Other Funding and Entrepreneurial Resources

The Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club (EVC)

The Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club (EVC) promotes entrepreneurship and innovation by inspiring, connecting and empowering the full-time Kellogg community. Club priorities include helping Kellogg students recruit for and work at startups, helping Kellogg students launch their own startups, promoting entrepreneurship, and equipping and inspiring the Kellogg community.

Kellogg Founders

Kellogg Founders is an application-based club composed of Kellogg students with prior or current experience in entrepreneurship, or with a distinct intent to become entrepreneurs while completing their Kellogg MBA. The club is a limited-membership, student-run group of Kellogg students consisting of 20-25 highly-committed student entrepreneurs. Students who continue with their ventures full time post-graduation are encouraged to join or start their local Kellogg Founders alumni chapter.

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Club (ETA@Kellogg)

The purpose of ETA@Kellogg is to educate, equip, and inspire Kellogg MBA students to pursue Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition upon graduation or within 5 years of graduating from Kellogg through community, alumni, and professional support.

Innovation & Design Association

The mission of the Innovation & Design Association (IDEA) is to educate and inspire Kellogg students to apply design-thinking to business challenges in order to develop creative new solutions. The club is dedicated to providing professional development opportunities for students who seek to apply design-thinking in their careers.

Evening & Weekend Growth & Scaling Club

The Growth & Scaling Club provides resources for Kellogg Evening & Weekend students interested in growing and scaling startups and companies to convene.

At Kellogg, we recognize that  business competitions provide a highly valuable and rigorous learning experience, regardless of whether your career goals include launching a business, acquiring and growing an enterprise, or investing in startups. Competitions allow you to gain feedback from customers and industry experts, the ability to expand your network, hone your pitch, receive non-dilutive startup funding and test your innovative ideas early and often.

Below you'll find information about competitions held at Kellogg and Northwestern as well as a link to a list of external competitions.  Please connect  with the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg team and let us know how we can help!

Competitions Held at Northwestern or Kellogg

Kellogg Venture Challenge

Winter Quarter / Open to Kellogg students only

Sponsored by Entrepreneurship at Kellogg and the Kellogg Founders (KF), the Kellogg Venture Challenge gives students an opportunity to pitch their startup idea and gain valuable feedback from members of the startup and Kellogg School community. The competition offers $10,000 in prizes.

VentureCat

Spring Quarter / Open to Northwestern students only

VentureCat is a showcase and celebration of Northwestern’s most promising student startups and culminates in a pitch competition that offers non-dilutive cash prizes, mentors, graphic design assistance for presentations, pitch prep and more for the semi-finalists. VentureCat distinguishes itself from other competitions around the globe by organizing competitors in five industry-specific tracks, which leverages the rich expertise of distinct schools from across the University in both graduate and undergraduate programs.

Kellogg Real Estate Venture Competition (KREVC)

Spring Quarter / Open to graduate students only

The Kellogg Real Estate Conference and Venture Competition is hosted by the Guthrie Center for Real Estate Research. The Conference will bring together global leaders in real estate who will provide industry updates and relevant market information. The Venture Competition is an opportunity for graduate students to pitch to a high-profile panel of judges for significant cash and in-kind prizes.

Kellogg-Booth ETA Case Competition

Fall Quarter / Open to MBA students

At the annual ETA Conference held jointly by Kellogg and Booth, students have the opportunity to participate in a case competition challenging aspiring ETA entrepreneurs to tackle a real-life dilemma faced by a search fund operator.

Kellogg Venture Capital Investment Challenge

Winter Quarter / Open to Kellogg students only

This internal competition is designed to help Kellogg students prepare to participate in the international Venture Capital Investment Challenge, Students must submit an application to the challenge. Those selected will receive mentorship, coaching and support from Kellogg faculty and the Heizer Center for Private Equity and Venture Capital.

External Competitions

For a curated list of startup and pitch competitions hosted outside of Northwestern University, check out our External Competitions Database.

External Competitions Database

The Entrepreneurship at Kellogg Competition Travel Funding Program helps cover travel expenses, such as economy airfare, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation for students accepted to participate in competitions related to a Kellogg student’s project or venture. The maximum reimbursement amount per person will be determined by the geographic region of the event and available funding, and a maximum of two Kellogg students per team can be reimbursed for each competition.

