Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition

The Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition is designed to provide students with early-stage ideas to compete for cash prizes!

More importantly, participating students will gain access to the LaunchPad program on their campus, to get the support on their entrepreneurship journey and skill-building.

This signature program supports LaunchPad’s goal in de-risking entrepreneurship, broadening accessibility, and diversifying engagement with a focus on recruiting underrepresented and under-resourced students to participate.

The competition is virtual, hosted on the StartupTree platform.

COMPETITION TRACKS

Participants will need to select 1 of the following 4 tracks.

  • Social and Climate Impact
  • Health & Life Science
  • Consumer Products & Services
  • General 

PRIZES

Four (4) finalists from each campus will move forward to the [Network Round] competing for $10,000 in prize money to further develop your idea.

Applications for the next Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition will open during the Fall '24 semester.

  • ELIGIBILITY

    The applicant must...

    • be a current student (undergraduate or graduate-level) ​
    • be a founder/co-founder (i.e., the person with the original idea)
    • be in the earliest stages - have an idea or have just started building on an idea
    • create a profile on Startup Tree and apply as an individual or in teams of  2​
  • IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

    [Sept. 8]: Applications for Campus Round open
    [Oct. 1]: Deadline for Campus Round - All applications must be submitted by 11:59pm on Oct. 1
    [Oct. 2-12]: Campus Round deliberation period
    [Oct. 23]: Network Round deadline - Final submissions due to Blackstone LaunchPad via submission on the Blackstone LaunchPad Startup Tree page
    [Week of Nov. 13-17]: Network Round winners announced

  • APPLICATION QUESTIONS

    (All questions have a 1750-character limit)

    1. What is your idea? Be specific on what exactly your venture/organization is going to make or do.
    2. How did you come up with the idea, what problem is it solving, and why are you uniquely passionate or qualified to take this solution forward?
    3. What is the business model and how do you plan to sell to customers?