Learn How to Start a Company at Illinois Tech!

Every year, the Startup Studio educates, equips, and inspires student entrepreneurs by providing the hands-on support and mentorship that they need to bring their ideas to life.

Participate in our events, coaching, and courses as you work your way through the venture design process. We close each academic year with our annual pitch competition—the Kaplan Pitch Tank—where we award Illinois Tech’s top startup teams with more than $50,000 in prizes.

Each fall semester, we focus on incubating startup ideas. To get started, you can register for our course—Startup Launch: Venture Design—or work with a Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship coach. Both of these routes will prepare you to apply for our Startup Accelerator course in the spring.

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Register for Our Fall Semester Course

The easiest way to get started is to take our introductory course—Startup Launch: Venture Design—to guide you through the venture design process.

Registration is open now for all students!

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Work with a Startup Coach

If you can’t register for the fall semester course, the next best option is to join the Startup Studio community and work with one of our personal startup coaches. 

Community members also get access to our resources such as mentorship, corporate perks, and educational content.

 

 

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Students working at the Kaplan Institute

Startup Accelerator

Each spring semester we run the Startup Accelerator for Illinois Tech’s top 15 startup teams. If you are taking the fall semester course or are working with a Kaplan Institute coach, we will help you prepare to create and submit an application for the Startup Accelerator.

The application will be made available in September.

 

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