
These metrics can take the form of objectives and key results (OKRs) that your venture builders will relentlessly pursue, and that the studio’s leadership and advisory group can track to gauge progress.
The specific choice of metrics will depend on the strategic objectives of your organization and of the stakeholders who are sponsoring the channel — fiscal sponsors but also labs that are hosting your VBs.
The studio’s management and advisory group can use these key metrics to keep track of progress: are the VBs doing enough ecosystem building? Tech scouting? Customer discovery? This will help you keep their efforts balanced and proactively identify blind spots or bottlenecks.
📊 Why This KPI Model Works
Unlike traditional tech transfer metrics, our framework focuses on:
Input–to–idea–to–impact progression
Researcher transformation as a measurable outcome
Deliberate de-selection of venture ideas (we celebrate the “no-go”)
Institutional learning, not just company creation
We still track fundraises, IP filings, and company successes — but those are lagging indicators. Our leading indicators are curiosity sparked, concepts refined, teams formed, and ideas tested under pressure.
This helps us:
Stay aligned with MIT’s mission, not just VC incentives
Guide decision-making with data at every stage
Communicate impact credibly to funders, researchers, and partners
🚀 Want to Build a Studio? Build the Metrics First.
Before you hire a venture builder or scout your first invention, define what success will look like. Align it to your institution’s values and your studio’s theory of change.
If your studio is embedded in a research institution, ask:
How will you know you’ve changed a researcher’s mindset?
How many dead ends are worth celebrating?
What evidence will you collect before incorporation?
Because in deep tech venture building, learning is the product—until it isn’t.
📘 Up next: Scaling the Model – How Other Institutions Can Adopt the Studio Approach