Rice eXperiment Fund Grant

THE HIGHLIGHTS

• RXF helps to remove financial barriers for early-stage undergraduate and graduate student makers, creators and future founders.
• Recipient(s) may be awarded up to $100 per semester 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 RXF Program Manager Patrick Ray at PBR2@rice.edu with any questions.

What to expect:

Step 1: The student submits a simple application form describing their venture and experiment plan outlining the intended use of the funding. 

Step 2: Student schedules a one-on-one meeting with a member of the Lilie team to review their experiment plan.

Step 3: Once approved, the student receives the $100 funding to kickstart their experiment. Ongoing mentoring and support are available but not required.

Step 4: (Optional) Student can meet to review their results with the Lilie team upon completion of their experiment.

Step 5: (Optional) Launchpad Opportunity! If the student wishes to continue their entrepreneurial journey and explore further opportunities, they can choose to apply to Launchpad, which provides a platform for mentorship, community, self-paced learnings and experimentation. The student becomes eligible for an additional funding through their participation in Launchpad.