eLab Applications
Secure your spot with some of the brightest and most driven students in the nation
Applications are now open for 2025-26. Stay tuned to meet the cohort!
eLab is a credit-bearing student startup accelerator at Cornell University that launches several real businesses each year. You and your team will develop your business plan, speak with potential customers, pitch to investors, develop a minimum viable product, and prepare for launch.
Juniors, seniors, graduate students, and PhD candidates are invited to apply.
Attend an upcoming information session to learn more about the program 🖇️
Structure
- Interviews will take place during the first weeks of the fall semester and consist of a 5-minute presentation and 10-minutes of Q & A with the instructor team.
- All teams will be paired with an advisory board consisting of investors, eLab alumni, and instructors.
- Fall Semester, teams enroll in NBA 6230 – Actualizing your Startup I, a 1.5-credit course consisting of bootcamps, customer discovery report outs, mentor meetings, and a pitch event in NYC.
- In December, teams are re-evaluated on progress made throughout the fall semester and 12 teams are invited to continue into the spring semester.
- Spring Semester, teams enroll in NBA 6330 – Actualizing your Startup II, a 3-credit course consisting of weekly lectures, bootcamps, instructor office hours, mentor meetings, and pitch at Demo Day.
Prerequisites
Competitive applicants will have completed one of the following prerequisites or positioned to complete the requirement concurrently during the fall semester:
- NBA 3000 – The Business of Entrepreneurship (undergraduate)
- NBA 5640 – The Business of Entrepreneurship (graduate)
- NBA 5070 – Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers
- AEM 3249 – Entrepreneurial Marketing and Strategy
- MGMT 5640 – Entrepreneurship
- NSF I-Corps Regional Course
What should I do after I apply?
Take an entrepreneurship class
If you are interested in founding a startup but have not yet taken an entrepreneurship class, take one of the many entrepreneurship courses offered on campus as soon as possible to prepare for applying to eLab.
Read our Preparing for eLab page
On the Preparing for eLab page, you will find a few resources to help you refine your concepts, strengthen your team, and improve your own entrepreneurial skill set.