Founder

In the earliest stage of building a business (pre-seed), we help founders to refine their ideas, understand their customers, and develop innovative products and business m

Top Resources For Founders

VIP-C is Penn’s very own incubator. Every entrepreneur is welcome, from those who are still learning the basics of transforming an idea into a business plan, to savvy CEOs working on their second startup.
The Innovation Fund exists to fund creative and meaningfully innovative ventures from the Penn student community.

The Summer Venture Award (SVA) of $10,000 is intended to assist students financially over the summer in lieu of full-time internships so that they can concentrate on developing their entrepreneurial ventures.

This award is now offered to participants of the Startup Challenge
VIP-X is an intense, 3-month accelerator program for the most dedicated student and alumni entrepreneurs and the most advanced startups in VIP-C.

The Startup Challenge is a competition for Penn student-founded ventures where student entrepreneurs pitch to a live audience and alumni judges to show their startups are ready to become the next big thing!

The Food Innovation Lab is an 800-sq. ft. facility that supports a unique cohort of food and beverage startups at Penn.
Now Accepting Applications For Fall 2022
Our Retail Lab is a flexible retail space to showcase successful alumni and student ventures, to inspire Penn students and provide active learning opportunities.
The Wharton Scale School workshop series in San Francisco guides entrepreneurs making the transition from a successful startup to a large enterprise. Hear from experts who share solutions to critical challenges faced by rapidly growing companies.
Compete for a slice of more than $300,000 in cash and in-kind awards to help launch your venture!

Founder Events & Workshops

15
November
The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Initiative is thrilled to announce that the Lauren & Bobby Turner Executive Speaker Series will return to Penn’s campus for the first time since the pandemic. This year’s event will feature a fireside chat between social impact entrepreneurs Bobby Turner, W’84, CEO of Turner Impact Capital, and Gregg Renfrew, Founder and Executive Chair of Beautycounter. They will share insights, lessons learned, industry advice, and more.
08
November
Join the Venture Lab team in a session with Miranda Wang C'16, CEO & Founder of Novoloop, to hear about her journey as a social entrepreneur as part of the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative Speaker Series.
04
November
Join the Venture Lab team in a session with Christine Moseley, WG'11 and CEO & Founder of Full Harvest, to hear about her journey as a social entrepreneur at the inaugural Social Entrepreneurship Initiative Speaker Series session.
02
November
Mark Kingdon (WG '88) is an early-stage investor in 30+ consumer internet companies. Some of his successes include Twitter, Offerup, TheRealReal, and HomeLight. Mark is a top-performing angel investor, with $34B in value creation across his portfolio.
01
November
Seth Berger (C'89, WG'93) is the Managing Director of the Sixers Innovation Lab, supporting rapidly growing, early-stage companies in the consumer product space and providing speed and flexibility, individualized, industry-leading consulting and investment opportunities to startups with potential.

Retail Lab Founder Series: Fernando Rojo, CEO of Patos

Fernando Rojo, C’19, CEO of PATOS has been featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Refinery29, Buzzfeed, NBC News, CNBC, and more. Patos provided work for over a dozen local artisans in Peru's impoverished cities to handcraft sneakers for PATOS.
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Find out what's happening with founders across the #entrePENNeur community! Want to tell your story? Contact us at venturelab@upenn.edu.
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