To be eligible for reimbursement, a student must request approval from the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg staff at least two weeks in advance of the travel. Prior to the competition, we recommend that students schedule a coaching session from an Entrepreneurship faculty member. Students will be required to complete a feedback survey about their participation in the competition before their reimbursement will be processed.

The maximum reimbursement amount per person will be determined by the geographic region of the competition following the regional breakdown below:

• Midwest - $500
• East Coast and South - $600
• West Coast - $800
• International - $1,200

Apply here

Kellogg Early-stage Internship Program (KEIP) Stipends

Summer internships with startups provide students the opportunity to ‘test’ entrepreneurship or gain the relevant experience to launch their own company. In order to make these internships financially viable, KEIP provides a limited number of stipends. Through this program, students can apply for a $7K stipend, but must secure a minimum of $6K and a max of $9K in additional compensation from the internship employer. Application requires signed offer letter.

We offer this stipend funding on a first-come, first-served basis over the winter and spring quarters until the available funding has been fully allocated.

While KEIP internships may span a variety of industries and functions, the host company must meet the following criteria:

• Have 150 or fewer employees
• Company cannot have raised more than a Series A funding round
• Company has launched in the past 7 years
• Define a project that addresses a high-priority company goal
• Be willing to have the intern work directly for senior management
• Provide between $6K-$9K in total compensation to student intern

Stipends are restricted to current Kellogg students. Internships that qualify for the Social Impact & Sustainability Internship stipend program are not eligible for KEIP funding. If you believe your internship may qualify for Social Impact funding but have further questions, please reach out to the Social Impact team at socialimpact@kellogg.northwestern.edu for assistance. 

Applications for KEIP stipends for Summer 2025 will open in March 2025.

Summer Startup Stipends

Use your summer internship to work on your own company with the Summer Startup Stipend! This stipend program is intended for students who are past the “idea” phase and have business concepts that have been tested to determine that there is a compelling product-market fit. In order to be eligible, students must be committed to working full-time on their own ventures over the summer in lieu of another internship, demonstrate significant traction with their venture as well as involvement with Entrepreneurship at Kellogg, and have a written recommendation by a Northwestern University faculty member. After an interview process with our faculty and staff, students who are selected for the stipend will receive up to $10,000 in funding to support themselves and their startup for the duration of the summer.

Things we look for:

• Quality of the problem: Is the problem you’re trying to solve clear, strong and urgent? How well do you understand this problem?
• Business model and product-market fit: What is the strength of your business idea and proposed business model?
• Work done so far: What is the quality and robustness of the work that you've done so far, including data around customer discovery, traction and market response?
• Founder-market fit: Why are you the person to solve this problem?
• Entrepreneurial involvement: What is your participation level and involvement in other entrepreneurial resources at Kellogg and Northwestern?

Up to two co-founders may apply with the same startup for the Summer Startup Stipend. Co-founders will be interviewed together and may be awarded between $5K and $10K each at the discretion of the program. Students founding consulting or business services-type firms are not eligible for this program.

Applications for Summer Startup Stipends for Summer 2025 will open in March 2025.

More Information on Internships

Aside from the summer stipend programs, the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg team does not get directly involved in sourcing and placing students in internship roles throughout their Kellogg experience. Here are some additional resources available throughout the year:

If you are an employer looking to hire a Kellogg intern for a part-time or unpaid internship, or are looking to hire an intern during the Fall, Winter, or Spring quarters, please reach out directly to Kellogg’s Career Management Center. Additionally, you may consider posting an unpaid opportunity as an independent study project. Students can receive course credit for independent study projects with external companies but cannot accept any form of compensation. If this is something you might be interested in exploring, please contact kellogg-experiential@kellogg.northwestern.edu with questions.

If you are a student looking to find an internship outside of the Summer quarter, we recommend searching the Kellogg Job Board for available opportunities and reaching out to Kellogg’s Career Management Center with any questions.

