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Summer Program

Our entrepreneurship summer program taps into the potential of ambitious high school students, supporting our young entrepreneurs through the process of launching an actual startup.

 

Entrepreneurship Summer Program for High School Students

LaunchX brings together top aspiring high school entrepreneurs from around the world each summer, supporting you through the process of launching an actual startup.

You join a highly-curated group of promising young entrepreneurs from around the globe, learn from industry experts, and leverage our leading course materials and experienced team.  Working with your peer co-founders, you build real products and solve business challenges in viable ways.

LaunchX isn’t a business plan competition – students start real companies.

How The LaunchX Program Works

Our entrepreneurship summer program taps into your potential as an ambitious high school student, supporting you through the process of launching an actual startup.

We bring a highly curated group of promising young entrepreneurs together from around the globe. You’ll learn from industry experts and work in a group of peer co-founders to build real products and solve business challenges in meaningful and viable ways.

Structure

Startup teams are assigned a lead instructor and team mentors, with whom they get time each week. There is a combination of interactive class discussions, team time, instructor check-ins, and community feedback to ensure personal growth and startup progress.

Startup Progress

Market research and prototyping has its pros and cons when working remotely. You’ll be in the same location during the program as after, and have access to some of the resources that you already know. Roles in your team will be important to consider, and we’ll help with shipping materials you identify for prototyping, providing mentors, and outsourcing where we can.

Community

Startup teams are part of a cohort for classroom sessions, feedback amongst teams, and community building. Plus, students have opportunities to attend community events to get to know their fellow classmates outside of the classroom and startup team environment.

Startup teams are assigned a lead instructor and team mentors, with whom they get time each week. There is a combination of interactive class discussions, team time, instructor check-ins, and community feedback to ensure personal growth and startup progress.

Market research and prototyping has its pros and cons when working remotely. You’ll be in the same location during the program as after, and have access to some of the resources that you already know. Roles in your team will be important to consider, and we’ll help with shipping materials you identify for prototyping, providing mentors, and outsourcing where we can.

Startup teams are part of a cohort for classroom sessions, feedback amongst teams, and community building. Plus, students have opportunities to attend community events to get to know their fellow classmates outside of the classroom and startup team environment.

Summer Program Options

Entrepreneurship Summer Program Online

The LaunchX online program provides the same quality program and community, including interactive classes, simulations, and speakers. You also receive top quality mentorship, check-ins, progress tracking of your startup team, and support for prototyping.

The online experience allows your calendar to be semi-customized with your specific preferences of elective class sessions, so that you get a more tailored experience. What’s more, we’re able to provide some pretty awesome speakers since the program is less restricted by geography.

Entrepreneurship Summer Program Campus

The LaunchX campus program bring students from around the US and world to the campus of top universities that have the resources and culture on campus to support our young entrepreneurs. Students live in the dorms and go to sessions in university classrooms, embracing the innovative culture and surroundings as they start real companies for four weeks on campus.

Innovation Summer Program

In the LaunchX Innovation Program, students will grow their skills and mindset as problem solvers and business leaders as we challenge them to apply their learnings, leverage resources, and work together in teams to tackle challenges and innovate for an established company. Students will gain the ability to make quick decisions and bring value to an established company

The LaunchX online program provides the same quality program and community, including interactive classes, simulations, and speakers. You also receive top quality mentorship, check-ins, progress tracking of your startup team, and support for prototyping.

The online experience allows your calendar to be semi-customized with your specific preferences of elective class sessions, so that you get a more tailored experience. What’s more, we’re able to provide some pretty awesome speakers since the program is less restricted by geography.

Learn More

The LaunchX campus program bring students from around the US and world to the campus of top universities that have the resources and culture on campus to support our young entrepreneurs. Students live in the dorms and go to sessions in university classrooms, embracing the innovative culture and surroundings as they start real companies for four weeks on campus.

