15 Startup Incubators for High School Students

Having a business idea is common, but getting the support to develop it is much less common. A startup incubator gives you a structured way to explore your idea with help from mentors and access to useful resources. You’ll move through the same process many founders follow, from identifying a problem and testing solutions to sharing your idea with others.

Why should I join a startup incubator in high school?

Startup incubators are designed for students who enjoy solving problems. Throughout the program, you’ll learn how to evaluate ideas, gather feedback, improve your product, and communicate your vision clearly. These experiences provide a practical introduction to entrepreneurship while helping students understand how startups actually operate.

Participating in an incubator can also strengthen future college and internship applications by demonstrating initiative and sustained interest in business or innovation. More importantly, you’ll leave with a project you’ve built yourself and a much clearer understanding of whether entrepreneurship is something you’d like to continue exploring.

To help you find the right opportunity, we’ve put together a list of 15 startup incubators for high school students! You can also consider these online entrepreneurship programs and these entrepreneurship camps for high school students.

Key Takeaways

• 15 startup incubators range from free options like BExSTEM and Future Founders’ Be Your Own Boss, to intensive multi-week programs like Quarter Zero’s Catapult Incubator at $7,950 and Wharton’s Essentials of Entrepreneurship at $8,299.
• Nearly all of these incubators culminate in a live pitch event where students present their venture to judges, investors, or the broader community. LaunchX, Leangap, and Inkling Labs all end with a Demo Day where teams pitch to real investors and sometimes sell products to real customers.
• Several programs are specifically designed to support underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship. Get Girls Going encourages Black and brown teen girls to apply and provides a $15 per hour stipend, while building a social business idea over six weeks.
• Program length varies considerably, from short two-week accelerators like UC Berkeley’s Summer Founder Bootcamp, to year-long commitments like Uncharted Learning’s INCubatoredu, which culminates in a Shark Tank-style competition for real investment funding.
• Some incubators require students to already have a validated business before applying, while others start from scratch. UC Berkeley’s Summer Founder Bootcamp specifically requires a product or service with existing traction in revenue or users, unlike most other programs on this list designed for students starting with just an idea.
• Multi-city and international formats give students exposure to different startup ecosystems. Quarter Zero’s Catapult Incubator moves across Santa Barbara, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and New York City, and Leangap and BExSTEM both connect students with international teammates and mentors.
• Startup incubators are a strong way to build entrepreneurial and product development skills, but they are not the only path for a student interested in independent research. Those who want to pursue a research project in a different field might consider Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs, a mentored virtual research program with 600+ specializations across subjects like political theory, data science, and biology.

1. LaunchX’s Summer Entrepreneurship Program

LaunchX takes you through the full process of building a startup in just four weeks. After joining a team with students whose skills complement yours, you will identify a real problem, develop a solution, test your idea, and improve it through customer feedback. Entrepreneurs and startup mentors work with you throughout the programme, helping you refine both your product and business model. The experience ends with Demo Day, where you present your startup, pitch to judges, and sell your product or service to real customers. Many LaunchX teams continue developing their companies after the programme ends.

2. Uncharted Learning’s INCubatoredu

INCubatoredu is a year-long high school programme where you will build a real business instead of working on a classroom simulation. Working in a team, you will develop a product or service while meeting regularly with entrepreneurs and business mentors who guide each stage of the process. Throughout the year, you’ll test your idea, gather customer feedback, improve your business model, and prepare investor pitches. The programme culminates in a Shark Tank-style competition where teams compete for real investment funding. Students whose businesses continue to grow can apply for ACCELeratoredu, which helps early-stage startups move toward full-scale operations.

3. University of Miami’s Innovation Data Lab

The University of Miami’s Innovation Data Lab combines entrepreneurship with data science to help you solve real-world problems. You will learn how to collect, analyze, and visualize data before using those insights to design a solution around a social or community issue. Along the way, you’ll explore statistical analysis, coding, design thinking, systems thinking, and data storytelling. The programme finishes with a three-minute pitch competition where you present your idea to judges. The winning team receives a fellowship to continue developing its project after the programme.

4. CEOs of Tomorrow’s These Teens Mean Busine$$ Incubator

The Teens Mean Busine$$ Incubator is a 9-week business incubator for high school students that focuses on social entrepreneurship. During the program, you will develop and launch a revenue-generating business that solves a problem in the community. You will meet with local entrepreneurs and learn about business development, finance, and marketing through the process. The program ends with a Teen Pitch & Launch event where you get to present your business to a panel of experts and sell your products to real customers, earning profits while also vying for the program’s cash and scholarship prizes. 

5. Get Girls Going Summer Incubator

Get Girls Going helps you turn a social business idea into a real venture over two weeks. You will develop a product or service designed to address a community challenge while attending workshops on entrepreneurship, leadership, wellness, and professional development. Weekly assignments help you refine your idea and prepare your final business pitch. Throughout the programme, you’ll receive a stipend while building your project alongside other young entrepreneurs. The experience concludes with Demo Day, where you present your business idea to judges and guests.

6. Lumos Fellows

Lumos Fellows helps you build an AI-powered software product in six weeks with one-on-one guidance from an experienced mentor. You will develop a real application, which could be anything from a nutrition scanner to a personal safety app or another AI-powered tool, while learning how to build a minimum viable product. The programme also covers AI tools, product development, marketing, and startup pitching as your idea takes shape. Throughout the six weeks, you’ll meet regularly with your mentor to refine both your product and business strategy. The programme ends with a working software product that you have built using modern AI tools.

