The Spring 2025 Cohort Application closed Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CT.

Program Learning Objectives:

While studying potential customers, improving their product, establishing product-market fit, and positioning their product for success within the marketplace, founders develop skills in:

• Identifying ways in which a product or service adds value to the market.
• Researching proposed customers and why they buy.
• Designing tests to validate assumptions regarding the applicability of a product or service to the market.
• Using Minimum Viable Products to inform a startup’s path to launch.
• Articulating the story behind a startup concept, including demonstrating for potential investors and customers the need for a proposed service or product and its ability to add value.

The Program Provides:

– Weekly seminars led by program staff, community partners, and University faculty.

– A Student Assistant, hired to work with each founder for 5 hours/week to provide support on conducting market research or technical needs.

– An expert Business Mentor, providing founders with the benefits of their experience as entrepreneurs and innovators.

– $1,000 in grant funding, towards founding costs, market research, or product enhancements.

– Competitive funding to advance their startup at the end of the program.

Admission to the Forty Acres Founders Program is based on:

– Problem: Is there a legitimate pain point and market need for the problem the founder/ team is trying to solve?

– Solution: Does the solution address the problem? How innovative is the method for addressing the stated problem?

– Stage of Development: Is the applicant at a stage of development that will benefit from the program’s curriculum?

– Support Needs: Are the applicant’s support needs aligned with the program’s learning objectives?

Note: Undergraduate students can elect to enroll in MAN 337 (Forty Acres Founders Practicum) to earn 3 credit hours of coursework upon completion of the Forty Acres Founders Program. Graduate students can elect to receive credit as an independent study. There would be additional requirements for students to complete in order to obtain course credit, including writing a paper at the end of the program outlining the student’s experience and lessons learned. Course is approved to contribute toward McCombs Practicum course requirement.

DISCLAIMER: Financial awards will be paid to an individual student, not the startup listed in the application and will be awarded for the Spring/Summer 2025 semester. An increase in resources, including a financial award as a result of participation in the Forty Acres Founders Program, may result in a reduction or cancellation of financial aid funds or a requirement to repay awards already released to me. Finally, Financial awards may be used to pay outstanding payments owed to the university. If you receive financial aid or owe money to the university, you should reach out to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships or Students Accounts Receivable to determine how winning a cash award through the Forty Acres Founders Pitch Competition would impact money owed to UT or my financial aid status.– 

We are not currently accepting applications for Student Assistant roles. Please check back in Fall 2025 for information on applying for Spring 2026. 

Overview

The Forty Acres Founders Program offers student entrepreneurs across UT Austin to spend the semester vetting their ideas and developing products/services that fill a validated market need. The Student Assistant roles are paid positions that earn $20/hour to work alongside founders to provide support as they develop their ideas. There are two types of student assistant roles, Business Assistants and Technical Assistants, offering opportunities for students from a variety of backgrounds to apply!

The Program hires for two different types of Student Assistant roles: Business Assistants and Technical Assistants:

As a Business Assistant, you will gain experience in the process of determining product-market fit for a startup idea/service/product by supporting founders as they test the viability of their startup by conducting research related to market validation and customer discovery. 

Responsibilities

– Work up to 10 hours a week with assigned program participants

– Meet regularly with founder, either in person or remotely, based on scheduled availability

– Manage the relationship with participants and support them by utilizing program resources

– Co-develop go-to-market strategies or prototypes with student founders

Qualifications

– Must be enrolled as a full-time, in-residence undergraduate or graduate student at UT Austin for the Spring 2025 semester

– Proven organizational skills and strong interpersonal skills

– A desire to work with students to build their entrepreneurial ventures

– Previous experiences with Entrepreneurship, Product Development/Management, Consulting, or other related fields preferred

– Other experience/skills as relevant to specific position responsibilities

– Graduate students enrolled in Option II or Option III programs are not eligible to apply. Some examples of these programs include, Executive MBA, Evening MBA, MSTC, and the MS programs in McCombs School of Business, among others.

– The Student Business Assistant positions are not eligible for work-study.

Overview

The role of the mentor is to provide guidance to undergraduate and graduate founders as they work to discern if a valid market need exists for their startup idea/product/service. Mentor meetings can occur in person or remotely and will be scheduled based on the availability of the founder and the mentor.

Responsibilities

– Commit to supporting 1-2 founders for 10 weeks

– Provide 30 minutes to one hour each week to each founder (2 hour total maximum each week)

– Provide feedback and guidance to assigned founders in areas related to testing product-market fit

Criteria

– Experience with customer discovery process

– Previous involvement with product management/product launch

– Experience gaining and implement market feedback

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the program here. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Contact us at hkec@utexas.edu.

What different topic areas will the program cover?

Through participation in the Forty Acres Founders Program, students will develop a better understanding regarding the importance of:

• Identifying ways in which a product or service adds value to the market.
• Knowing who the startup’s proposed customers are, why they buy, and ways to encourage their adoption of a new product or service.
• Designing tests to validate/invalidate previously generated hypotheses regarding a product or service’s applicability to the market.
• The role of a Minimum Viable Product in informing the startup’s path to launch.
• Highlight story of startup concept, including demonstrating for potential investors and customers need for product or service and its ability to add value to customers.

What are some examples of the ways Student Assistants may support Founders?

Some examples of tasks Student Assistants completed previously, include:

• Conducting market and competitor research
• Assisting with creation of semester work plan
• Attending customer discovery and validation interviews
• Drafting/Reviewing customer interview questions
• Analyzing collected data to assist in determining next steps
• Assisting with pitch creation and submission
• Creating and providing feedback on surveys or other tools created by founders
• Developing technical aspects of founder’s Minimum Viable Product

I have a co-founder. Can they participate?

No. Only one founder is able to apply and participate in the program, including attending seminars and pitching at the end of semester competition. However, your co-founder or team members can help you execute your identified customer discovery strategy.

My startup concept is past the idea stage, am I still eligible to apply to the program?

Yes! However, all founders participating in the program, regardless of the stage they classify their concept in at the beginning of the program, will be required to complete the steps related to customer discovery. For those products or services that are beyond the idea stage, completed this process can identify possible weaknesses early, allowing founders to address areas of improvement prior to launch.

How are finalists for pitches at the end of the semester determined?

Founders wishing to be considered for participation in the final pitch competition will be required to submit a preliminary pitch application. Preliminary pitches will be judged based on the founder’s ability to support the assertion that the problem they are solving is a true pain point in the market and that the solution they have identified adds value to customers. Participation in program and attendance at seminars will also be considered when choosing finalists for the pitch competition.