Learn More

In the LaunchX Innovation Program, students will grow their skills and mindset as problem solvers and business leaders as we challenge them to apply their learnings, leverage resources, and work together in teams to tackle challenges and innovate for an established company. Students will gain the ability to make quick decisions and bring value to an established company

Learn More

Summer Program Dates And Fees

Program Dates Fees
Entrepreneurship Online Program July 3rd - August 4th $5980*
Entrepreneurship Campus Program - Ann Arbor, Michigan June 18th - July 15th $9450*
Entrepreneurship Campus Program - Research Triangle, North Carolina June 25th - July 22nd $9450*
Innovation Program - Ann Arbor, Michigan July 23rd - August 5th $5980*

*Dates and fees subject to change at any time. Various factors can affect these changes. LaunchX shall inform you as soon as a changes becomes applicable.

Please note that international students will also be required to pay an administrative fee in addition to the program fee that covers costs such as international health insurance for the program (required).

Financial Need-Based Support

Our admissions process is need-blind, meaning if you indicate that you need financial support, this will not impact your chances of acceptance in any way.

Family Location* Family Income/Resources of 2022 Admits Receiving Financial Need Support* 2022 Admitted Student Financial-Need Support** Remaining Program Fees**
United States More than $25k but less than $50k Average of $4,616 Average of $1,364
United States More than $50k but less than $75k Average of $3,480 Average of $2,500
International Less than $25k Average of $5,429 (some covering close to the full program fees) Average of $551 (range starting at $20)
International More than $25k but less than $50k Average of $2,665 Average of $2,180
International More than $50k but less than $75k Average of $3,150 Average of $2,830

*Family location and income/resources based on previous two years of student’s parents / guardians tax information inclusive both of income and financial need system calculation of additional resources.

Families making more than $100k per year are not eligible to apply for financial need support.

**Specific financial-need support package varies based on specifics of family income and costs as calculated by the financial need application system that is provided upon admission to the program. Remaining program fees are determined based on the specific program to which the student is admitted.

Financial need is not available for any travel or supplemental program costs.

Summer Program Admissions

The application for the 2023 LaunchX Summer Program is now closed. Get info for Summer 2024

Admissions Round Deadline* Decision Difference
Early Round December 21st, 2022 February 24th, 2023 Be compared against a small pool of applicants and get a decision sooner.
Regular Round February 15th, 2023 April 21st, 2023 Get more time to apply but be compared against a larger pool.

*Note the application deadline is at 11:59pm PST (or 2:59am EST on the following morning)

Get Summer 2024 Info

Example Previous Speakers

Core classes are taught by the amazing LaunchX staff who are entrepreneurs and educators. Students are also able to sign up for elective speaker sessions to customize their learning experience, hearing from university instructors, industry experts, and real-life entrepreneurs, all while launching their startups.

Check out some of our speakers below.

CHRISTA CHAMBERS-PRICE

Christa Chambers-Price is the CEO of Entre-SLAM, Inc. a brand story and marketing strategy group. Christa is a U.S. Military Intelligence Army veteran and a former FBI Analyst. She helps brands discover, build, and launch big ideas that move the world. With an emphasis on consumer psychology, behavioral science, and storytelling, Entre-SLAM has crafted a methodology that guides innovators on how to discover what makes their brands unique and identify market opportunities, while learning how to blend them together to tell a compelling story.

Our students had this to say:

  • Miss Chambers-Price is quite different from other speakers considering that she has been in the army – this may be common in the US, but definitely NOT where I live in (Hong Kong). We don’t often see (former) army members hosting lectures for high school kids.
    But I enjoyed it quite a lot since she was able to inspire me to think how to discover my purpose at Launch and at my own startup with her unique experiences.
  • Your brand isn’t just company it is building your image so that it is compelling and presentable to others because people invest in others, not the company.
  • Never ever give up on your mission! Your mission should be so compelling that everyone involved with your brand is subconsciously aware of it.

BILL AULET

Bill Aulet is changing the way entrepreneurship is understood, taught and practiced around the world. He is an award-winning educator and author whose current work is built off the foundation of his 25-year successful business career first at IBM and then as a three-time serial entrepreneur. His first book, Disciplined Entrepreneurship, released in August 2013, has been translated into 18 languages and has been the content for three online edX courses which have been taken by hundreds of thousands of people in 199 different countries. He has been a featured speaker on shows such as CNBC’s Squawk Box, BBC News, Bloomberg News as well as at events and conferences around the world. He has degrees from Harvard and MIT and is a board member of MITEK Systems (NASDAQ: MITK) and XL Hybrids Inc. (Private) as well as a visiting professor at University of Strathclyde (Scotland). On July 1, 2017, Bill was named a Professor of the Practice at MIT Sloan.

