BrainMind

What BrainMind does

BrainMind is a private community ecosystem and convening platform focused on accelerating innovation in brain and mind science. Founded in 2018 and operated as a program under the 501c3 nonprofit Entrepreneur of Your Own Life (E.Y.O.L. Inc), the organization connects top brain scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, and academic institutions from leading global institutions including Stanford, MIT, UCSF, Oxford, and Paris. Its core offering is not a technology product but rather a curated ecosystem accessed through application, in which members participate in flagship summits, intimate salons, and demo days that facilitate funding, mentorship, and partnerships aimed at translating neuroscience research into commercial and clinical interventions.

The organization has deployed over $15 million in strategic philanthropic grants across its portfolio of grantee and ecosystem companies (including Reveri, The Braingels, Thynk, Sanmai Technologies, Humanity Neurotech, Teal Neuro, and others), and has incubated initiatives such as the BrainMind Engine (cultural shift initiative), the Neuroethics Initiative (including a toolkit and education hub), and the upcoming Asilomar for the Brain and Mind 2026 global summit modeled on the landmark recombinant DNA conference. Its business model is donation-driven rather than commercial — it is a nonprofit with no products priced for sale and no disclosed pricing model — and it has cultivated co-development relationships with OECD, UNESCO, MIT Media Lab, Duke Initiative for Science & Society, the Kavli Foundation, and the Charles A. Dana Foundation. Customer segments are organized as personas (scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, lived-experience community) rather than commercial buyers.

Founder and CEO Michael McCullough, Co-founder and COO Diana Saville, and Co-founder Calvin Nguyen lead a small core team supplemented by an extensive advisory network (a 250+ member neuroethics advisory committee). The organization positions itself at what it calls a "transformative step change" moment in neuroscience, analogous to human genome sequencing, with a thesis that current funding structures fail to bridge the "valley of death" between academic research and scaled interventions.

Name

BrainMind

Legal name

Entrepreneur of Your Own Life (E.Y.O.L. Inc)

Website

https://brainmind.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

BrainMind is a 501c3 nonprofit ecosystem and convening platform founded in 2018 that connects top brain scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, and philanthropists to translate neuroscience research into commercial and clinical interventions through summits, grants, and curated community access.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Neuroscience Innovation Community & Philanthropy

NAICS

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (541), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHAHAJAB

Life Sciences & Biotechnology Congresses

Travel & Hospitality/MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions)/Association, Government & Academic Congresses

Keywords

• Neuroscience ecosystem
• Brain science summits
• Neuroethics programs
• Philanthropic research grants
• Science community platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Menlo Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Donations: As a 501c3 nonprofit organization under Entrepreneur of Your Own Life (E.Y.O.L. Inc), BrainMind relies on charitable donations to support BrainMind Summits and Salons. All funds contributed via their website support BrainMind's programming.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

BrainMind operates a private community ecosystem that convenes top brain scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, academic institutions, and individuals with lived experience to accelerate impactful innovation in brain science. The organization delivers this through world-class summits, intimate salons, demo days, strategic philanthropic grant deployment (over $15 million), neuroethics advisory initiatives, primary research support, and educational programs including the Alzheimer's Prevention Course and BCI Universe 2025 report.

Product overview

BrainMind is a private community organization (operated as a 501c3 nonprofit under Entrepreneur of Your Own Life Inc.) that functions as an ecosystem platform connecting top brain scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, and academic institutions to accelerate impactful innovation in brain science. Rather than a single product, BrainMind offers a portfolio of interconnected programs including flagship BrainMind Summits (annual gatherings held at institutions including Stanford, MIT, UCSF, and Oxford), the BrainMind Engine (cultural and economic initiative for neurotech advancement), Salons and Demo Days (intimate networking events), Strategic Philanthropic Capital Deployment (deploying over $15 million in grants), the Neuroethics Initiative (with toolkit and education hub), Primary Research Initiatives, Educational Programs (including the Alzheimer's Prevention Course and BCI Universe 2025 report), and an annual Internship Program. The organization operates as a programmatic hub rather than a technology product company, facilitating connections and deploying resources rather than selling software or services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BrainMind Engine: Driving a cultural shift to create more hospitable conditions to neurotechnological advancement by applying intelligent tweaks to underlying economic and collaborative systems.
• Asilomar for the Brain and Mind
• BrainMind Science Collective

Products and services

• BrainMind Summits Flagship world-class private summits that convene leading brain scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, and philanthropists for cross-sector collaboration in brain science innovation. Held at pre-eminent institutions including Stanford, MIT, UCSF, Oxford, and Asilomar Conference Grounds.
• Salons and Demo Days Intimate curated salon gatherings and demo days that facilitate deep connections between researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and philanthropists, serving as the breeding ground for new companies and partnerships in brain science.
• Strategic Philanthropic Capital Deployment Strategic grant program through which BrainMind partners with forward-thinking philanthropists to deploy capital (over $15 million to date) to support promising innovative ideas at their earliest stages, catalyze breakthrough research, launch startups, and enable high-risk/high-reward academic projects.
• Neuroethics Initiative Initiative considering how to engage the BrainMind community to maximize potential benefits and minimize hazards of emerging innovations in brain science, including policy engagement, educational activities, and advisory work with OECD, UNESCO, and other policymakers.
• BrainMind Engine Initiative driving a cultural shift to create more hospitable conditions for neurotechnological advancement by applying intelligent tweaks to underlying economic and collaborative systems, encouraging more risk-taking and attracting best-in-class talent and funding to brain science.
• Educational Programs Educational offerings including the Alzheimer's Prevention Course licensed to universities and national nonprofits, the BCI Universe 2025 report, and other educational content that translates brain science for diverse audiences.
• BrainMind Internship Program Annual summer internship program providing high-performing undergraduate students with real-world experience, industry connections, and an entrepreneurial mindset to translate scientific discoveries into societal impact.
• Neuroethics Toolkit A set of five essential tools designed to guide startups in ethical neuroinnovation, providing practical strategies to address unique ethical challenges in neuroscience ventures.
• BrainMind Ecosystem Application Application-based portal through which scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, and philanthropists apply to join the BrainMind private community ecosystem, including access to summits, salons, demo days, grants, and the network.

