“I came in with no experience, and I left with an understanding of how to build a venture and a newfound passion for entrepreneurship.”
Build your startup at Brown
Innovation Dojo is Brown’s startup incubator, bringing together ambitious students to turn bold ideas into real ventures. Over the semester, students form teams, learn from experienced founders and mentors, and build their businesses from the ground up, culminating in a final pitch to a panel of judges for funding to take their venture further.
Learn by doing
Throughout the semester, teams are guided through the key steps in building a startup. Participants don’t just learn what goes into making a startup: they experience what it’s like to build a company from scratch.
- Finding the right startup ideas
- Talking to customers
- Iterating on ideas
- Designing a business model
- Building a product
- Developing a go-to-market strategy
- Crafting a compelling pitch
- Learning how to communicate effectively
One-on-one mentorship
Each team receives hands-on mentorship from Dojo Mentors: former participants who return to help lead the program and guide the next generation of founders. Mentors guide teams through refining their product, perfecting their elevator pitches, and all the other key steps of building a venture.
Elite guest speakers
An ongoing guest speaker series puts students in the room with leading founders, operators and investors. Past speakers have included founders of Sequoia-backed startups and executives from Fortune 500 companies.
Students don’t just listen to the speakers. Our small cohorts give participants the unique opportunity to interact directly with the speakers, ask for feedback on their ideas, and keep in touch after the program ends.
Hear from those who've done it
Two linked rows of alumni testimonials and past ventures move slowly across the page. Hover over either row to pause both. Scroll sideways, use the arrow keys, or click and drag either row to move both through the repeating ribbon.
Magistri · Fall 2025
Helping teachers spend more time on what matters
An AI platform designed to relieve the heaviest part of a teacher’s workload—grading—and equip students with the feedback they need to actually improve.
“Dojo didn’t just teach me entrepreneurship. It really taught me how to think.”
Round 1 · Fall 2024
Not just what you say, but how you say it
A behavioral interview tool that uses the latest developments in Machine Learning and Psychology to give students feedback on the soft skills of interviewing: intonation, eye contact, pitch, and more.
“Having the chance to not just hear the speakers talk but also interact with them one-on-one and get feedback on our ventures was invaluable.”
Swop · Fall 2025
A marketplace of trust
A community-based online marketplace where college students can purchase or trade clothing items and try them on in-person.
“Having a mentor to guide you one-on-one really enhanced the overall learning experience. It’s one thing to learn about ideas but to apply them and get feedback directly is really important.”
Cowless · Spring 2024
It’s basically free
Plant-based milk made extremely affordable using on-carton advertisements.
FAQs
Do I need to already have a startup idea?
No! A big part of Dojo is learning what makes good startup ideas. We teach you how to identify and understand the right kind of problems whose solutions lead to great venture ideas.
How does team formation work?
You apply to Dojo as an individual. Early in the program, participants share their interests, skills, and potential ideas, then form 4-person teams to build out their ventures. We facilitate a number of events in the first few weeks for the cohort to get to know each other before committing to team formation. Throughout, mentors are there to assist participants through the process.
Do I need any entrepreneurship or technical experience?
Not at all. Throughout its history, Dojo has successfully welcomed both newcomers to entrepreneurship and highly experienced technical builders. The program is designed to be open to anyone regardless of background. We truly encourage all those interested to apply.
What is the weekly time commitment?
Participants commit to attending our weekly 2.5 hour meetings, which includes time for working on your venture, workshops, guest speakers, and interacting with other teams. As the semester continues and Demo Day approaches, teams may find they need to meet outside of this allocated time as well.
Who can apply?
Dojo is open to all interested first and second year Brown/RISD students, regardless of background.
Ready to build something?
Open by application. No experience required.