Our student had this to say about their session with Bill:

  • Definitely one of the highlights of my LaunchX experience! I loved this session. I learned about different myths that really challenged my mindset and how I view entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs.
  • The content is pretty interesting and the slides are really cool, which totally drew my attention to the course
  • Entrepreneurship is invention combined with commercialization, and both are very important in ensuring a successful startup! In a team, you should have people specializing in both aspects.
  • Being a successful entrepreneur takes skill, passion and drive. Passion for an idea isn’t enough – be passionate about your vision, your values.

Frankie Arvelo

Frankie Arvelo is an experienced attorney with a demonstrated history of working with founders on issues that shape their companies. I’ve been involved in transactions worth more than $800M with much of that involved in early stage fundraising. I am a lecturer at Penn where I teach a short course on early stage financing to JD/MBA students. I hold a B.S. from UMass, J.D. from Penn, and MBA from UTexas.

Christa Chambers-Price is the CEO of Entre-SLAM, Inc. a brand story and marketing strategy group. Christa is a U.S. Military Intelligence Army veteran and a former FBI Analyst. She helps brands discover, build, and launch big ideas that move the world. With an emphasis on consumer psychology, behavioral science, and storytelling, Entre-SLAM has crafted a methodology that guides innovators on how to discover what makes their brands unique and identify market opportunities, while learning how to blend them together to tell a compelling story.

Our students had this to say:

  • Miss Chambers-Price is quite different from other speakers considering that she has been in the army – this may be common in the US, but definitely NOT where I live in (Hong Kong). We don’t often see (former) army members hosting lectures for high school kids.
    But I enjoyed it quite a lot since she was able to inspire me to think how to discover my purpose at Launch and at my own startup with her unique experiences.
  • Your brand isn’t just company it is building your image so that it is compelling and presentable to others because people invest in others, not the company.
  • Never ever give up on your mission! Your mission should be so compelling that everyone involved with your brand is subconsciously aware of it.

Bill Aulet is changing the way entrepreneurship is understood, taught and practiced around the world. He is an award-winning educator and author whose current work is built off the foundation of his 25-year successful business career first at IBM and then as a three-time serial entrepreneur. His first book, Disciplined Entrepreneurship, released in August 2013, has been translated into 18 languages and has been the content for three online edX courses which have been taken by hundreds of thousands of people in 199 different countries. He has been a featured speaker on shows such as CNBC’s Squawk Box, BBC News, Bloomberg News as well as at events and conferences around the world. He has degrees from Harvard and MIT and is a board member of MITEK Systems (NASDAQ: MITK) and XL Hybrids Inc. (Private) as well as a visiting professor at University of Strathclyde (Scotland). On July 1, 2017, Bill was named a Professor of the Practice at MIT Sloan.

Our student had this to say about their session with Bill:

  • Definitely one of the highlights of my LaunchX experience! I loved this session. I learned about different myths that really challenged my mindset and how I view entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs.
  • The content is pretty interesting and the slides are really cool, which totally drew my attention to the course
  • Entrepreneurship is invention combined with commercialization, and both are very important in ensuring a successful startup! In a team, you should have people specializing in both aspects.
  • Being a successful entrepreneur takes skill, passion and drive. Passion for an idea isn’t enough – be passionate about your vision, your values.

Frankie Arvelo is an experienced attorney with a demonstrated history of working with founders on issues that shape their companies. I’ve been involved in transactions worth more than $800M with much of that involved in early stage fundraising. I am a lecturer at Penn where I teach a short course on early stage financing to JD/MBA students. I hold a B.S. from UMass, J.D. from Penn, and MBA from UTexas.

