This is the three-part

Startup Accelerator Program

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Startup Accelerator Program

The award-winning Startup Accelerator Program provides essential training, mentorship and funding to help NYU founders start and scale their ventures and get read for venture investment. Whether you’re a team with an idea, a prototype, or a commercially-tested product or service, the Startup Accelerator Program has something for you. The Accelerator begins with testing and validating your customer and use case in the Startup Bootcamp, and continues to testing and prototyping your entire business model in the Startup Sprint. Finally, the Summer Launchpad positions teams for growth and fundraising success.

If you’ve already met with one of our startup coaches and are ready to take your venture to the next level, read on…

Who It's For

NYU undergraduate or graduate student-led teams who:

  • Have an idea for a unique and compelling startup or social venture
  • Have expertise and/or insights into the problem they hope to solve with their venture
  • Are interested in building a highly-scalable venture

Benefits

  • More than $15,000 in non-dilutive grant funding
  • Dedicated 1-on-1 team coaching and mentorship
  • Pro-bono legal support
  • 24/7 co-working space

How to Get Started

RSVP for an info session (see below),

    and

book a coaching appointment with a Founder-in-Residence or a member of our team!

Success Stories

Baton is a blockchain-enabled collaboration protocol designed to facilitate the future of creative digital exchange to help artists maintain control over their material and get the credit they deserve.

Gabe Warshaw

Founder

(Tisch '23)

Resist Nutrition makes plant-based, keto protein bars filled with science-backed ingredients with functional benefits for hormone health and blood sugar support.

Drew Lederman

Founder & CEO

(Tisch '20)

Offering affordable, deconstructable, and stylish furniture for modern and transient living with a focus on financial flexibility. Through a buy-back program, Sabai Design solves the headache of disposal/reselling and offers an even cheaper line of refurbished furniture.

Phantila Phataraprasit

Co-Founder & CEO

(Law '20)

Dathic creates an AI-based platform for CPG that understands the US Hispanic consumers, recommends the best locations to grow and connect communities with the products they love.

Laura Rocha

Co-founder

(Wagner '20)

Jones is a judgement-free journey to a vape-less life, through a personalized nicotine replacement subscription, behavioral support and digital community.

Caroline Huber

Co-Founder

(Stern '23)

By creating the world’s first tattoo that fades in a year, Ephemeral gives everyone the opportunity to express their individuality without fear or regret.

Anthony Lam

Co-Founder

(Tandon '15)

Frich is the first social finance app that enables Gen Z to develop mindful spending habits by setting goals together with friends and keeping each other accountable. Imagine a fitness app but for your finances.

Aleksandra Medina

Founder

(Abu Dhabi '21)

A platform that connects artists and venues to create unforgettable shows.

Mir Hwang

Co-founder

(CAS '19)

Companies and their health insurance providers use HealthBoxed to drive meaningful engagement in their employee wellness initiatives. HealthBoxes include wellness products, memberships, and informational material, and can be customized to complement each client’s wellness initiative and to fit their wellness budget.

Paige Anderson

Founder

(Steinhardt '22)

Matching individuals with quality therapists to ease access to a personalized healing relationship and enable therapists to help more people.

Alyssa Petersel

Founder & CEO

(Silver '17)
Meet the Founder

The first brand to design products specifically for women with small boobs, starting with bras.

Lia Winograd

Co-founder and COO

(Stern '19)
Meet the Founder

Rilla provides conversation intelligence software for outside sales and service. Industries such as roofing, solar, interior design, banking, and telco send sales representatives to talk to potential customers face to face in their homes and businesses. Rilla uses AI to automatically transcribe, analyze and give feedback to sales managers on their representatives’ performance with customers, enabling them to remotely monitor their teams, saving two to three days a week from having to accompany field sales reps on training calls.

Sebastian Bienen

Founder & CEO

(CAS '18)

Rooted Fare aims to financially empower immigrant chefs by providing them with resources to successfully turn recipes into commercial products.

Ashley Xie

Co-founder

(Steinhardt '20)

Math & Coding tutoring for children in the US by women student tutors in India - makes tutoring accessible and affordable to every child in the US, normalizing STEM among girls, empowering students to work in India, helping young women tutors do fulfilling work from the safety of their homes.

Ann Andrews

Founder

(Stern '23)

The Diversity Org (DO) hosts high school assemblies that educate low-income students on how to obtain corporate and high-income careers.

