| Programs | IdeasLab Student Acceleration Program

IdeasLab Student Acceleration Program

🚀 Registration for the new IdeasLab Batch 7 is open!

Looking for an opportunity to develop your idea? The IdeasLab program is waiting for you! If you are ambitious and want to implement a startup – don’t miss your chance! 🥳

In addition to the opportunity to receive 200,000 UAH, the program will provide an opportunity to work with powerful speakers/mentors/lecturers with unique experience in Angel One, Grammarly, 6037 Venture, SoftServe, LvBS, AiSDR, UNICEF, EVERELGAL, The Gradient, QubStudio, Tickets.ua, HubSpot, Harmix, Medallion, as well as lecturers from the University of Notre Dame in the USA.

Our top bonuses:

🌟 A unique secret prize awaits the winners of the program from the IDEA Center of the University of Notre Dame in the USA

🌟 Rare access to services and discounts from our partners

🌟 The opportunity to build long-term connections with a community of motivated students

🌟 A base of warm contacts with successful entrepreneurs

We have already helped over 130 graduates and 70 teams, financing projects worth over 100,000 USD 💸

Registration

Program Start:

March 10, 2025

Duration:

11 weeks

Deadline:

March 02, 23:59

Interviews:

March 03 – March 07

Format:

Hybrid

About the Program

What is the IdeasLab Acceleration?

🔹It is an 11-week program for student teams from any HEI in Ukraine who have an innovative idea, want to test it for viability and turn it into an actual viable product. The hybrid format of the program allows participants, both online and offline get the same experience.

🔹 The program is based on a unique combination of two approaches – the use of practical material to develop ideas (Learn-by-Doing) and learning from own research and discoveries (Learning-by Discovering).

🔹Furthermore, it is the only acceleration program in Ukraine that provides student teams not only with knowledge, and space to work but also grants of up to 200,000 UAH at the stage of the idea validation.

Objectives

🔹 Student-oriented

Give students an opportunity to try themselves in the role of entrepreneurs, receive the necessary tools to turn their ideas into viable products, as well as find like-minded people and develop entrepreneurial skills and competencies.

🔹 Global

To promote the emergence of serial entrepreneurs from students of different fields through training and nurturing a global entrepreneurial mindset. As a result, to increase the growth of global startups with Ukrainian roots and accelerate their development in the early stages.

Program Structure

The program consists of three stages:

I. Initial Market Validation (3 weeks)

The stage focuses on defining the problem/need hypotheses, their scale, growth, and potential solution;
The transition to the second stage takes place through Pitch Day, where the jury selects up to 10 teams that receive ₴ 30,ooo 💸 for further idea validation;
Teams that do not qualify at this stage will not be able to continue participation in the program.

II. Customer Development (4 weeks)

Stage focuses on the validation of hypotheses, customer research, and value proposition definition.
All teams come to the UCU campus for a week-long Hackathon;
The transition to the third stage takes place through Pitch Day, where the jury selects up to 5 teams receiving ₴ 60,000 💸 each;
Teams that do not receive grants continue participating in the program and work on their startup, and if certain metrics are met will be able to participate in the final Pitch Day.

III. Marketing & Sales (4 weeks)

Stage of testing the value proposition and building a Go-to-market strategy;
The program ends with the third final offline Pitch Day at our campus, in which the jury selects up to 3 teams, receiving ₴110,000 💸 for further product development;
Teams that do not receive grants will continue to receive all necessary support and benefit from IdeasLab.

IV. Post-program

Exactly! After the end of the main program, we still encourage you to be a part of our community. So, what to expect?

Participation in the acceleration program of the University of Notre Dame, USA;
Support and access to individual workshops of our lecturers;
The opportunity to become an ambassador of the program and be involved in various events.

Contact persons: Maksym Zabrodin and Dmytro Omelian ✉
e-mail: zabrodin@ucu.edu.ua, dmytro.omelian@ucu.edu.ua

Who can participate

If you:

✔ Student of any university in Ukraine;

✔ You have/looking for a team with 5 people max;

✔ You have an idea for a startup;

✔ You have a goal and are ready to persistently go towards it;

✔ Ready for challenges.

🔵Students are considered to be persons enrolled in a higher education institution for the purpose of obtaining a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

How to get max out of the program?

Getting the maximum benefit from the ideasLab program requires some preparation and focus. Here are some tips to get the most out of your participation:

1. Be prepared for persistent hard work. The ideasLab program is intensive, and you will need to work independently and on modules to get the most out of it. This will be a pretty demanding part-time endeavor.

2. Be prepared to learn. You will learn a lot about yourself, your team, and the startup world during your time in ideasLab.

3. Be ready to collaborate. You will be surrounded by talented entrepreneurs and students during your time in ideasLab. Take the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with them.

4. Be prepared to receive and give feedback. You will receive a lot of feedback from lecturers, mentors, and other startups during your time in ideasLab, as well as provide your feedback to others. Be ready for this feedback and use it for improvement.

5. Be willing to take risks. ideasLab is a time to take risks and experiment. Don’t be afraid to try new things and step out of your comfort zone. We’ll help you with this 🙂

6. Find a developer for your team at the beginning, or you’ll have time to do this in the first stage. But this cannot be avoided, the presence of a prototype is one of the conditions for admission to the 2nd pitch day.

7. The importance of focus, curiosity, interactiveness, and even mistakes is hard to overestimate. In the program, you will receive constant support in these aspects from our experts. Be prepared for this!

8. Be ready to have fun! ideasLab is an incredible experience that will change your life. Enjoy every moment!

9. The program is designed for a hybrid format, but it is difficult to assess the coolness of offline program participation (at least in most workshops). We advise you to make sure:)

These tips will help you get the most benefit from the program and maximize your potential. Remember, we are just giving you resources, it’s up to you how much you want to take from it.

FAQ

🔵 How to get to the ideasLab acceleration program?

First of all, fill out the application. Without it, we won’t know that you have cool ideas that can change the world!
The second stage of selection is an interview for 20 minutes with each team.

🔵 What language is the program in?

Educational modules and workshops will be held in Ukrainian and English. Also, a significant part of the terminology is in English.

🔵 Do I have to pay for the program?

The program is intended for students and is free 💸.

🔵 Can I apply to the program without a team?

It is way more difficult to work without a team because the time will come and you will have to look for someone for support and help. That is why the program is focused on student teams. However, if now you feel that you want to implement your idea in life regardless of anything – of course, we will be glad to see your application and will definitely consider it!

🔵 If there is a member in my team who is not already a student?

ideasLab is a student program, so we focus on students.

🔵 Is it possible to apply if there are more than 4 team members?

Here, everything depends on the clear allocation of roles and the contribution of each member of the team. If there are more than 4 of you, but you work as a mechanism and everyone can answer the question “What is my role in the team?”, then we don’t mind either 🙂 You must understand that the whole team must be involved in the program!