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and important.

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 March 2022BrainMind co-organized the Global Advisory Meeting 2022 with OECD in Paris to advise on securing the role of neuroethics in neuroscience research and innovation. The meeting focused on implementation of neuroethics frameworks across academia, entrepreneurship, public policy, and investing, building on the OECD Recommendation on Responsible Innovation in Neurotechnology.
• Duke Initiative for Science & SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrainMind co-hosted the first Neuroethics Advisory Committee Meeting in February 2020 with Duke Initiative for Science & Society at Duke University. This meeting was chaired by Dr. Steven Hyman and co-hosted with Dr. Nita Farahany to set the agenda for the larger Asilomar summit.
• UNESCOimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrainMind co-hosted the Ethics and Brain Science Sunset Tea Party with UNESCO and MIT Media Lab in 2024 to discuss the UNESCO draft for global standards on the Ethics of Neurotechnology. Community feedback was used to guide the final draft.
• MIT Media LabimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrainMind co-hosted the Ethics and Brain Science Sunset Tea Party with UNESCO and MIT Media Lab to gather stakeholder feedback on global neuroethics standards.
• Stanford UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStanford is one of BrainMind's founding institutional partners. BrainMind has hosted multiple summits at Stanford including the 2018 and 2019 BrainMind Summits, connecting researchers with entrepreneurs and investors.
• MITcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMIT is listed as a founding institutional partner of BrainMind. The organization has hosted summits at MIT including the 2019 BrainMind Summit Cambridge.
• UCSFcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUCSF is a founding institutional partner. BrainMind hosted the 2023 BrainMind Summit at UCSF as well as the Day of Dialogue and Practice on Mind Training in the Digital Era.
• Harvard Club of BostonimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrainMind hosted an invitation-only Investor Roundtable at the Harvard Club of Boston in June 2025 to explore how ethical considerations can be more intentionally embedded into early-stage investment decisions in neurotechnology.
• Columbia UniversityimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrainMind's Special Forum on Neuromodulation, BCI, and AI featured experts from Columbia University, including Dr. Rafael Yuste who discussed the newly passed brain data law. Columbia experts participate in BrainMind programming and advisory committees.
• X, The Moonshot FactoryimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrainMind hosted the BrainMind Science Collective at X, The Moonshot Factory in 2025, bringing together innovators from this Alphabet subsidiary focused on moonshot projects.
• Asilomar Conference GroundscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrainMind hosts its flagship 'Asilomar for the Brain and Mind' summit at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California in 2026. This is modeled after the landmark Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Creative Destruction Lab: Science-based venture studio that pairs founders with experienced entrepreneurs and investors through a structured program. Comparable as a convening and company-creation engine anchored at top research institutions (e.g., Stanford, Oxford), though sector-agnostic.
• IndieBio: Biotech accelerator and venture studio that funds and builds science-based startups with a curated program model. Directly comparable to BrainMind in translating deep-science research into venture-backed companies, though broader across all biology rather than focused on the brain.
• Y Combinator: Venture studio/accelerator that systematically creates companies and provides them with capital, mentorship, and a curated network. BrainMind performs an analogous role specialized to brain science: sourcing ideas from research labs, providing philanthropic capital and connections, and incubating them into portfolio companies.

Broad incumbents

• Schmidt Futures: Philanthropic initiative funding science, technology, and society programs through talent networks and large-scale grants. Comparable to BrainMind as a philanthropic ecosystem builder investing in frontier science, but with a broader portfolio beyond neuroscience.
• Simons Foundation: Major philanthropic foundation with substantial brain research funding through the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative and others. Comparable as a large grantmaker shaping brain science direction, but does not focus on venture creation or convening entrepreneurs and investors.
• Allen Institute: Large-scale brain science research organization that funds and conducts neuroscience while building tools and platforms for the field. Comparable as a well-resourced ecosystem player advancing brain science capacity, but operates primarily as a research institute rather than a venture-creation platform.
• The Kavli Foundation: Philanthropic foundation supporting neuroscience institutes at major universities and sponsoring cross-sector convenings. Directly comparable as a co-sponsor of BrainMind's Neuroethics Advisory Committee, but operating at much larger scale and without a venture-creation mandate.

Others

• Effective Ventures: Nonprofit umbrella supporting high-impact communities through funding, operations, and talent pipelines across cause areas. Comparable to BrainMind as a nonprofit ecosystem builder leveraging philanthropic capital to deploy strategic support to high-impact ventures, though without a brain-science specialization.
• New Science Foundation: Venture studio specifically building and funding mission-driven companies in emerging science and technology. Comparable to BrainMind in the venture-studio playbook applied to frontier science, though broader in scope and not focused on the brain and mind.

Emerging players

• Arc Institute: Research and innovation institute partnering Stanford, UCSF, and UC Berkeley scientists on high-risk bioscience including neuroscience. Comparable as a brain-science capacity-builder with university partnerships, but focused on in-house research rather than ecosystem-wide convening or venture creation.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/brainmind2020

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BrainMind