Sometimes all you need to get started is a small push. That’s the idea for a new program at Harvard Business School designed to give budding entrepreneurs the financial wherewithal to launch new businesses before they graduate. The program–launched with the help of Harvard students and dubbed the Minimum Viable Product Fund, or MVP Fund–will dole out money to MBA students with promising startup ideas.
“There is a large number of us interested in startups, who wanted to get started on businesses while at school, but there was not much in the way of incubators or an entrepreneur’s scene,” said Daniel Rumennik, a first-year student at Harvard (Harvard Full-Time MBA Profile) who came up with the idea and proposed it with the help of classmates Jessica Bloomgarden and Andrew J. Rosenthal.
When professors caught wind of the idea, they quickly brought it to the dean, who was responsive. Now, HBS’ Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship will give $50,000 in funding to various student startups that have a feasible and interesting business idea, said Rumennik. Each chosen startup will receive $5,000 with the option of asking for more but receiving no more than $10,000, according to the school-issued press release. Students will submit applications by Jan. 28. Meanwhile, the fund’s founders will have students vote for three faculty members and three students to sit on the committee that will review the applications and decide how to divide the available funding.
“This is the first step,” said Rumennik, who aims to launch his own startup before graduation. “We hope it becomes part of a larger incubation program.”
Read the full article: Harvard Launches Program to Fund Startups