Leslie Founders membership provides exclusive community, workspace, events, perks, and guidance to NYU’s top student ventures. All accepted members must complete an in-person Startup Day to unlock their membership benefits.

• The membership starts with a half-day mandatory in-person Startup Day at the Leslie eLab, where:
  • Teams present their ventures and customer discovery findings. Founders receive targeted feedback from Leslie Institute coaches and founders-in-residence in small group sessions.
  • Workshops on competition and nailing your value propositions
  • Overview of membership perks
  • Tour of the dedicated workspace at the Leslie eLab
  • Networking over food and drinks

Summer ‘26 Startup Day is scheduled for:

• Friday, June 12th, noon-5:30pm (lunch included)

• After Startup Day, members gain access to an à la carte menu of perks available throughout the Fall and Spring semesters of their membership (which renews annually). Members join a tight-knit community of NYU’s most promising entrepreneurs with opportunities to participate in:
  • Leslie Founders Roundtable: Monthly social events featuring AMA conversations with successful founders or investors, followed by food and drinks.
  • Dedicated Coaching: Each team accepted to the program will be paired with a venture coach for 1:1 guidance on your venture throughout the duration of the academic year.
  • Application Support: Guidance to strengthen your applications for accelerators and fellowships including the Startup Sprint, Summer Launchpad, Female Founders Fellowship, and Venture Equity Programs.
  • Dedicated Work Space: Members-only co-working space at the Leslie eLab, plus exclusive rights to book Bootstrap conference room and Hacker and Hustler phone booths.
  • Office Hours: Direct access to investors, startup lawyers, immigration specialists, accountants, accelerator staff (Techstars, ERA, 500, etc.), and other startup founders.
  • Members-Only Slack & Member Directory: Exclusive Slack channel and a Notion-based directory of fellow members.
  • Technical Perks & Tools: Access to perks and discounts from our sponsors and partners including:
    • $2K in Google Cloud credits
    • Free access or discounts for Mercury, Airtable, Notion, and MongoDB
  • SWAG: Exclusive Leslie Founders merchandise for all members!

• NYU Status: Current students from all NYU schools and colleges who are enrolled in degree-granting programs.
• Founder Status: Members must be founders of their ventures and hold significant leadership and ownership positions (incorporation is not required to apply). Non-founder employees and interns are not eligible.
• Track: Founders who have completed the NYU Startup Bootcamp, Startup Sprint, and/or Summer Launchpad may apply directly. Founders who haven’t may also apply directly if they’ve raised outside funding, completed an external accelerator, have repeat revenue, or have founded a venture before. Founders outside these tracks are welcome to make their case by emailing us. Email [email protected] with subject line “LF Exception.”
• Other Team Members: Non-NYU founders (up to 2) can join you in co-working spaces and attend in-person activities, but cannot independently book office hours, coaching, or technical resources.
• Venture & Founder Criteria: We evaluate members and their ventures based on five criteria:

1. Growth Mindset
2. Execution Ability
3. Quality of Idea
4. Scalability
5. Progress

View full selection criteria here.

• I was not accepted as a member. Can I apply again? Yes! Continue making progress on your venture and highlight this in your new application. We recommend meeting with a coach for guidance.
• How long does membership last for? Membership covers fall & spring semesters. Annual reapplication is required (renewal forms are shorter than initial applications and evaluated based on venture progress).
• I did a Bootcamp with a prior venture. Does that count as a pre-requisite? Yes, but your application must show thorough customer discovery for your new venture, matching or exceeding Bootcamp standards.
• I’m about to graduate. Can I still be a member? In Summer ’26 membership will be limited to current students, and those wh0 graduated in May ’26 only. We may expand access in future semesters.
• I’m studying abroad/not based in NYC. Can I be a member? In Summer ’26, membership will be limited to students/staff based in NYC only. We may expand access in future semesters.
• I have several non-NYU team members on my team. Can they be members? No, membership is limited to NYU student founders. Up to 2 non-NYU founding team members may accompany you for co-working and events.
• I invalidated my idea or shut down my startup. Can I still be a member? Unfortunately no. You’ll need to reapply with a new venture concept.
• I can’t attend any of the orientation dates. Can I still be a member? Unfortunately no. All admitted members must complete an in-person orientation during Summer ’26 to receive membership benefits. Additional orientation dates will be offered in the Fall ’26 semester.
• Do all team members need to attend the orientation? All admitted members must attend orientation together (same day). Up to 2 non-member team members (non-NYU, alumni, etc.) may also attend.