Joshua Pierce

Founder

(Tisch '18)

She Matters trains healthcare workers in culturally competent care for Black women and offers an online platform to support Black women who experience postpartum comorbidities (e.g., anxiety and/or depression) through community and culturally relevant resources

Jade Kearney

Co-founder

(Steinhardt '20)

Trousso is a resale platform making upscale wedding wear financially accessible and environmentally sustainable for the next generation of brides. They're building a circular economy for weddings, where brides can buy and sell nearly-new wedding fashion for the 8+ celebrations surrounding the ceremony/reception.

Erica Ramos

Co-Founder & Co-CEO

(Stern '23)

Visura is a curated market-network for publishers to discover and hire the world’s top freelance visual journalists.

Adriana Teresa Letorney

Co-founder

(GSAS '21)

UBet is a decentralized exchange for sports trading.

Daniel Im

Founder

(GSAS '23)

Baton is a blockchain-enabled collaboration protocol designed to facilitate the future of creative digital exchange to help artists maintain control over their material and get the credit they deserve.

Founder(s)

  • Gabe Warshaw (Tisch '23) |

Website

Social

Resist Nutrition makes plant-based, keto protein bars filled with science-backed ingredients with functional benefits for hormone health and blood sugar support.

Founder(s)

  • Drew Lederman (Tisch '20) |
  • Emily Cohen (Steinhardt '22) |

Social

Offering affordable, deconstructable, and stylish furniture for modern and transient living with a focus on financial flexibility. Through a buy-back program, Sabai Design solves the headache of disposal/reselling and offers an even cheaper line of refurbished furniture.

Founder(s)

  • Phantila Phataraprasit (Law '20) |
  • Caitlin de Lisser-Ellen (Stern '21) |

Website

Social

Participated in

Dathic creates an AI-based platform for CPG that understands the US Hispanic consumers, recommends the best locations to grow and connect communities with the products they love.

Founder(s)

  • Laura Rocha (Wagner '20) |
  • Jose Daniel Ramirez |
  • Luis Felipe Giraldo
  • Santiago Alvarez
  • Diana Prieto
  • Juan David Ramirez

Website

Social

Jones is a judgement-free journey to a vape-less life, through a personalized nicotine replacement subscription, behavioral support and digital community.

Founder(s)

  • Caroline Huber (Stern '23) |
  • Hilary Dubin |

Social

Participated in

By creating the world’s first tattoo that fades in a year, Ephemeral gives everyone the opportunity to express their individuality without fear or regret.

Founder(s)

  • Anthony Lam (Tandon '15) |
  • Joshua Sakhai (Stern '18) |
  • David Shin (Tandon '15) |
  • Brennal Pierre, PhD (Tandon '15) |
  • Vandan Shah, PhD (Tandon '16) |

Social

Frich is the first social finance app that enables Gen Z to develop mindful spending habits by setting goals together with friends and keeping each other accountable. Imagine a fitness app but for your finances.

Founder(s)

  • Aleksandra Medina (Abu Dhabi '21) |
  • Katrin Kaurov (Abu Dhabi '19) |

Website

Social

A platform that connects artists and venues to create unforgettable shows.

Founder(s)

  • Mir Hwang (CAS '19) |

Website

Social

Companies and their health insurance providers use HealthBoxed to drive meaningful engagement in their employee wellness initiatives. HealthBoxes include wellness products, memberships, and informational material, and can be customized to complement each client’s wellness initiative and to fit their wellness budget.

Founder(s)

  • Paige Anderson (Steinhardt '22) |

Website

Social

Matching individuals with quality therapists to ease access to a personalized healing relationship and enable therapists to help more people.

Founder(s)

  • Alyssa Petersel (Silver '17) |

Website

Social

The first brand to design products specifically for women with small boobs, starting with bras.

Founder(s)

  • Lia Winograd (Stern '19) |

Website

Social

Rilla provides conversation intelligence software for outside sales and service. Industries such as roofing, solar, interior design, banking, and telco send sales representatives to talk to potential customers face to face in their homes and businesses. Rilla uses AI to automatically transcribe, analyze and give feedback to sales managers on their representatives’ performance with customers, enabling them to remotely monitor their teams, saving two to three days a week from having to accompany field sales reps on training calls.

Founder(s)

  • Sebastian Bienen (CAS '18) |

Website

Social

Rooted Fare aims to financially empower immigrant chefs by providing them with resources to successfully turn recipes into commercial products.

Founder(s)

  • Ashley Xie (Steinhardt '20) |
  • Jasmine Shen (Stern '22) |
  • Hedy Yu |

Website

Social

Math & Coding tutoring for children in the US by women student tutors in India - makes tutoring accessible and affordable to every child in the US, normalizing STEM among girls, empowering students to work in India, helping young women tutors do fulfilling work from the safety of their homes.

