Top Resources For Joiners
VIP-Practicum invites you to roll up your sleeves and join a startup as an early member of the team. Gain invaluable experience that shapes not only your skills but also the trajectory of ventures on the rise.
The Startup Internship Awards are awarded to select students who will spend the summer interning at a startup and who demonstrate both a commitment to entrepreneurship at Penn and to pursuing an entrepreneurial career.
Founder Programs
Embark on your entrepreneurial journey with VIP-C. Whether you're a first-time founder or second-time entrepreneur, VIP-C offers an inclusive space for abundant learning, networking, and community-building.
Joiner Events & Workshops
22
September
Stacey is the founder + CEO of Mariana Tek. She builds tech + consumer companies that take on and win against much larger companies.
24
September
Amanda Baldwin (WG'06) is the CEO at OLAPLEX, an innovation and technology-driven global beauty company.
22
September
Join Professor Charbel Zreik for an interactive workshop on inner mastery and thriving under stress throughout the entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) journey. Drawing on real-world leadership experience, Professor Zreik will introduce five shifts that can help aspiring founders and CEOs lead with greater resilience, clarity, and purpose
23
September
Join us for the Venture Lab ETA Workshop: Introduction to Self-Funded Search with Professor Bob Chalfin on Wednesday, September 23 at 6:00 pm (Tangen Hall, 7th Floor).
The self-funded search model is one of the most flexible and accessible paths to Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). In this workshop, Wharton Professor and acquisition expert Bob Chalfin, CEO of The Chalfin Group, will lead an in-depth discussion on what it takes to successfully pursue and complete a self-funded acquisition.
The self-funded search model is one of the most flexible and accessible paths to Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). In this workshop, Wharton Professor and acquisition expert Bob Chalfin, CEO of The Chalfin Group, will lead an in-depth discussion on what it takes to successfully pursue and complete a self-funded acquisition.
09
October
Applications are now open for the Bet on Entrepreneurship Program, a Program that provides students in the classes of 2029 and 2030 who identify as First-Generation and/or Limited Income (FGLI) with education around the entrepreneurial ecosystem and facilitated access to professional entrepreneurial spaces. The Program does this by supporting students through an introductory Spring Bootcamp and a subsequent 8-week placement within a local Philadelphia-area startup.
Related Articles & Stories
Find out what's happening with founders across the #entrePENNeur community! Want to tell your story? Contact us at venturelab@upenn.edu.
More than 500 attendees gathered at Tangen Hall to explore entrepreneurial resources, opportunities, and pathways across Penn.
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PHILADELPHIA, May 5, 2026 — The University of Pennsylvania’s Venture Lab is proud to announce the winner of its tenth annual Startup Challenge: Cloak, founded by an all freshmen team, Rishi Ambavanekar, ENG'29, W'29, and Tyler Sacharow, C'29.
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On Apr 22, 2025, Venture Lab’s Food Innovation Lab and ZenBroth (founded at the innovation Lab!) hosted a tasting and demo cooking session at Tangen Hall.
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Announcing the Finalists of the 2026 Venture Lab Startup Challenge
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At Tangen Hall, Penn’s interdisciplinary hub for makers, designers, and entrepreneurs, two alumni chose to leave a lasting mark by naming state-of-the-art labs that reflect their personal journeys. Amish Jani (W'99 and WG'00) and Svetlana Dunaevskaya (WG'06) share how naming spaces in Venture Lab became a way to invest in future entrepreneurs, honor family legacies, and create a sense of belonging across borders.
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Two Venture lab alumni are among this year’s 84 Scholars from 25 countries!
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