Jheal Shah

Jheal has done her BSc (Hons) in Biology from University of Warwick, UK; AAS in Fashion Marketing from Parsons the New School for Design, New York, USA; International Business from Harvard Business School (summer course), Boston, USA and Executive Education from IIM, Ahmedabad, India.
She has also had the opportunity of working with Tommy Hilfiger, Vera Wang, Armani Exchange, Bank of America and Times of India and therefore brings forth tremendous work experience from several sectors, prior to successfully launching The Stylease. She currently also runs a digital marketing and branding agency by the name of Raise the Bar and is working on a mental health start up called Ikaria

Students had this to say about Jheal’s session:

  • I really enjoyed the presentation. I found it to be very informative and the guest speaker was so entertaining and interactive and super nice so I really enjoyed the session and would not change it at all, it’s perfect! Thank you!
  • Absolutely loved Jheal’s presentation. She is a really engaging speaker!
  • I really enjoyed this session, I thought that it would be greatly beneficial to my team, who have trouble selecting specific target customers and industries with our product. The speaker was engaging and informative.

Deirdre Tshien

Deirdre is the Founder & CEO of Capsho, software that helps high-ticket coaches who podcast create their show notes, captions and audiograms with Content Honey Traps so that they can use their podcast to fill their email list and conversion events!

She is the creator of Content Honey Traps, author of Honey Trap Marketing and host of the Grow My Podcast Show.

She is a serial entrepreneur, having founded and led 7 businesses across 5 industries in the last 9 years, and has navigated the entire spectrum of experiences and emotions (the good, the bad and the ugly) that comes with starting, running and closing businesses.

With her hands-on experience in successfully growing her businesses to 6 & 7 figures, she now coaches and works hands-on with high-ticket coaches & consultants who podcast produce multiple high-ticket clients each month using the Content Honey Trap System.

Antonio Fragoso

Antonio is a creative director and (self-identified) inventor. He started working on Marketing, Sales and Strategic Planning before quitting his job, going back to school and becoming a full-time creative. Over the past 10 years he has worked at top agencies like 360i and McCann for clients such as Oreo, Verizon and Barilla just to name a few. He’s now a Creative Director at TikTok’s Global Creative Lab inspiring brands and marketers on how to create the best branded content on the app. In his spare time, Antonio is an avid runner, a professional mosquito killer and wanna-be Twitch streamer.

Jheal has done her BSc (Hons) in Biology from University of Warwick, UK; AAS in Fashion Marketing from Parsons the New School for Design, New York, USA; International Business from Harvard Business School (summer course), Boston, USA and Executive Education from IIM, Ahmedabad, India.
She has also had the opportunity of working with Tommy Hilfiger, Vera Wang, Armani Exchange, Bank of America and Times of India and therefore brings forth tremendous work experience from several sectors, prior to successfully launching The Stylease. She currently also runs a digital marketing and branding agency by the name of Raise the Bar and is working on a mental health start up called Ikaria

Students had this to say about Jheal’s session:

  • I really enjoyed the presentation. I found it to be very informative and the guest speaker was so entertaining and interactive and super nice so I really enjoyed the session and would not change it at all, it’s perfect! Thank you!
  • Absolutely loved Jheal’s presentation. She is a really engaging speaker!
  • I really enjoyed this session, I thought that it would be greatly beneficial to my team, who have trouble selecting specific target customers and industries with our product. The speaker was engaging and informative.

Deirdre is the Founder & CEO of Capsho, software that helps high-ticket coaches who podcast create their show notes, captions and audiograms with Content Honey Traps so that they can use their podcast to fill their email list and conversion events!

She is the creator of Content Honey Traps, author of Honey Trap Marketing and host of the Grow My Podcast Show.

She is a serial entrepreneur, having founded and led 7 businesses across 5 industries in the last 9 years, and has navigated the entire spectrum of experiences and emotions (the good, the bad and the ugly) that comes with starting, running and closing businesses.

With her hands-on experience in successfully growing her businesses to 6 & 7 figures, she now coaches and works hands-on with high-ticket coaches & consultants who podcast produce multiple high-ticket clients each month using the Content Honey Trap System.

Antonio is a creative director and (self-identified) inventor. He started working on Marketing, Sales and Strategic Planning before quitting his job, going back to school and becoming a full-time creative. Over the past 10 years he has worked at top agencies like 360i and McCann for clients such as Oreo, Verizon and Barilla just to name a few. He’s now a Creative Director at TikTok’s Global Creative Lab inspiring brands and marketers on how to create the best branded content on the app. In his spare time, Antonio is an avid runner, a professional mosquito killer and wanna-be Twitch streamer.

