ProgramHow it worksDemo Day Apply as a founderBecome a mentor Investor accessHire from the cohortAbout
The program

Eight weeks. Two mentors. One Demo Day.

Batch Zero is structured like a real accelerator, scaled to fit around school. Here's exactly what happens from the day you're selected to the day you pitch.

Week by week

The timeline

WK 01OnboardingGoal-setting, cohort kickoff, mentor matching (one domain expert, one generalist).
WK 02Customer truthTalk to users. Re-write the problem statement with evidence, not opinion.
WK 03Product focusCut scope. Pick the one metric that matters for the next six weeks.
WK 04DistributionHow people find you. First growth experiments with a mentor watching.
WK 05MoneyPricing, unit economics, what "traction" means for your kind of company.
WK 06Mid-cohort reviewPresent progress to the other four teams and the mentor pool. Honest feedback.
WK 07StoryDeck, narrative, demo. Rehearsals with judges from previous cohorts.
WK 08Demo DayLive online pitch, in-app judging, results, prize, investor and company intros.
What you get

Inside the batch

//mentors

Two mentors, matched

One who knows your domain, one who has built a company. Weekly sessions on the platform, plus async access in between.

//cohort

Four other teams

Biweekly cohort calls. The other founders are the part everyone says they didn't expect to matter most.

//tracker

Milestones in-app

Weekly goals, check-ins and a visible progress log. Mentors and judges see the same tracker you do.

//office hours

Guest experts

Lawyers, designers, growth people, and alumni founders on a rotating schedule. Ask anything.

//demo day

A real audience

Investors on the subscription tier and companies on the hiring tier attend live. Intros are requested through the app afterward.

//alumni

Alumni status

A permanent profile, the recording, written judge feedback, and first access to every future Demo Day.

Selection

How applications are scored

Same rubric for every team, published up front. Reviewers score independently; the top five averages get in.

application_rubric / v1max 50
Problem & insight/ 10
Traction (users, revenue, usage)/ 10
Team/ 10
Coachability/ 10
Ambition/ 10
● publishedselected top 5 / cohort
Cohort 01

Five spots. Applications close October 31.