Apply for a Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship
You are invited to apply for a Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship which comes with a $5,000 stipend for students who are accepted. Deadline to apply is March 4. Previous Syracuse University Blackstone LaunchPad Fellows have gone to be accepted into Techstars LA with significant follow-on investments, and others have been hired as interns for Blackstone. This fellowship can help open doors for you.
The Fellowship is open to student founders and recent graduate founders, with 50 students to be selected for this prestigious opportunity from across the 46-campus Blackstone LaunchPad global network. To accommodate summer schedules, Blackstone is offering two virtual cohorts that fellows can choose from. The six-week immersive program is designed to support fellows with resources, networking, mentorship, education, and financial assistance with a $5,000 stipend awarded per fellow upon completion of program and deliverables.
The primary applicant must
- Be a current student OR 2021 / 2022 graduate (undergraduate level, graduate level) enrolled at LaunchPad network university
- Be a lead founder / co-founder of the venture
- have an existing venture past the idea stage (venture may be for-profit, not-for-profit, Public Benefit Corporation or B-corporation)
- Be self-motivated and driven to complete work independently and with minimal oversight
- Have availability to dedicate between 3-4 hours per week on the program
- Have well-defined, quantifiable (SMART) goals and milestones to be completed within the Fellowship
- Be past the idea-stage and ideally have a pitch deck, executive summary, a logo, a website, social media accounts (Ex; LinkedIn and Twitter)
- Have some traction e.g. early sales, MOUs, funding raised, customer interest, user base, etc (we will ask for examples in this form)
- Have demonstrated leadership in both executing on business or program operations and galvanizing support
have experience working with mentors or advisors, integrating feedback into their venture, and demonstrating coachability - Be able to complete and fulfill all required duties as posed by the Fellowship
There will be special consideration given to diverse leadership and/or founding teams.
Tentative key dates include:
Cohort 1
May 17: Onboarding
May 19: Program Social
May 24: Leadership and Teams Workshop
May 31: Design Thinking Workshop
June 2: Program Social
June 7: Customer Discovery Workshop
June 14: Pitching Workshop
June 16: Program Social
June 21: Funding Your Startup Workshop
June 28: Press Media and Digital Marketing Workshop
June 30: Closing Session
Cohort 2
July 12: Onboarding
July 14: Program Social
July 19: Leadership and Teams Workshop
July 26: Design Thinking Workshop
July 28: Program Social
August 2: Customer Discovery Workshop
August 9: Pitching Workshop
August 11: Program Social
August 16: Funding Your Startup Workshop
August 23: Press Media and Digital Marketing Workshop
August 25: Closing Session
Fellows will only participate in one cohort. By answering yes to this question, you are indicating availability for the cohort (or cohorts) you selected earlier in the application.
Applicants will be asked to submit specific, quantifiable goals (SMART goals) and milestones they would like to achieve during this program. They will also be asked to describe accomplishments and traction to date and how the program will leverage their ability to grow their venture. They will also be asked to submit a 60 second video.