Every door we can open for you.

Be the VC for a day.

The Venture Capital Investment Competition, the world’s largest, with 120+ schools. Your team gets a hypothetical fund, runs real due diligence on three startups, writes a term sheet, and defends it to working VCs. You act as the investor, not the founder.

Regionals in spring · entry fee due early Nov

The founder on-ramp.

A Deming Center initiative that helps CU students turn early ideas into real ventures. Open community events for everyone, plus a selective Spark FOUNDERS cohort of 5-6 student entrepreneurs who get incubator support, mentorship, and micro-grants. The easiest first door if you have an idea but no team yet.

Applications Aug 1 to Sep 14 · community events year-round

Micro-grants, fast.

Micro-funding from a student-led team inside CU Innovate. Up to $500 for an entrepreneurial idea in progress, reviewed weekly on a rolling basis. Low barrier by design, so it funds experiments and momentum, not polished startups. In Fall 2025 alone it awarded $3,850.

Rolling · weekly pitch sessions each semester

The flagship.

CU Innovate’s signature program and a launchpad for real ventures. A multi-round, multi-event competition open to students, faculty, staff, and recent grads, with General, Deep Tech, and Social Impact tracks. Awards up to $320K across all tracks; alumni ventures have raised $53.5M.

Year-round (Sept–April) · registration closes early Feb · Finals in spring

Where tech meets law and policy.

A center at Colorado Law focused on law, policy, and entrepreneurship in tech. Its value is the programming and the room: Entrepreneurs Unplugged, the Startup Variety Show, the Crash Course series, the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, and Startup Summer. No tech background required, and any major is welcome.

Events year-round

A paid summer inside a startup.

A Silicon Flatirons program that wraps around a paid full-time startup internship you secure yourself. Over June through August the cohort meets weekly with Colorado founders and executives, then competes in an end-of-summer pitch contest. A NextStars sponsorship of $7,500 supports underrepresented students for 10 weeks.

Summer cohort · apply in spring

The startup hiring pipeline.

A joint effort from Career Services and CU Innovate that connects entrepreneurial students to high-growth Colorado companies. It runs as a mini job fair with a twist: startups present their work and open roles, then students meet them one-on-one in an open format. Roles span engineering, software, data, marketing, sales, and more.

September · January · April

The capstone sprint.

An innovation platform pairing interdisciplinary student teams from CU Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, and other universities with real organizations. Bring your own early-stage idea or take a partner’s published challenge for a cash bounty. A three-week sprint with just two in-person evenings; everything in between is online, on your schedule.

Fall 2026 sprint · Oct 20 to Nov 9