Student Startup Accelerator Raises $2M to Fuel the Next Generation of College Founders
Two Stanford students have secured $2 million to launch Breakthrough Ventures, a first-of-its-kind accelerator designed exclusively for undergraduate and graduate student founders across the United States. The program offers up to $10,000 in grant funding, $50,000 in potential follow-on investment, compute credits, legal support, and mentorship—all built by students who recently navigated the same challenges. Applications for the inaugural nationwide cohort opened this week, signaling a major shift in how young entrepreneurs access capital and community during their academic years.
Credit: Breakthrough Ventures
Roman Scott and Itbaan Nafi founded Breakthrough after noticing a critical gap: talented student founders at universities outside elite tech hubs often lacked the networks and early-stage capital needed to transform classroom ideas into viable companies. What began as informal Demo Days on Stanford's campus in 2024 quickly evolved into a structured movement after participants launched successful ventures in AI, health tech, and sustainability. Now, backed by prominent venture firms and Stanford alumni investors, Breakthrough aims to support at least 100 student-led startups over the next three years.
Why Student Founders Built This Accelerator for Student Founders
What sets Breakthrough apart isn't just its funding—it's its DNA. Both Scott and Nafi are current or recent Stanford students who experienced firsthand the isolation many young founders face when balancing coursework, exams, and building a company. Scott completed his undergraduate degree in 2024 and earned his master's the following year. Nafi remains a master's candidate while leading the accelerator's vision.
"We've nailed the student-founder experience to a T," Nafi explained. "Students really feel like we get them, and that's because we are students."
This empathy shapes every aspect of the program. Instead of demanding founders drop out or take semesters off, Breakthrough operates on an academic calendar with hybrid participation options. Evening workshops accommodate class schedules. Mentorship comes from recent graduates who scaled startups while finishing degrees. Even the application process avoids jargon-heavy pitch decks in favor of concise problem statements that reflect how students actually think and communicate.
Closing the Capital Gap for Young Entrepreneurs
Historically, student founders have struggled to secure pre-seed funding. Traditional angel investors often prefer founders with industry experience or revenue traction—barriers nearly impossible for full-time students to clear. Breakthrough directly addresses this mismatch by offering non-dilutive grants up to $10,000, removing the pressure to give away equity before a product even exists.
The accelerator also partners with major technology providers to supply critical infrastructure. Participants receive cloud computing credits through Microsoft Azure and access to Nvidia's Inception program, giving AI-focused teams the GPU power typically reserved for well-funded startups. Legal support comes via vetted firms experienced in student IP agreements—a common pain point when university policies intersect with commercial ventures.
"At its core, Breakthrough's purpose is to fill the funding and opportunity gap that exists in many campus ecosystems," Scott said. "Students have historically lacked access to capital and the networks required to launch their entrepreneurial pursuits. We're changing that equation."
A Hybrid Model Designed for Real Student Lives
Unlike residential accelerators requiring relocation, Breakthrough embraces flexibility. The program blends virtual collaboration with strategic in-person gatherings hosted at venture capital firms in key cities like Boston, Austin, and Seattle. These regional meetups connect student teams with local investors and talent while minimizing travel costs and academic disruption.
The experience culminates in a flagship Demo Day held annually at Stanford—a neutral ground where founders from public universities, liberal arts colleges, and technical institutes present alongside Ivy League peers. Nafi emphasized that this intentional diversity mirrors the inclusive spirit of events like Stanford's Treehacks hackathon, where collaboration across institutional boundaries sparks unexpected innovation.
"We've brought together students from different American colleges who would never have met otherwise," Nafi noted. "That cross-pollination is where magic happens—when a biology major from a state school teams up with a computer science student from a private university to solve healthcare access."
Targeting Gen Z's Economic Anxiety With Entrepreneurship
Beyond funding, Breakthrough addresses a deeper cultural moment. Surveys show Gen Z carries significant anxiety about economic instability, student debt, and uncertain career paths. Rather than framing entrepreneurship as a luxury pursuit for the privileged, Scott and Nafi position it as a practical pathway to financial agency.
"We hope that by supporting young entrepreneurs, we're able to uplift as many stories as possible to inspire others worldwide," Nafi shared. "This isn't just about building unicorns. It's about empowering students to use the tools and knowledge around them to pursue entrepreneurship not only to change their communities but also gain economic stability for themselves and their families."
The accelerator actively recruits founders working on solutions in overlooked markets: rural broadband access, affordable mental health tools for teens, sustainable agriculture tech for family farms. These ventures reflect Gen Z's values-driven approach to business—where impact and income aren't mutually exclusive.
From Campus Experiment to National Movement
Breakthrough's rapid evolution—from student-organized Demo Days to a $2 million-backed national accelerator—demonstrates pent-up demand for founder-friendly resources during college years. Early traction came after several 2024 participants secured additional funding or gained admission to top-tier incubators, validating the model's effectiveness.
Raihan Ahmed, brought on last year to lead program operations, helped structure the curriculum around real pain points: navigating university IP policies, recruiting technical co-founders as a non-technical student, and managing investor conversations without prior fundraising experience. The team also built a private community platform where current and alumni founders share job opportunities, developer resources, and emotional support during tough pivots.
"This fundraise turns Breakthrough from just being a seasonal accelerator into a lifelong partnership with our founders," Nafi emphasized. That continuity matters—many student ventures gain real traction only after graduation, when founders can dedicate full-time attention. Breakthrough's pledge to remain engaged post-program addresses the "valley of death" between campus life and professional entrepreneurship.
How to Apply and What Founders Should Know
Applications for Breakthrough's first nationwide cohort are now open to current undergraduate and graduate students, as well as recent graduates within one year of degree completion. Teams must have at least one student founder actively enrolled in a U.S.-based institution. Solo founders and early-stage teams with prototypes are encouraged to apply; no prior funding or revenue is required.
The selection committee prioritizes three qualities: deep understanding of a specific problem, resourcefulness in early validation efforts, and coachability. Technical sophistication matters less than demonstrated grit—such as a founder who interviewed 50 potential users between classes or built an MVP using no-code tools while managing a full course load.
Selected participants join a 12-week program beginning this spring, with rolling admissions for fall and winter cohorts. All resources—including grants, compute credits, and legal services—are provided at no cost. The $50,000 follow-on investment remains optional, allowing teams to accept only if terms align with their long-term vision.
Making Student Entrepreneurship the Norm
Scott and Nafi aren't just building an accelerator—they're cultivating an ecosystem where launching a company during college becomes as normalized as studying abroad or joining a research lab. They envision Breakthrough evolving into the central hub for Gen Z entrepreneurship, complete with thought leadership on student founder challenges and policy advocacy for university innovation reforms.
Their timing is strategic. As AI tools lower technical barriers to building software, and as climate and healthcare crises demand fresh solutions, students possess unique proximity to emerging problems and digital-native approaches to solving them. Breakthrough aims to ensure those insights don't get shelved until after graduation.
For Roman Scott, the mission is personal. "We're betting on students not despite their inexperience, but because of their proximity to the problems worth solving," he said. "The next breakthrough in education tech won't come from someone who left school a decade ago. It'll come from a sophomore who just lived through a frustrating registration system."
That conviction—that students aren't "future leaders" but current innovators—fuels Breakthrough's entire philosophy. And with $2 million in backing and a team that's walked the founder journey just months ago, they're positioned to turn that belief into tangible opportunity for hundreds of student entrepreneurs ready to build.
