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How to start a startup at UT Austin
Student Groups
Genesis
Student-alumni led venture capital fund that gives non-dilutive funding (up to $15K to early-stage companies (student founders from freshman to PhD) and provides student leadership team with investment, portfolio management, and business consulting experience.
Texas Convergent
UT's first interdisciplinary entrepreneurship organization combining business + computer science. Runs an annual incubator for startups to connect with student technical talent. Can also join on student "build teams" to work on startup or tech ideas with mentorship/get connected with others.
Freetail Hackers
Plans several hackathons each year, including HackTX, a 24-hour event for UT students to learn and explore technology.
Women in Computer Science (WiCS)
Empowers women in computer science and provides a supportive community to engage in with both academic and social events.
Association for Computing Machinery Student Chapter (ACM)
The oldest organization for students and professionals working in the field of computer science.
Women in Business Association (WBA)
Professional development and connections for those who are generally interested in a career in business.
Longhorn Entrepreneurship Agency
An agency of Student Government that strives to connect, educate, and support student entrepreneurs while developing and fostering an innovative startup culture on campus. Hosts e-week, organizes freshman founders, and runs social events for entrepreneurs.
Founders Table
Startup founders at UT Austin - meet biweekly to discuss and learn from each other.
SELL
Social entrepreneurship organization including biannual fellowships to drive impact-based building (including nonprofits). Semesterly fellows go through curriculum and several weekly workshops including presentation to other founders and faculty.
Accelerators and Incubators
Austin Tech Incubator
UT Austin's deep tech incubator.
Texas Convergent Incubator
Connects founders to engineers and product managers to help build out, add features to, and scale products. The Incubator is a semester-long program offered during the Fall and Spring, welcomes students of all majors, classes, and experience levels to apply.
Freshman Founders Accelerator
One track of Freshman Founders - build your startup from the ground up with help from mentors.
JBTVL Accelerator
Matches early-stage Austin-area startups with cross-functional student teams from across UT's graduate schools to help solve business problems.
FASTForward
10-week training program for Austin-based businesses designed to accelerate business growth and maximize profit.
Southwest I-Corps
Southwest I-Corps™ supports and connects young scientists, leading faculty and the greater business community across the Texas and Southwest.
National I-Corps Program
Seven-week hands-on course designed to test the commercialization of a technology. The program offers teams of 3 grants up to $50,000.
Student Entrepreneur Acceleration and Launch (Seal)
9-week program providing fundraising training, mentorship, and a demo-day.
Sputnik ATX
Semester long accelerator with sizable investing (100K SAFE note) and a current Entrepreneur-In-Residence (https://www.sputnikatx.com/news-2/2020/1/31/sputnik-atx-announces-winter-2020-class) program partnership with UT Austin.
Hackathons and Competitions
IC2 Student Challenge
Diverse student teams to address a community economic development issue. Prizes total $15,000.
HackTX
UT's largest hackathon organized by FreeTail Hackers.
SXSW Hackathon
Austin's largest hackathon - 24 hours of hacks - cash prizes and opportunity to participate in the Hackathon incubator.
WiCS Hacks
Annual 2-day hackathon for women and non-binary students.
DisrupTexas
Annual university-backed pitch competition awarding $25K for top startups + other prizes and investor connections/publicity, held in November.
University Resources
Freshman Founders Event Series
Introducing freshmen and transfer students to entrepreneurship and the Austin startup ecosystem; run by LEA.
Blackstone Launchpad Texas
A program that helps students of all backgrounds navigate the UT entrepreneurship ecosystem. Go-to for education, resources, physical space, mentors, and more.
Entrepreneurship Week at UT
Weeklong programming that includes workshops, speakers, and a startup job fair; run by student organization Longhorn Entrepreneurship Agency (LEA).
Capital Factory
Physical space to work and connect with other entrepreneurs and investors; also hosts constant startup and career related events including 3Day Startup.
Co-Lab
UT's first co-working space on campus for student entrepreneurs. Open 24/7.
Notable Courses
Longhorn Startup Seminar
Lecture-based Fall course that features prominent entrepreneurs, students meet potential cofounders and mentors.
Longhorn Startup Lab
Intensive project-based Spring course that gives students credit for working on their startups at school. Culminates in a Demo Day.
New Media Entrepreneurialism & Entrepreneurialism in Communications
Lecture/interview style courses taught by Mark Bunting, founder of SkyTV and Austin angel investor. Great overview of fundamentals in entrepreneurship and venture, plus unique internship opportunities/networking with various speakers that come every semester.
Funding
Contrary
University-focused venture fund investing up to $2M in emerging startups launching from the university scene around the US.
Capital Factory
Startup incubator, events host, and general hub for technology and entrepreneurship in Austin; partnerships and shared network with Genesis + co sponsor of the Longhorn Startup Lab course.
Genesis
UT Austin's startup fund serving as a primary development pipeline for early stage ventures; equity-free funding of up to $15K along with unique company partnerships (cloud credits, legal help, business development) to pursue their ventures.
Texas Venture Labs
MBA venture fund providing funding and mentorship.
Sputnik ATX
Early stage investor/accelerator with two funding cohorts per year.
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