Summer Venture Studio is the capstone entrepreneurial experience for students at Rice University
We believe we can unlock students’ limitless potential to solve meaningful problems with world-changing solutions under the right conditions.
Through the unique combination of doing, learning, and learning by doing, students have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on their ventures while cross-pollinating with other student founders working on entirely different problems and solutions, giving them the opportunity to network, challenge conventional thinking, invite and embrace diverse ideas.
Students accepted into the program will have the opportunity to receive equity-free funding and support from mentors, VCs, and other experts that will support their personal and venture growth. By working on their venture full-time for the summer, SVS venture teams will have the opportunity to escape velocity and accelerate from campus to the community.
Lilie has proven to be the place that has created the right conditions to bring the best out of students, and they are often surprised by what they accomplish in such short periods.
Who is it for?
The Summer Venture Studio (SVS) is open to founders from all majors, degree programs, and years of graduation, as well as students graduating the May before the program begins. We are industry and technology agnostic, as well as business structure – so whether you’re a hard tech startup looking to raise venture capital, a bootstrapped software company, or a non-profit social impact venture, the Lilie SVS has what you need to level up your founder IQ and go from prototype to production.
*If your program requires you to have a summer internship for financial aid purposes, Lilie will work with you to provide financial aid for you to meet your income requirements.
What is the program like?
The program’s goal is to give our founders an unfair advantage in the market by focusing on what matters versus the things that matter the least. Examples of things that matter: Talking to your customers and truly understanding their needs. Things that matter the least: Trying to raise venture capital with no real problem defined and early signs of customers wanting to purchase the product or service. We can’t tell you what the problem you are solving is and what solution to build because we are not your ideal customer, but we can guide you through what mistakes not to make.
From May to August, student teams have dedicated co-working space in the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship on the Rice campus. This is their opportunity to work full-time on their ventures for the entire summer and make tangible progress.
SVS will be held as an in-person program this year, so teams will be required to spend their summer in Houston (but it’s ok – we have good air conditioning and cold drinks!)
Founders will work on defining their target market and diving deep into the heads of their potential customers and users. Next, our founders will lay the groundwork for building products that customers want by validating their assumptions around what problem they are best suited to solve, for whom, and how that problem needs to be solved. Finally, we round out the Market and Product focus weeks with time dedicated to developing a well-rounded team that can thrive in the high-velocity environment of a high-growth startup.
Sample Activities
- In-person founder retreats
- Accountability sessions
- Weekly meetups and socials
- Founder 1:1s
- Daily office hours
- Workshops
- Pitch practices
- Mentorship sessions
- Founder round tables
Requirements to Apply
- Program takes place from Mid May to Early August
- One application per team, completed by the lead team member.
- The lead team member must be a current Rice student.
- A maximum of 5 members per team. You may apply as a solo founder.
- Additional team members do not need to be Rice-affiliated.
Applications for 2023 are now closed.
