This program is Part 2 in our
Startup Accelerator ProgramMonday, May 20 - Monday, May 31
Startup Sprints are two-week programs that teach and support aspiring NYU entrepreneur teams to transform their ideas and inventions into businesses. Whether you are an NYU graduate student, undergrad, or staff member, a Startup Sprint will challenge you to deepen your understanding of your customers in order to launch successful solutions and business models which meet their needs—we call this “problem-solution fit.” During the program, your team will have access to expert startup coaches who will help guide you through this process. You will also be provided with skills-building workshops, grant funding, peer support from your cohort of startup teams, and more!
Teams can expect to start off running with:
Open to teams of NYU entrepreneurs from any school or college, with a proof of concept/prototype and who has validated problem-solution fit. Highly scalable and differentiated ventures addressing ANY sector from ANY NYU school are welcome to apply, including scalable non-profit ventures. Other requirements and preferences for participating teams include:
Beyond this, ventures who apply to the program must meet the below requirements:
First things first, make sure you’re committed to your startup full time (at least 40 hours per week) and available to participate in ALL program activities for the nine weeks. And remember, at least one co-founder must be an NYU student, faculty, staff, researcher, or postdoc!
Additional selection criteria includes:
Each team will receive funding and perks to put toward their business venture, including:
No. Teams may apply if at least one core team mate is a current student, faculty, researcher, or staff member – however other members of your team may have no NYU affiliation. International NYU students are also welcome and encouraged to apply. Faculty and researcher led teams may also be interested in the Tech Venture Workshop, held each semester but they are also welcome to participate in these two-week Startup Sprints alongside students (and many faculty have done so in the past).
We typically receive 80+ applications for each Startup Sprint, and select about 14 teams for each cohort. Since the application process is competitive, we strongly advise meeting with a coach AND applying to a Startup Bootcamp to let us get to know your team first. This way, you can stand out from the competition.
Teams must have two or more people able to participate full time in the Startup Sprint (only one needs to be a founder). At least one founder must be a current student, faculty, researcher, or staff member at the time of application (or have graduated no earlier than Fall ’22). All participating team members must be committed to their startup full time during the length of the program, and should be willing to listen to and learn from coaches and customers.
The Startup Sprint is intended for all types of startups which have high-growth potential and are highly differentiated (tacking a problem in a novel way), including non-profits. Whether focused on social innovation, software, medical devices, physical products, hardware, or other areas, all are welcome to apply!
Yes. Info session attendance is mandatory for at least one member of your team. If you aren’t able to make any of the info session dates, please email entrepreneur@nyu.edu to request access to the info session video recording.
The program runs twice a year — once in January, and again in May/June (all day M-F) — in person at the Leslie eLab, on NYU’s Washington Square campus. All participating team members are expected to attend ALL program activities. While the program will take place in person, we will follow NYU’s guidance in consideration of the health and safety of the NYU community, and may offer a hybrid option to participants who are unable to attend in person due for unavoidable reasons (with pre-approval).
Yes, please do.
Two people (at least one founder) must be committed to their startup and able to participate in the Startup Sprint full-time during the program.
Yes. However, if your team is selected for the program, we expect you to be fully committed to the one venture you are selected to participate with.
We review applications the week following the application deadline. We then invite select teams to interview (10-15 minutes). If you are selected for an interview, you’ll be notified of your team’s acceptance by the following week after. Select teams may be requested to participate in a Startup Bootcamp before a final acceptance determination can be made. The entire process takes about three weeks.
Senior members of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute team and NYU Innovation Venture Fund review all applications and lead all interviews. At least three members of the Institute team review each application to ensure a diversity of opinions are considered. Personally identifiable information within applications will not be shared with any external parties for any reason, in accordance with University policy and federal regulations (FERPA).
Typically, we do not give specific feedback on applications. However, we’d be happy to meet with your team to give more general feedback and guidance about your startup through our coaching program.
Yes, absolutely! It’s very common for teams to apply to the program multiple times and we highly encourage repeat applicants. We expect to see progress made on your venture since your prior application. Many teams who have participated in the program submitted multiple times before being accepted (as the program has about a 15% acceptance rate).
Yes! You van view and make a copy of the application questions from the 2023 Summer Startup Accelerators linked here. We HIGHLY recommend you make a copy of this document and fill out the application questions here before submitting through the Qualtrics form.
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