Max Mirho

Max Mirho, host of EntrepreNerd, an online live-stream that builds businesses on the go, and the co-founder of Moss Generation. Max teaches entrepreneurship online with the aim to give students a realistic understanding of how entrepreneurship functions. He uses no-code tools and simple marketing to prototype quickly.

Here are a few things students said about Max’s session:

  • This elective is so helpful! It provided us a lot of info and tools in 50 min. I hope that all the electives can be as helpful as this one! 
  • I really liked this session and found it really helpful. Will definitely be sharing these tools with my teammates who weren’t able to take this session and maybe use these tools for our project! 
  • The session was great and very helpful, not only for my team’s (LaunchX) startup but for the future…

PHILIP GREENWALD

Philip Greenwald is the associate director of technology at Harvard Innovation Labs. Before founding the Lab’s Technology Development department, he lead technology programming and advised student and alumni entrepreneurs on software development and building new technologies.

In addition to teaching, Phil has worked with aspiring CEOs and young professionals from Boston to Korea to bring minimum viable products (MVPs) to realization, secure business funding, and get accepted into accelerators such as Y Combinator and MassChallenge. He has officially advised approximately 60 startups that have in aggregate raised over $100 Million. Prior to teaching, Phil was the chief software architect on several large-scale web and mobile applications and the Founder of the Code Undercover coding school. Phil continues to take on a small number of clients for whom he oversees large-scale and tough tech development tasks, primarily in the fields of AI, AR/VR, and mobile app development.

Students had this to say about Philip’s session:

  • He’s seriously the best teacher I’ve ever had in my entire life I never imagined that a virtual class would be the best thing I’ve experienced so far I’m so thankful for having this opportunity and for sure I’ve learned far more than just coding and nerdy stuff. He was so patient with 35 students, each had their own problems and difficulties but he was committed and he helped every single one, he put in his time and patience and just went through it all. Instead of 8 hours per day we worked for 12 and more per day which is something not much people would sacrifice for others, he inspired me to change for the better. I’m so grateful, I don’t think I made him know how much I enjoyed this weekend, but he deserves tons of credit for it and I hope one day I could meet him which is pretty close to impossible, but I really hope thank you for giving me this opportunity.
  • BEST CLASS I HAVE EVER TAKEN! I learned so much about Ruby on Rails, the different syntax, and a lot about the back end of programming!
  • Phil is an incredible instructor! What a treat to learn from him this weekend. I gained lots of valuable insight into how coding works because I came into this workshop with little experience with coding.
  • This was an amazing experience. Mr. Greenwald as a fantastic teacher. He was patient with all questions and happily shared his knowledge about deeper concepts that weren’t part of the course. He spent hours and hours making sure that everyone was on the same page and that everyone’s code would work. I learned a ton from this session and every second was worth it!

Diane Darling

Before starting her own business as a speaker, consultant, and career coach, Diane’s career spanned the globe. She was a tour leader on all seven continents and in over 60 countries, a non-profit fund-raiser, and a business guru helping top companies maximize their talent, time, and money.

Drawing from these experiences, Diane’s talks and one-on-one coaching services teach people how to find common ground with others in order to form beneficial relationships for mutual benefit.

As an internationally published author, educator, and consultant, every year Diane teaches thousands how to find their voice and use it to advance their careers and find success in their lives. McGraw-Hill published her books in 9 languages – which is amazing since she only speaks English.

Student comments:

  • I’ve watched quite a number of pitches before Launch, but I didn’t think closely to how it is crafted in a systematic but unique way. I learned about great ways to put oneself out there, and effectively deliver the core message behind one’s startup. The lessons taught in this elective also will help me when pitching during LaunchX, and after.
  • It was especially helpful as we are crafting our pitches now and I learned a lot about the importance of storytelling which we could include in our pitch.

Max Mirho, host of EntrepreNerd, an online live-stream that builds businesses on the go, and the co-founder of Moss Generation. Max teaches entrepreneurship online with the aim to give students a realistic understanding of how entrepreneurship functions. He uses no-code tools and simple marketing to prototype quickly.

