We are looking for earliest stage aspiring entrepreneurs with a venture idea they would like to further develop and pursue. While the idea does not have to be well developed, it should be fairly defined. In other words, you should feel strongly about something you want to accomplish.

We will help you further define and develop your idea into (hopefully) an actionable business idea ready for the next step of planning, financing, and launch.

Selected participants will receive access to all portions of the program FREE of charge. You will not be asked to purchase any additional things. You will need a laptop to participate for both the in-person sessions and virtual office hours. You are also responsible for transportation to and from the class sessions and any other in-person events. This is made possible through the generous support of the Dafan & Sue Foundation and our esteemed sponsors.

Participation in this incubator does not guarantee any funding, investment, grants, or otherwise. However, each participant/team may receive a standardized investment offer at the conclusion of the program from ToVenture. Participants/teams may also receive additional financing offers following Demo Day – which is designed to showcase your venture to investors and financiers.

We realize that not every entrepreneur or venture idea is a great match for traditional venture capital investments. That’s why we will also introduce you to other non-equity based financing options such as grants, SBA or commercial loans, and other non-traditional financing sources. No matter what path you choose to take, we will guide you along the path toward launching your venture without available resources.

We have an ideal goal of 8-10 participants/teams, although we may go bigger or smaller depending on other factors. We will select the participants/teams in the following manner:

• Winners of the ToVenture B Good Pitch Competition (2-3)
• Select participants of the ToVenture B Good Pitch Competition (1-2)
• Finalists of the general application pool (3-5)

ToVentureU Incubator will consist of 1 weekly in-person workshop and 1 virtual office hour each week of the program (Please see the above detailed 8-week topical schedule). 

In-person Workshop: We believe we can all learn from one another, so we designed each week’s work around a collaborative in-person workshop which is up to 2 hours in length. You will be introduced to the topic of the week and start to develop the deliverable for that topic while collaborating with others.

Virtual Office Hour:  each participant/team will be scheduled for a 30 minute “office-hour” with an expert in the topic that week to receive individualized consulting on the topic that week. This occurs after the collaborative workshop. By design, the workshop will help participants start to formulate their deliverables with the perspective of others, and the individual feedback and guidance will guide participants toward a well-reasoned result.

At the conclusion of the ToVentureU Incubator, participants are expected to have thoughtfully developed their venture idea, and have a firm plan to move forward including product, business model, operations, and financing. The refined venture idea will be presented as a polished pitch deck suitable to be sent to angels, banks, VCs, etc. 

On Demo Date, each participant will give a live presentation of their venture idea and pitch deck in front of an audience of potential funders, investors, and supporters. The goal is to introduce the incubated ventures to the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem so they may network, connect, and collaborate further.