Students in the NGP CoLab

Startup Garage Course Details

Ready to learn our innovation process and explore a new venture idea? You’ve come to the right place! Join our Mailing Listopen in new window to stay informed about the application process and upcoming events.

Application Deadlines for 2024-2025


Autumn Application
29 May, 9:00 am PT

Autumn Application for MSx (GSB)
26 Aug, 9:00 am PT

Winter Application*
11 Nov, 9:00 am PT

Spring Application
Date TBD

Jump to FAQs & Application Guidelines

See the Team Formation Hub to find teammates or join a team.

* Teams that completed the Fall course and plan to proceed with the prototype they developed in the Fall can sign up for the Winter course without submitting an application.

 

Course Description

Startup Garage is an intense two-part project-based course that is offered by the Graduate School of Business in the Fall and Winter quarters. Throughout the course, teams apply design thinking, lean startup methodologies, and the Business Model Canvas to conceive, design, and field-test a new venture using the Startup Garage Innovation Process.

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Startup Garage Innovation Process

You will get out of the classroom and interact with users to identify and understand an unmet need. Then you will design, prototype, and test a novel product or service to meet that need. Finally, you will develop a viable business model and launch plan for your venture. The course culminates with a final presentation in the Winter, where teams pitch their ideas to a panel of seasoned investors. 

Teams will learn time-tested frameworks, current practices from the field, and cutting edge strategies for developing and launching new products, building ventures, and evaluating the viability of early stage ventures. Students will also have the opportunity to connect with players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including VCs, angel investors, and entrepreneurial GSB alums. 

The course offers an “Experiment Funds” stipend to help ease possible financial burdens of meeting learning goals as teams conduct experiments to test venture hypotheses.

Startup Garage Courses

Course Structure & Logistics

Startup Garage is a live, in-person course that is not offered remotely. The course is offered in the Fall and Winter, with three sections typically offered in each quarter. Each section hosts approximately 16-20 small teams (2-4 students each) and meets twice a week on Mondays/Thursdays or Tuesdays/Fridays. 

Monday and Tuesday classes usually have a brief discussion, an activity on applying learned concepts, and/or a session in which teams share their progress and obtain feedback and support. Thursday and Friday classes typically focus on team time and 1-on-1 coaching with your assigned “homeroom” instructor. 

Each team is assigned a dedicated homeroom instructor but may reach out to any of the other course instructors with questions or for office hours. In the Winter, in addition to a homeroom instructor, teams are also matched with an external advisor.

Succeeding in Startup Garage

Success in the course is measured by how much you learn, not by whether your team will continue to pursue the venture after completing the course. Our innovation process can be applied to problem solving beyond venture creation, and we expect that the innovation process you learn will reward you throughout your career, whether in startups or large organizations. That said, many Startup Garage alumni go on to launch successful and impactful companies and nonprofits such as DoorDash, Sofi, Maker Wine, and others. Since 2012, over 150 companies have been launched from alumni of the course, raising over $2.5B in private funding in addition to some going public.

Is Startup Garage Right For You?

Startup Garage is well-suited for teams at various stages in the venture design process, whether they are pursuing for-profit, nonprofit, or social venture ideas. Compared to other entrepreneurial programs, Startup Garage is a great fit for students who: 

  • Enjoy classes that consist of shorter lectures and lots of  team time to work on projects
  • Are willing to follow a structured academic curriculum across all phases of the Startup Garage Innovation Process, regardless of how far their venture has already progressed
  • Will benefit from dedicating lots of time toward exploring and deeply understanding the customer need before trying to solve it
  • Enjoy conducting many user interviews and experiments throughout the quarter
  • Are prepared to spend a minimum of 12 hours outside of class working on their projects
  • Are prepared to come to class in-person, on time, and ready to work with their team!

FAQs & Application Guidelines

See below for our frequently asked questions and application deadlines.

Teaching Team

You will be supported and coached by a team of world-class faculty, including founders and early executives of ZenDesk, Task Rabbit, Baby Center, Shutterfly, Shopkick, eLoan, Netscape, and MSN, as well as seasoned VC and angel investors. Although teams that are accepted to the course cannot request that a particular instructor be their assigned “homeroom instructor,” they will be able to reach out to any instructor from the teaching team for advice or office hours.

The Investment Group of Santa Barbara Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Operations, Information & Technology
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For More Information

Associate Director, Startup Garage, Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
Contact Slava if you have questions or want to schedule a time to meet about the course.