Out on an organic farm in North Central Florida, researchers learned to pitch their ideas to investors.

An unlikely location for a business meeting, Frog Song Organics hosted the UF College of Medicine’s inaugural Seeding Start-Ups event last spring because it reminded May Khanna, PhD, of the philosophy behind entrepreneurship: innovation in unexpected places.

“What happens on a farm?” she asked. “You go from a seed to something that gives you fruits. That’s what you want from a start-up: to develop an idea and take it all the way.”

As assistant dean of innovation and entrepreneurship at the College of Medicine, she aims to encourage students, trainees, faculty and staff to start their own businesses with ideas they’re already working on. Doctors are inventors and innovators, but they rarely think their ideas are patentable, she said. The truth is, almost any new drug is.

Seeding Start-Ups connected people with just an idea to people with ideas licensed for hundreds of millions of dollars. From scientists to physicians to investors, they become a stronger team together.

When there are more people developing companies and getting their inventions out, it inspires others to do the same, Khanna said. Opening that door gets people interested, and networking is the first step, even in medicine.

Khanna wears many hats, as entrepreneurs often do. In addition to her roles as an assistant dean and associate professor, she works for three start-ups. She credits her passion for innovation to her mother and grandmother, who were businesswomen.

There’s one trait Khanna said she hopes attendees got from the entrepreneurs they met: perspective. Entrepreneurs often see the world differently than clinicians and researchers — something she’s experienced through years of working at the craft.

“It makes my life more colorful,” Khanna said. “Working in a lab, grant-writing and doing research can all be isolating. I’ve discovered a whole new world.”

Though Frog Song Organics was an untraditional venue, the skills researchers learned at Seeding Start-Ups will not only help them plant their ideas but also allow them to flourish.