Activating Student Potential at DePaul University
DePaul University partnered with the Founder Institute to launch a campus-based startup accelerator that gave students the structure, mentorship, and tools to turn ideas into ventures.
The Challenge
DePaul’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center sought to empower students to pursue entrepreneurship in a structured, low-risk environment. As Assistant Director Abigail Ingram shared, “accelerator programs allow students to explore an idea while they have a safety net.”
However, the university needed a proven operator that could deliver a process-driven accelerator model and bring in experienced mentors to ensure high-quality support and real-world outcomes.
The Solution: DePaul–FI Student Accelerator
To align with DePaul’s goals, the Founder Institute first launched a short pilot program in Fall 2017. Following its success, the partners rolled out a full, 4-month accelerator program in early 2018 designed to help students ideate, validate, and launch ventures.
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1Pilot Accelerator Program
DePaul and FI launched a six-session pre-program during Fall 2017 to test curriculum compatibility and student engagement. This allowed both institutions to gather feedback, validate program interest, and fine-tune the structure before committing to a full accelerator cohort.
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2Four-Month Evening Accelerator
In Spring 2018, DePaul hosted a part-time, weekly evening accelerator on campus. Spanning 14 sessions over four months, the program guided students through ideation, validation, team building, and pitching—while aligning with academic schedules.
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3Entrepreneur DNA Assessment
All applicants took FI’s proprietary Entrepreneur DNA Assessment, a psychographic tool used to identify individuals with high entrepreneurial aptitude. This ensured that admitted participants were not only passionate but also statistically more likely to succeed.
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4Global Mentorship
FI recruited 51 seasoned mentors from its international network—including entrepreneurs and investors from Chicago, Silicon Valley, DC, San Diego, and Singapore—who provided actionable feedback, insights, and encouragement throughout the program.
Key Takeaways
The following highlights reflect the program’s ability to turn student potential into tangible entrepreneurial outcomes through structured support and expert guidance.
Results
The FI–DePaul collaboration yielded measurable outcomes in student engagement, mentorship access, and startup creation.
What's Next
Building on the success of this initiative, the DePaul–Founder Institute collaboration aims to:
- Inform future student entrepreneurship programs with a scalable accelerator framework
- Expand the use of structured mentorship and entrepreneurial assessments in academic environments
- Inspire additional university partnerships focused on activating early-stage founders through proven methodologies
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Coleman Entrepreneurship Center -
Coleman Entrepreneurship Center -
FI's Global Network
- 150+
- Students Applied
- 54
- High-Potential Participants Selected
- 25+
- Student Ventures Launched
- 51
- Experienced FI Mentors Engaged
- 1st
- Place at Campus1871 Pitch Competition
The entrepreneurship ecosystem at DePaul is very diverse, so we’re letting the students build whatever business they want to build. They also have to be prepared every week to present to mentors so that by the time they’re done with the program, if they want to present to other stakeholders or a board, potential hires, co-founders, or investors, they get really good and comfortable to present their business.
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More About Founder Institute
The Founder Institute (FI.co) is the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, we have helped tens of thousands of employees and new/ idea-stage entrepreneurs validate, test, and launch startups worth an estimated $30BN+. Our mission is to activate and empower talented and motivated entrepreneurs to build meaningful technology businesses worldwide
The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, our AI-native company-building programs have helped over 9,000 entrepreneurs raise over 2BN in funding. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 100 countries, our mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.