The Design Wing Startup-in-Residence Program provides dedicated workspace to Kellogg-founded student startups in the Design Wing of the Kellogg Global Hub. From early ideation to revenue-generating startups, this program is open to all stages of student ventures and gives highly-motivated entrepreneurs access to a dedicated workspace to use in a way that best suits their needs and goals. Each quarter, selected student startups may access the rooms for up to 8 hours per week for startup activities such as team meetings, customer interviews, brainstorming sessions, etc.

Interested in applying? We share the application in advance of each quarter, so keep an eye on your email and Slack. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our team at entrepreneurship@kellogg.northwestern.edu. 

The Garage at Northwestern

The Garage is the place on campus for Northwestern students to experiment, collaborate, innovate and build new ideas. Students are supported by a diverse community of Northwestern faculty, staff and alumni who share a passion for entrepreneurship. The 11,000-square-foot space located in the university’s North Campus Parking Garage is currently home to over 60 student-founded startups. During the summer, the Garage runs a pre-accelerator program, Jumpstart, designed to prepare student teams for the next stage of their startups, be it an accelerator program, raising capital or bootstrapping their way to success. Over 1,000 students, faculty and staff visit The Garage each month for classes, office hours, events and workshops on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Innovation & New Ventures Office (INVO)

INVO catalyzes the translation of Northwestern innovations to benefit the public and promote economic growth. INVO offers resources for new ventures including fellowships, mentorship, workshops, pitch preparation and more.

Querrey InQbation Lab

The Querrey InQbation Lab is a university incubator that extends Northwestern’s excellence in research-driven innovation by accelerating translation of its rich research portfolio. Through programming and space, the InQbation Lab provides support and resources for the very early stages of company formation, allowing the University to immediately enable near-term opportunities and increase the pipeline of startup companies.

Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (FCEI)

FCEI supports the creation of businesses that capitalize on innovations. It brings together faculty from an array of disciplines to develop a unique curriculum in which students experience the entire innovation/business lifecycle, from ideation to prototyping to business plan development.

Segal Design Institute

The McCormick School of Engineering’s Segal Design Institute focuses on educating the next generation of design innovation leaders. They offer courses and programming for designers, engineers, scientists, writers, doctors, performers, artists, managers and more.

Donald Pritzker Entrepreneurship Law Center (Chicago Campus)

This nonprofit, student-based clinic provides assistance to entrepreneurs who are making critical legal decisions. The Entrepreneurship Law Center is one of the first U.S.-based programs to provide intensive, hands-on training for students who want to be transactional lawyers or founders of startup companies.

A cross-university team has created the following presentation which outlines information and best practices for students who have or are interested in creating, or working on a business, during their time at Northwestern University. Please click here to download the presentation.

Northwestern Network Mentorship Program

The Northwestern Network Mentorship Program is an online easy-to-use platform designed to cultivate meaningful mentorship opportunities for the global Northwestern community. Students and alumni can use the platform to connect with alumni in various career fields. Alumni from all class years, programs, and schools may participate as volunteer mentors or mentees or both; students may participate as mentees. These mentoring relationships are meant to provide valuable support and guidance to student and alumni mentees as they navigate their careers, explore new career paths, or consider graduate school.

1871 Chicago

1871 is Chicago’s largest startup incubator. Located in the Merchandise Mart, engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs building Chicago’s next tech ventures work within the large space, with some programming and events sponsored by 1871 open to the public.

MATTER

Co-founded by three Kellogg entrepreneurial alumni, MATTER is a startup incubator for medical innovation companies. MATTER offers office hours, mentorship, programming, events and networking opportunities for medical innovators and is located down the hall from 1871 in the Merchandise Mart.

Impact Engine

Impact Engine is a startup accelerator and investment fund for social enterprises, located within 1871 in Chicago. Impact Engine was co-founded by two Kellogg professors, and Kellogg lecturers and alumni serve on the accelerator’s board and staff.

mHUB

From Galvin Manufacturing’s founding in 1928 and their car radio that came to be known as Motorola, we can trace a direct path between the Chicago-made innovations that shaped modern-day technology to the current generation of Midwestern inventors, makers and risk-takers who are creating products that will change the course of history.

mHUB exists to ensure that the Midwestern manufacturing industry continues to accelerate, grow and thrive. We are nation's largest and fastest-growing innovation center focused on physical product development and manufacturing.