Here are a few things students said about Max’s session:

  • This elective is so helpful! It provided us a lot of info and tools in 50 min. I hope that all the electives can be as helpful as this one! 
  • I really liked this session and found it really helpful. Will definitely be sharing these tools with my teammates who weren’t able to take this session and maybe use these tools for our project! 
  • The session was great and very helpful, not only for my team’s (LaunchX) startup but for the future…

Philip Greenwald is the associate director of technology at Harvard Innovation Labs. Before founding the Lab’s Technology Development department, he lead technology programming and advised student and alumni entrepreneurs on software development and building new technologies.

In addition to teaching, Phil has worked with aspiring CEOs and young professionals from Boston to Korea to bring minimum viable products (MVPs) to realization, secure business funding, and get accepted into accelerators such as Y Combinator and MassChallenge. He has officially advised approximately 60 startups that have in aggregate raised over $100 Million. Prior to teaching, Phil was the chief software architect on several large-scale web and mobile applications and the Founder of the Code Undercover coding school. Phil continues to take on a small number of clients for whom he oversees large-scale and tough tech development tasks, primarily in the fields of AI, AR/VR, and mobile app development.

Students had this to say about Philip’s session:

  • He’s seriously the best teacher I’ve ever had in my entire life I never imagined that a virtual class would be the best thing I’ve experienced so far I’m so thankful for having this opportunity and for sure I’ve learned far more than just coding and nerdy stuff. He was so patient with 35 students, each had their own problems and difficulties but he was committed and he helped every single one, he put in his time and patience and just went through it all. Instead of 8 hours per day we worked for 12 and more per day which is something not much people would sacrifice for others, he inspired me to change for the better. I’m so grateful, I don’t think I made him know how much I enjoyed this weekend, but he deserves tons of credit for it and I hope one day I could meet him which is pretty close to impossible, but I really hope thank you for giving me this opportunity.
  • BEST CLASS I HAVE EVER TAKEN! I learned so much about Ruby on Rails, the different syntax, and a lot about the back end of programming!
  • Phil is an incredible instructor! What a treat to learn from him this weekend. I gained lots of valuable insight into how coding works because I came into this workshop with little experience with coding.
  • This was an amazing experience. Mr. Greenwald as a fantastic teacher. He was patient with all questions and happily shared his knowledge about deeper concepts that weren’t part of the course. He spent hours and hours making sure that everyone was on the same page and that everyone’s code would work. I learned a ton from this session and every second was worth it!

Before starting her own business as a speaker, consultant, and career coach, Diane’s career spanned the globe. She was a tour leader on all seven continents and in over 60 countries, a non-profit fund-raiser, and a business guru helping top companies maximize their talent, time, and money.

Drawing from these experiences, Diane’s talks and one-on-one coaching services teach people how to find common ground with others in order to form beneficial relationships for mutual benefit.

As an internationally published author, educator, and consultant, every year Diane teaches thousands how to find their voice and use it to advance their careers and find success in their lives. McGraw-Hill published her books in 9 languages – which is amazing since she only speaks English.

Student comments:

  • I’ve watched quite a number of pitches before Launch, but I didn’t think closely to how it is crafted in a systematic but unique way. I learned about great ways to put oneself out there, and effectively deliver the core message behind one’s startup. The lessons taught in this elective also will help me when pitching during LaunchX, and after.
  • It was especially helpful as we are crafting our pitches now and I learned a lot about the importance of storytelling which we could include in our pitch.

Martin Culpepper

Martin Culpepper, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and was until recently MIT’s first “Maker Czar.” As Maker Czar, he led MIT’s effort to upgrade makerspaces with a particular focus on making these resources available to inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs.

He is a self-described gear head who loves working on his Ducati and Mustang, but not as much as riding/driving them. He loves building things at MIT and at home in his own shop. His favorite maker tools are mills and waterjets, though he’s become fond of glass blowing.

Bill Zimmerman

Bill Zimmerman is a lecturer in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State. He teaches courses in digital public relations and social media in addition to supervising the social media division within the college’s student-run creative agency, CommAgency. In 2020, he received the Deans’ Excellence Award for Integrated Scholarship from his college. For four years, he produced an entrepreneurship podcast titled “Happy Valley Hustle,” which collected 22,000+ downloads. Bill also holds the Accreditation in Public Relations.