7. Future Founders’ Be Your Own Boss Internship

Future Founders’ Be Your Own Boss is a paid virtual internship where you will create an app-based business from the ground up. You’ll start by identifying a problem, developing a working app prototype, and preparing a business pitch before presenting it at a virtual showcase. Along the way, you’ll take part in STEM activities, collaborate on group projects, and connect with entrepreneurs and technology professionals. The internship also gives you access to Future Founders’ broader entrepreneurship events and community. By the end of the programme, you’ll have both an app prototype and a business idea that you’ve developed yourself.

8. Leangap® Summer Startup Incubator

Leangap Online takes you through every stage of launching a startup while working with teammates from different cities and countries. You will develop an idea, build a minimum viable product, create your brand, and begin attracting real users, customers, or downloads before Demo Day. Mentors and startup founders work with your team each week as your company develops. The programme finishes with a live pitch in front of investors, founders, CEOs, and technology leaders. Many teams leave the programme with a startup that is already operating beyond the classroom.

9. Inkling Labs

Inkling Labs is a six-week startup accelerator where you’ll work in a small team to build a real company from scratch. You will validate your idea by speaking with potential customers, building a working product, and refining your business model before presenting it to investors on Demo Day. Throughout the programme, you’ll learn concepts such as minimum viable products, competitive positioning, and agentic coding with support from experienced founders and venture capitalists. Regular mentoring sessions help your team improve both the product and the business behind it. The programme ends with a live investor pitch based on the company you’ve built during the summer.

10. BExSTEM

BExSTEM is a 25-week international startup incubator that guides you through the complete process of launching a company. You will work through market research, idea validation, product development, MVP creation, customer testing, and establishing the legal foundations of a business before focusing on growth. The programme is structured like a real startup journey, with each stage building on the previous one over several months. As your business develops, you’ll compete alongside other student founders for awards and recognition. By the final stage, you’ll have taken your startup from an initial idea to real market testing.

11. Quarter Zero’s Catapult Incubator

Quarter Zero’s Catapult Incubator takes you through the process of building a startup while moving across four major startup hubs: Santa Barbara, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and New York City. You will work on ideation, prototyping, customer acquisition, leadership, networking, and pitching as your business develops over five weeks. Along the way, you’ll meet founders, investors, and entrepreneurs in each city and learn how different startup ecosystems operate. The programme finishes with Demo Day Week in New York City, where you launch your venture and pitch it to an audience. The multi-city format gives you exposure to several startup communities instead of just one.

12. UC Berkeley’s Summer Founder Bootcamp

UC Berkeley’s Summer Founder Bootcamp is designed for students who already have a startup with early traction. You will refine your business by testing customer assumptions, measuring growth, solving customer problems, and learning how founders use data to make decisions. Industry professionals and experienced entrepreneurs work with participants throughout the two-week accelerator, offering feedback on both products and business strategy. Since every participant arrives with an existing venture, discussions focus on scaling instead of generating new ideas. The programme is built for founders who are ready to grow a business that already has users or revenue.

13. HEX High Accelerator

HEX High Accelerator introduces you to the process of turning an idea into a startup over six weeks. You will explore market research, rapid prototyping, customer discovery, business models, and startup pitch development through workshops and mentor sessions. As your idea develops, you’ll receive feedback from mentors while improving your product and presentation. The programme concludes with a customer-focused pitch presented to judges, mentors, and the HEX team. Students who complete the accelerator can also receive university credit through HEX’s higher education pathway.

14. Wharton’s Essentials of Entrepreneurship Program

Wharton’s Essentials of Entrepreneurship walks you through every stage of building a startup with a small team. You will identify a real problem, research potential customers, design and test a minimum viable product, develop prototypes, and create a brand for your venture. Throughout the programme, Wharton faculty, guest speakers, and entrepreneurs introduce the fundamentals of entrepreneurship through workshops and team activities. The experience concludes with a pitch competition where you’ll present a professional pitch deck covering your problem, solution, business model, and market opportunity.

15. Barnard College’s Athena Summer Innovation Institute

Barnard’s Athena Summer Innovation Institute helps you develop a startup, nonprofit, or social impact campaign through three weeks of workshops and team projects. You will explore product ideation, customer research, branding, startup finance, negotiation, and marketing while building one venture with your team. Faculty and mentors guide the process as your idea develops from an early concept into a complete proposal. The programme ends with Pitchfest, where every team presents its venture to the rest of the cohort. Teams can choose to build either a business, a nonprofit, or an advocacy campaign, depending on the problem they want to solve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which of these incubators are free to attend?

Future Founders’ Be Your Own Boss Internship and BExSTEM are both free, with Future Founders also providing an unspecified stipend to participants throughout the program.

Do any of these programs pay students a stipend?

Yes. Get Girls Going pays $15 per hour during its six-week program, and Future Founders’ Be Your Own Boss Internship provides a stipend, though the exact amount is not specified.

Which programs are designed specifically for students who already have a startup with traction?

UC Berkeley’s Summer Founder Bootcamp is unique in requiring a validated product or service with existing revenue or user traction, unlike most other incubators on this list, which are designed for students starting with just an idea.

Are any of these programs limited to a specific location or demographic group?

Get Girls Going is based in Boston and specifically encourages Black and brown teen girls to apply, while programs like Lumos Fellows, Leangap, and BExSTEM are virtual and open to international students as well.

What if I am interested in research outside of entrepreneurship or business?

These incubators are focused specifically on building and pitching a startup, but students looking for a research-based credential in a different subject area might consider Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs, a selective virtual research program that pairs students with a mentor to develop an original research paper across subjects like political theory, data science, and biology.

Image source: UC Berkeley