Founder(s)

  • Ann Andrews (Stern '23) |

Website

Social

The Diversity Org (DO) hosts high school assemblies that educate low-income students on how to obtain corporate and high-income careers.

Founder(s)

  • Joshua Pierce (Tisch '18) |

Social

She Matters trains healthcare workers in culturally competent care for Black women and offers an online platform to support Black women who experience postpartum comorbidities (e.g., anxiety and/or depression) through community and culturally relevant resources

Founder(s)

  • Jade Kearney (Steinhardt '20) |
  • Marguerite Pierce |

Social

Trousso is a resale platform making upscale wedding wear financially accessible and environmentally sustainable for the next generation of brides. They're building a circular economy for weddings, where brides can buy and sell nearly-new wedding fashion for the 8+ celebrations surrounding the ceremony/reception.

Founder(s)

  • Erica Ramos (Stern '23) |
  • Justina Breen |

Website

Social

Participated in

Visura is a curated market-network for publishers to discover and hire the world’s top freelance visual journalists.

Founder(s)

  • Adriana Teresa Letorney (GSAS '21) |
  • Graham Letorney |

Website

Social

UBet is a decentralized exchange for sports trading.

Founder(s)

  • Daniel Im (GSAS '23)
  • Alexander Kondratskiy

Website

Social

Tell Me More

What You Can Expect

Each program in the Startup Accelerator Program is custom-fit to NYU startups at different stages, offering access to greater resources and intensity as you progress from one to the next.

Startup Bootcamps

  • Who: Teams of at least 1 current NYU member (preference given to teams of 2+) with an idea or prototype
  • What: 2-day Customer Development Primer
  • When: 2-3 times per Fall and Spring semesters + 1 over the Summer semester
  • Why: Begin to test your ideas and assumptions in the real world
  • Perks: 1:1 coaching and mentorship, and improved odds of getting into a Startup Sprint, pre-requisite for Female Founders Fellowship

Startup Sprint

  • Who: Teams of 2 or more (at least 1 member must be currently at NYU) with early prototype or product
  • What: 2-Week Customer Development & Business Model Intensive
  • When: One Sprint held during January Term and one Sprint held in late May/June (right after graduation)
  • Why: Develop your business model and get to Problem-Solution Fit
  • Perks: Daily 1:1 coaching and guidance, up to $500 grant plus an optional $500 in follow-on funding, $5,000 in AWS credits, priority access to VC & legal office hours, and improved odds of getting into Summer Launchpad!

Summer Launchpad

  • Who: Teams of 2 or more (at least 1 member must be currently at NYU) with a product or service that is ready for launch or already in the market seeking growth. Priority consideration for teams that already participated in a Startup Sprint
  • What: 9-week Startup Accelerator
  • When: Every Summer (starts in early/mid June through early/mid August)
  • Why: Customer validation, acquisition & growth
  • Perks: $10,000 non-dilutive grant, mentorship from NYC entrepreneurs and investors, pitch at exclusive investor demo day, pro-bono (free) incorporation & legal counsel, free banking, accounting & tax advice, $10,000 in AWS credits, and more.

Faculty/Researcher-Led Teams

While faculty, PhDs and postdocs are welcome to take part in the Startup Accelerator Program, we have specific accelerators designed for faculty-, PhD-, postdoc-led teams who are interested in commercializing NYU research. If this describes you, please check out our Tech Venture Program.

What's Next?

RSVP for a info session (see below) to learn more,

    and

 book an appointment with one of our startup coaches to discuss if the Startup Accelerator Program may be for you.

Mentors

Roslyn Jin

Roslyn Jin

Antler

(Stern '21)

Yasser Ansari

Yasser Ansari

Polymer Search

(Tisch '10)

Phuong Ireland

Phuong Ireland

Interplay VC

Adam Sah

Adam Sah

MIT CSAIL

Adrian Grant

Adrian Grant

StarLiner

(Stern ‘05)

Sim Blaustein

Sim Blaustein

BDMI and Antenna

Morgan Hitzig

Morgan Hitzig

Venrock

Chika Ogele

Chika Ogele

Newark Venture Partners

(Stern '17)

Atharva Bhandarkar

Atharva Bhandarkar

Neon

(CAS '19)

Sponsors & Partners

Max Stenbeck Charitable Trust
Brown Rudnick
Blackstone LaunchPad
Fenwick
Goodwin
Rooled
Greycroft
AmEx Ventures
AWS
Banc of California