Go Back

Princeton

Princeton, NJ

Sign up for startup news at Princeton

princeton@vp.contrary.com

How to start a startup at Princeton

Student Groups

Princeton Entrepreneurship Club

(E-club) - Entirely student-run organization which aims to foster student entrepreneurship at Princeton, consisting of 14 teams. Largest undergraduate organization on campus and parent organization to groups such as TigerTreks, Alimtas, MVP, IgniteSTEM, HackPrinceton, and more.

Breakout Princeton

Offers students the opportunity to serve on immersive service-learning trips focused on social entrepreneurship.

TigerTrek - Silicon Valley

Princeton's annual Fall Break trip that brings 20 Princeton students to Silicon Valley for a week of off-the-record Q&A's with industry leaders.

TigerTrek - New York

Apply each November to meet the best entrepreneurs, investors, and executives on a trek to NYC.

TigerTrek - Israel

The first international TigerTrek, taking students to one of the prominent tech scenes outside of the United States.

Almitas Bioventures

Working directly with the Office of Technology Licensing to spin out Princeton University life science discoveries spanning biotechnology, therapeutics, medical technologies.

Princeton Women in Entrepreneurship (PWE)

A community empowering the next generation of female entrepreneurs.

Ignite STEM

Transforming K-12 STEM education by disrupting traditional learning techniques and promoting project-based learning to foster students' curiosity and creativity.

Make Ventures Princeton (MVP)

Brings together Princeton's top talent and shapes them into entrepreneurs. MVP is backed by Y Combinator, Thiel Foundation, 8VC, FitzGate Ventures and many other leading firms.

Accelerators and Incubators

Princeton Startup Immersion Program

Provides students with internships at emerging startups in NYC, Tel Aviv, and Shanghai.

Elab Incubator

Accelerator from October-May providing students with working space and mentorship opportunities.

Intellectual Property Accelerator Fund

Awards gap semester(s) funding to Princeton students pursuing ventures with an emphasis on commercializing IP.

Elab Summer Accelerator

10 week summer incubator experience. Housing and $5,000 per participant provided.

Tiger Challenge

10-week, full-time summer immersion experience.

Hackathons and Competitions

HackPrinceton

Princeton's largest Hackathon - themed and occurring each Spring around April.

ReHack

Hackathon with a focus on greater and healthier relationships between people and technology. Using the principles of HCI and design thinking, ideate an idea to fit each year's theme. All students can apply, no technical background is needed. Applications open in August.

TigerLaunch

Sponsored by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club, TigerLaunch is the nation's largest student-run entrepreneurship competition dedicated to building a network of student founders at the university, regional and national levels. TigerLaunch combines networking, mentorship and funding opportunities to craft a distinct experience. Provides $35k in no-strings-attached funding as prizes, on top of over half a million dollars of Google Cloud Credit and network opportunities with top venture capitalists.

Princeton Innovation Forum Competition

Showcases Princeton research that offers the potential to be commercialized. Prizes totaling $30,000.

Startup Grind Pitch Competition

Participants will have five minutes to pitch and two minutes to answer questions from the judges - prize is a heavily subsidized booth at StartupGrind2020. Registration starts in September each year.

Princeton Pitch

Annual elevator pitch competition co-organized by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club and Princeton Social Innovation. Students form small teams and are given 90 seconds to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges. Applicants can either submit their idea to the general track or the social track.

University Resources

Office of Technology Licensing

Connecting investors, and entrepreneurs with Princeton's cutting-edge technologies and researchers.

Princeton OfficeHours in the City

Princeton Entrepreneurship Network's mentorship program pairing students and recent grads with alumni.

Tiger Entrepreneurship Conference

Educate, inspire, and engage the Princeton entrepreneurial ecosystem in New York City.

Keller Center Entrepreneurs, Mentors, and Advisors

University staff and advisors dedicated to mentoring students.

Keller Center Executives in Residence

Executives in Residence (XIRs) are available to provide advice to faculty, students and staff who have discoveries in science and technology that could be used to create products and services to solve critical societal challenges and unmet needs.

Princeton Entrepreneurship Council (PEC

) - engage in the Princeton entrepreneurial ecosystem through education, mentoring and funding, in collaborative spaces.

Princeton Entrepreneurs Network (PEN)

Princeton alumni in entrepreneurship.

Notable Courses

EGR 201 - Foundations of Entrepreneurship.

EGR 448 - Designing Ventures to Change the World.

EGR 497 - Entrepreneurial Leadership.

EGR 482 - Innovation Through Empathic Design.

EGR 491 - High-Tech Entrepreneurship.

COS 333 - Advanced Programming Techniques.

COS 448 - Innovating Across Technology, Business, and Marketplaces.

Funding

Contrary

University-focused venture fund investing up to $2M in emerging startups launching from the university scene around the US.

Prospect Student Ventures

Student run venture firm providing grants to student founders.

Chaac Ventures

Provides seed funding to Princeton's top alumni tech founders.

Fitz Gate Ventures

Seed and pre-seed fund investing in the Princeton ecosystem.

Alumni Entrepreneurs Fund

Princeton's Alumni fund - aims to help early career founders with mentorship, access to capital, and curated networking.

Princeton Alumni Angels

Group of  Princeton Angel investors.

Nassau Street Ventures

Venture funding exclusively for Princeton Alumni.

Dorm Room Fund

First Round Capital's pre-seed investing branch - providing up to $20k to student startups.

RDV

General Catalyst's pre-seed investing branch - student team building a large network of student founders.

Sign up for startup news at Princeton