The Venture Sprint
A part-time test of whether entrepreneurship and its challenges are for you.
The Venture Sprint is a part-time on-ramp for Venture Scientists, built for people who are testing their appetite for entrepreneurship. No venture idea, team, or business background required.
Across four sprints, you'll test a problem, its solution, how to secure real commitment from target users , and pitch about your journey through these steps. This is not a business-building program, you can't build a company in a few weeks. It's a forcing function: a structured, low-stakes way to find out if you underrate your own startup ability, before transitioning to becoming an entrepreneur.
Who Should Join?
Venture Sprint is open to anyone close to academia. It is not limited to any credential stage:
- Current grad students and postdocs (with precedence given to Mila applicants)
- Anyone up to 5 years from leaving academia, regardless of what you've done since
We assess whether you're genuinely passionate about a problem space. At Mila Ventures we empower Venture Scientists, who use domain expertise as an edge. This also means they can't pivot as freely as a generalist founder.
If you're technical and curious whether building a company is for you, this is your sign to begin testing your options in venture building.
This program is offered in two formats. In person from Mila’s coworking space or remotely. Both tracks offer identical content and cadence.
Program Dates
Next Session starting October 13 to December 4, 2026
Program Calendar
An informal Demo Day closes the program on December 4, 2026 to a VC audience.This will give you exposure to the full cycle of activities, from incubating and testing an idea to getting in front of those who fund it.
- Problem interviews: structured discovery to test if the problem is worth pursuing
- Solution interviews: test a proposed solution against prospective users
- Securing commitment: Letters of intent, pre-orders, pilot interest. Gather evidence if someone would pay or adopt this solution
- Pitch prep: build and rehearse a Demo Day pitch
- Weekly rhythm: average of 4 hours synchronous + 4 hours independent work, with a weekly outreach target to keep the momentum up between sessions. Each sprint includes a content or skills session and an external founder guest session, plus a progress-and-accountability check before the next sprint begins.
- Office hours: Two facilitators are available to the cohort, they hold office hours in 30-minute blocks.
300+
Venture scientists trained
Helping graduates transition to the business world successfully.
$80M+
Funding raised
From top tier VCs and local angels.
60+
Startups helped in the last year
Mila Ventures has supported the growth of startups within Mila's ecosystem.
" Not every strong researcher is meant to be a founder and not every founder person knows it yet. Venture Sprint exists to close that gap, fast and cheaply, before someone bets a career transition on an untested assumption. Come reveal your founder potential! "
Jonathan Guillemette PhD, Venture Scientist Lead
FAQ
What is the goal of Venture Sprint?
To give technical, research-trained people a structured, low-stakes way to test whether they want to do the non-research driven work of founding a company.
The goal is to discern whether what they're building corresponds to market signals. The program is built by people who made the jump from STEM PhD to startup founder, they have first-hand knowledge of what academics struggle with in their entrepreneurial journey.
When does the program start and what's the time commitment?
The next English cohort starts October 13 to December 4, 2026. The commitment is approximately 1 day per week, consisting of 4 synchronous hours and the remainder completed asynchronously.
What is the typical schedule?
Each two-week sprint runs a content session and a guest founder session in week one, followed by a working session and progress check in week two.
Do I need an idea or a team before applying?
No idea, team, or business background required. Much of what you will do is discovered through the sprints and the process we’ve established.
Is the program in-person or remote?
Both. While there are distinct benefits of in-person entrepreneurial community contact, we offer both modalities to reach a wider range of profiles. Choose a track that works for you. Content and cadence are identical; the sprint-close sessions differ in format.
Will this help me build my company?
It will help you find out if your idea, or you, can survive the first stages of building a company. The program forces participants to speak to users, which is the single most common failure point for technical founders. It is better to eliminate ideas that do not solve the problem up front through the structured format of sprints.
Can international participants apply?
Yes.
What happens after the Venture Sprint?
Many paths are available post-sprint. You may graduate into the next step of Mila Venture’s program offerings: The Venture Scientist Bootcamp or the Accelerator. You may join the co-founder pool for other Mila Ventures startups and build with them. Or you may return to academia with real clarity on whether you like entrepreneurship or not.