Rice Experiment Fund (RXF)

The Rice Experiment Fund (RXF) enables current Rice students to get straight to testing out their venture. Open to any current Rice Student, RXF provides quick funding and a proven experiment design framework to get you started with your venture.

The Highlights

  • RXF helps to remove financial barriers for early-stage undergraduate and graduate student makers, creators and future founders.

  • Recipient(s) will be awarded up to $100 per academic year to perform a small-scale experiment related to their venture.

  • RXF funds must be used within the semester for which they were requested.

  • RXF grants claim no IP ownership, and are always equity-free.

Who can apply?

  • Currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate Rice University students.

  • Any major or discipline is welcome to apply.

  • For profit and non-profit ventures are equally welcome, as are ideas of all kinds. There is no such thing as too early or too crazy for RXF.

  • Students can apply individually or as part of a team. There is no limit to the size of your team.

  • All applying individuals and team members must be in good academic standing.

What are some examples that RXF could support?

  • Conducting customer development interviews to gather data about the problem space.

  • Running small ad campaigns to test conversion rates of multiple customer acquisition channels.

  • Setting up a Shopify or other e-commerce implementation to gather customer feedback on a minimum viable product (MVP).

  • Buy materials to set up a pop-up store to gather customer feedback on product offerings.

If you have other ideas, needs, or are unsure if you qualify, please reach out to the RXF Manager, Tony Cordova (tony.cordova@rice.edu) with any questions, or sign up for a meeting at the link at the bottom of the page!

What can you expect?

Step 1: Submit a simple application describing your venture and experiment plan or idea! 

Step 2: Schedule a one-on-one meeting with a member of the Lilie team to review your experiment plan, and talk through next steps.

Step 3: Once approved, you’ll receive the $100 funding to kickstart your experiment!

Step 4: Return to LILIE to get feedback on your experiment and results!

Step 5: (Optional) Launchpad Opportunity! If you want to continue your entrepreneurial journey and explore further opportunities, you can choose to apply to Launchpad, which provides a platform for mentorship, community, and venture acceleration. You’ll then become eligible for additional funding through your participation in Launchpad.