Strengthen your Startup

Forty Acres Founders

FORTY ACRES FOUNDERS
PRE-ACCELERATOR PROGRAM

Research shows that a key factor in startup failure is a lack of understanding of product-market fit.

The Forty Acres Founders Program at the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center offers undergraduate and graduate student founders the opportunity to study potential customers, improve their product, establish product-market fit, and position their product for success within the marketplace.

Students will learn to vet their ideas, develop skills for researching and understanding customer needs, and develop tools for building a product/service that appropriately fits a market need.

Spring 2025 Cohort Applications are scheduled to close on Friday, November 1st, 2024 at 11:59 PM CT.

FORTY ACRES
FOUNDERS PROGRAM

Research shows that a key factor in startup failure is a lack of understanding of product-market fit.

The Forty Acres Founders Program at the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center offers undergraduate and graduate student founders the opportunity to study potential customers, improve their product, establish product-market fit, and position their product for success within the marketplace.

Students will learn to vet their ideas, develop skills for researching and understanding customer needs, and develop tools for building a product/service that appropriately fits a market need.

Spring 2025 Cohort Applications are scheduled to close on Friday, November 1st, 2024 at 11:059 PM CT.

Program Overview

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Non-business
Majors
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Women
Founders
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First-Generation
Students
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GPA
Average
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"The overarching goal of the Forty Acres Founders Program is to put the arms of the University of Texas at Austin around our founders to help them start their businesses on a very strong footing."

LUIS MARTINS
DIRECTOR

"The overarching goal of the Forty Acres Founders Program is to put the arms of the University of Texas at Austin around our founders to help them start their businesses on a very strong footing."

LUIS MARTINS
DIRECTOR

Play Video

Program Overview

0%
Non-business
Majors
0%
Women
Founders
0%
First-Generation
Students
0
GPA
Average

2025 Cohort Application Rule Book

Program Roles

The Spring 2025 Cohort Application will open Monday September 30, 2024 at 8 a.m. CT and closes Friday, November 1, 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. 

Overview

The Forty Acres Founders Program is a unique opportunity for students to interact with undergraduate and graduate startup founders. 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. 

As a Technical Assistant, you will gain insight into the prototyping process while founders work to develop and refine their Minimum Viable Product. Technical Assistants are hired for the specific needs of the admitted cohort members, and responsibilities range from UX design, backend and full-stack development, and physical prototyping. 

 

Responsibilities

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

– Periodically attend formal check-in sessions with participants and advisors

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

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

– Assist with the development of the demo day pitch deck and refinement of presentation

 

Qualifications

– Must be currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate student (taking at least 9 hours)

– Proven organizational skills and strong interpersonal skills

– Excellent written and oral communication 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

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.

 

Program Cycle

HYPOTHESIZE
Identify a problem that is worth
solving
HYPOTHESIZE
DESIGN
Define your customer and develop a discovery strategy
DESIGN
INTERVIEW
Get out of the classroom and meet your market
INTERVIEW
ANALYZE
Evaluate your findings
ANALYZE
TEST
Validate product/market fit
TEST
PITCH
Prepare your idea to become a venture
PITCH

Get to Know the Program's Alumni

Each 20-strong Cohort of the Forty Acres Founders Program, spends a semester rigorously establishing if a market need existed for their product or service. Some continue their projects with FAF-gained tools and funding, while others are use their entrepreneurial skillsets to develop new ideas.

Our founders have represented colleges across the university, including the McCombs School of Business, Moody College of Communication, Cockrell School of Engineering, and the College of Liberal Arts.

Forty Acres Founders Pitch Competition

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Recap Rewind: Forty Acres Founders Pitch Competition Finals 2023

On Thursday, April 20th, 2023, four students of The University of Texas at Austin took the stage to pitch their startups to an elite panel of judges to compete for funding from the collective $20,000 prize pool. Each of the students is a participating member of the 4th annual Forty Acres Founders Program cohort, an application-based program of up to 20 students provided by the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center, within the McCombs School of Business.

The program is supported by the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center and six Forty Acres Founders Endowed Excellence Funds; endowed by Brian Cruver, Gwen and Frank Gordon, Stephen Maeker, Thomas and Libby Mathai, Jay Steinfeld, and Michael Tucci and family.

This semester-long program educates student founders on the skills needed to vet an idea, understand market demand, and
develop a product that addresses validated market needs. Students participating in the program have the opportunity to study potential customers, improve their product, establish product-market fit, and position their product for success within the marketplace. Each student is paired with a graduate assistant as well as a business mentor, and is provided with $1,000 in funding.