What students learned from Bill’s session:

  • “You should pay more attention to the problems you encounter in life – can be a startup idea. You should also step back and observe others to see problems they might encounter.” – Hai Yen Tran
  • “It is all about mindset. Every morning try to make space in your mind for the day and to “contemplate.” – Sienna Kauh
  • “I learned that being addicted to entrepreneurship and nurturing your idea isn’t the best way, but being determined to make your idea come to life is.” – Sanath Muralidhara

Henri Nyakarundi

For over 10 years, Henri has been a well-respected voice on entrepreneurship in Africa, renewable energy, innovation & technology impact and more…. As a mentor, speaker, strategist on social entrepreneur in Africa, he was able to shed the light on some of the challenges in the African marketplace, but also the key solutions needed to solve some of the major challenges we encounter today as a continent such as unemployment, lack of access to energy, access to smart funding.

Henri is a talented and engaging communicator who can cut through the myths and misunderstandings to provide clarity and perspective on what it means to be a green leader in business. He brings to his audiences a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing mainstream entrepreneurs on the ground as they try to build their own social enterprises in a way that drives bottom-line performance and top-line growth.

In Henri’s session students learned “Entrepreneurship is all about solving problems: try to solve the ones of the world!” – Maanya Singh

Martin Culpepper, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and was until recently MIT’s first “Maker Czar.” As Maker Czar, he led MIT’s effort to upgrade makerspaces with a particular focus on making these resources available to inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs.

He is a self-described gear head who loves working on his Ducati and Mustang, but not as much as riding/driving them. He loves building things at MIT and at home in his own shop. His favorite maker tools are mills and waterjets, though he’s become fond of glass blowing.

Bill Zimmerman is a lecturer in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State. He teaches courses in digital public relations and social media in addition to supervising the social media division within the college’s student-run creative agency, CommAgency. In 2020, he received the Deans’ Excellence Award for Integrated Scholarship from his college. For four years, he produced an entrepreneurship podcast titled “Happy Valley Hustle,” which collected 22,000+ downloads. Bill also holds the Accreditation in Public Relations.

What students learned from Bill’s session:

  • “You should pay more attention to the problems you encounter in life – can be a startup idea. You should also step back and observe others to see problems they might encounter.” – Hai Yen Tran
  • “It is all about mindset. Every morning try to make space in your mind for the day and to “contemplate.” – Sienna Kauh
  • “I learned that being addicted to entrepreneurship and nurturing your idea isn’t the best way, but being determined to make your idea come to life is.” – Sanath Muralidhara

For over 10 years, Henri has been a well-respected voice on entrepreneurship in Africa, renewable energy, innovation & technology impact and more…. As a mentor, speaker, strategist on social entrepreneur in Africa, he was able to shed the light on some of the challenges in the African marketplace, but also the key solutions needed to solve some of the major challenges we encounter today as a continent such as unemployment, lack of access to energy, access to smart funding.

Henri is a talented and engaging communicator who can cut through the myths and misunderstandings to provide clarity and perspective on what it means to be a green leader in business. He brings to his audiences a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing mainstream entrepreneurs on the ground as they try to build their own social enterprises in a way that drives bottom-line performance and top-line growth.

In Henri’s session students learned “Entrepreneurship is all about solving problems: try to solve the ones of the world!” – Maanya Singh

Your LaunchX Experience

Bringing a real product to the market during the short timeframe of the summer is no small task.

Classroom activities, case study discussions, and mentor meetings will immerse you in the entrepreneurial process and push you to stretch the limits of what you thought was possible. Each day, you’ll learn from startup founders and industry experts who know first-hand what it takes to build a viable company.

During the downtime of your scheduled class sessions, mentor meetings, and instructor check-ins, you’ll work with your cofounder team to put these lessons to work—applying your newfound knowledge and skills to take your company to the next level.

Your LaunchX experience will be challenging. It will be intense. And it will be worth it.  Join us for this groundbreaking and life-changing experience!

Summer 2024 Info

Our High School Entrepreneurs

One of the things that makes LaunchX amazing is the community of young entrepreneurs coming together during this entrepreneurship summer program to build cool things and make an impact. Some of these young entrepreneurs have shared insights and their startup stories here.