“Is LaunchX a Scam?”

“MIT has asked to disassociate themselves from the program, so they are just called LaunchX”

LaunchX was founded out of MIT in 2012. Since its inception, the program has gone through many changes, yet the mission has always remained the same – helping youth gain real-world entrepreneurship experience.

MIT did not disassociate themselves with LaunchX. Instead, LaunchX wanted the ability to reach more students and have freedom to create the best curriculum regardless of the institution that we were at. 

Since becoming fiercely independent, LaunchX has created more programs and has been at notable universities like Northwestern and Berkeley, all while retaining our rigorous curriculum.

Entrepreneurship by Entrepreneurs

You may not know, but LaunchX is a for-profit organization. What does that mean? Many people believe that a non-profit means being mission-driven. However, a for-profit can be just as mission-driven (if not more) as a non-profit counterpart. 

Our mission has been focused on empowering youth and that would be true if we were a non-profit or not. However, there are some distinct advantages to being a for-profit organization. Being a for-profit allows us as an organization to generate real revenue to help reinvest in the company. We can pay our employees well to attract top talent and pivot quickly to market changes. 

LaunchX was founded as a startup and was meant to model what we want our entrepreneurship students to do – drive change through solving real problems that ultimately will create revenue. That revenue can be reinvested into making better products or services for customers. This can all happen without outside investments, whether VC or grants.

We are not like the NFL

A great example of non-profit status is the NFL. Did you know that the National Football League in America is a non-profit organization? If you thought non-profits need to be entirely philanthropic, note that the NFL Commissioner makes a staggering $63.9 million per year. 

The point? That being a non-profit organization doesn’t actually mean that much to the consumer. Instead, the focus should be what the company stands for and what they do. 

What does LaunchX do?

Many people think of LaunchX as an educational organization, and that is undoubtedly true. That is not the only thing that LaunchX does. For us, theory only goes so far – we want youth to be able to do the entrepreneurship thing, not just talk about it.

That is why our programs focus on practical experience. We teach courses, look at case studies, and provide mentorship, but we also expect our Launchies to start revenue-generating companies in under 5 weeks or work as a legitimate consultant for an existing organization.

And because LaunchX drives revenue, we can offer financial awards to capable students who just can’t afford our programs. We can also attract top talent to ensure a Launchie’s experience is incredible. 

Providing Real Value

We believe any company should provide value to its customers – LaunchX included. That is why we work throughout the year to update and calibrate our curriculum. We recruit brilliant mentors who have the know-how to help students thrive. And we get top facilities for our in-person programs.

As with any program, students get out of the program what they put in. If a student wants to push hard, create an amazing product, make sales, and build a successful startup, we give them the tools they need to do that. 

Can students find these concepts online?

Absolutley! The same is true for most bachelor's degrees. You could read the books for a college course, look up YouTube videos, and read peer-reviewed papers. But that isn’t the entire purpose of going to university. Learning and connecting with a cohort while working through ideas with peers is an incredible experience. 

“Not ONE startup that came out of the program is still operating to this day”

And we have seen real results. Launchies like Bailey, Salah, Abhishek, Isabelle, Eric, Panashe, and Juan (just to name a few!) have continued to change their corner of the universe through the skills they learned at a LaunchX summer program.

If you want to grow as an entrepreneur and develop skills beyond the startup world, you should consider a LaunchX summer program. 

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