One of the program’s many goals is for students to leave with a deep understanding of entrepreneurial frameworks and how to apply those skills in real-world endeavors. Throughout the semester, students learn to articulate the story behind their startups and demonstrate for potential investors and customers the need for a proposed service or product and its ability to add value to customers. By establishing a resilient product-market fit, students leave the program with vetted protection against one of the most common reasons startups fail.

This year’s pitch competition, the first of its kind to be open to the public for attendance, was deliberated by a prominent judge’s panel consisting of Carol Frank, Managing Director of BirdsEye Advisory Group; Billy Freed, Principal of Nueces Marketing Partners and serial entrepreneur; and Xan Myburgh, Co-Founder and CEO of Backd Business Fund.

On the judges panel was Billy Freed, McCombs BBA ’81, who recently gifted $1M to the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center. The gift establishes the Freed Family Entrepreneurship Excellence Fund and endows the Freed Family Pitch Competition, previously known as DisrupTexas. Billy’s wife Cheryl, BA ’82, JD ’84; sons Tyler, BS ’17, and Russell, BBA ’21; and daughter-in-law Leslie (Lugrin) Freed, BS ’17, took part in this gift.

First to pitch their concept was Vedant Nair with Clips AI, which uses machine learning to automatically create social media clips from podcasts. This helps marketing teams save time and ensures that they’re selecting their best content.

Next, Paulina Ganem Chee and Alyssa Le represented Locket, a menstrual and sexual health education platform for young adults by young adults. With easy-to-understand, medically-approved content and 1-on-1 support services, Locket is the modern health encyclopedia where menstruators can get their questions answered quickly.

Next up to pitch their startup was Elliot Zak with MealBuddy, an application that helps families and individuals improve their nutrition by ordering healthy groceries for delivery to cook USDA-approved recipes while tracking their dietary goals.

Lastly, Chinmay Pingale and Jackson Glunk pitched their startup, Sprout Food Solutions, which helps restaurant owners optimize and automate the ingredient purchasing process using time series forecasting enabled by PoS data.

Following the four finalists’ pitches, the hard work of the rest of the cohort was shown off during an honorable mention segment where two minute pitch videos were shown for each of the remaining startups. During this time, audience members got the chance to vote for their favorite concept to receive a $1,000 People’s Choice Award. This title and money was earned by Anjali Bathra Ravikumar with her concept, SPOT, a platform created to promote menstrual equity by helping women and non-binary individuals find free period supplies in public restrooms.

After the deliberation period, Dr. Luis Martins, Director of HKEC, spoke briefly about the Forty Acres Founders program before revealing the judges decisions. Dr. Martins extended a heartfelt thank you to all donors, mentors, judges, and graduate assistants who helped make the program such a valuable asset for student founders navigating the startup landscape.

It was then announced that after careful consideration, Chinmay Pingale and Jackson Glunk with Sprout Food Solutions would take home the 1st place title with $10,000, Vendant Nair with Clips AI coming in 2nd place with $5,000, Alyssa Le and Paulina Ganem Chee with Locket placed 3rd with $3,000 and Elliot Zak with with MealBuddy ranked 4th place, earning $2,000.

When each of the finalists were asked what stood out to them about their experience in the Forty Acres Founders Program, the founders’ answers ranged from the relationships they were able to form with their mentors, to advice from Dr. Martins, who led the program this semester, to the impactful guest speakers.

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2023 Graduate Assistant Applications will open on Nov 7, 2022 at 8:00am.

Graduate Assistant Applications are now open. Priority deadline: Sunday, Nov 25, 2022

Forty Acres Founders Community

2021-2022 Corporate Sponsor

Bank of America 2020 Enterprise Stacked Primary Color
Bank of America + Herb Kelleher Center for Entreprneurship

The Forty Acres Founders Pre-Accelerator Program is sponsored by the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center in partnership with Bank of America.

Upcoming Info Sessions

In-Person Sessions

Wednesday, September 28 | 12:00pm

Thursday, October 6 | 9:30am


Virtual Sessions

Monday, October 3 | 10:00am

Tuesday, October 11 | 6:30pm

Friday, October 14 | 12:00pm

Program Overview

0%
Non-business
Majors
0%
Women
Founders
0%
First-Generation
Students
0
GPA
Average