The Blackstone LaunchPad network makes entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills accessible and relevant for all college students to help them build thriving companies and careers.
- Skill-building: Experiential entrepreneurship education equips students with a set of skills and mindsets that help them succeed as founders or be competitive in today’s job market.
- Accessibility: You don’t need a business degree, a huge network, or a history of entrepreneurship to get involved. LaunchPad is for all students, no matter their background or future plans.
- Commitment to supporting under-represented students and communities: Entrepreneurial inequality is an under-appreciated driver of racial economic disparity, and LaunchPad’s $40M commitment to expand to Minority Serving Institutions aims to close the gap
- Support of both student ventures and skills for career mobility: LaunchPad success stories include not only starting a business but also working for a startup or bringing an intrapreneurial outlook to an existing business
For college students, the Blackstone LaunchPad network propels your success through entrepreneurship. We can connect you to a global network of mentors, events, funding, talent, job opportunities, and more, so you can gain key entrepreneurship skills to build a successful company or build your resume for success in landing a job after college and advancing your career.
For higher-ed institutions, LaunchPad invests in your entrepreneurship programs, acting as the central hub for entrepreneurial activities. Students can turn to LaunchPad to receive tailored suggestions to connect both to existing opportunities on campus and to a global network of peers and professionals to help them succeed in building companies and careers.
About Blackstone LaunchPad network:
The Blackstone LaunchPad network makes entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills accessible and relevant for all college students to help them build thriving companies and careers. We work with higher-ed institutions to deliver proven startup resources, facilitate access to a global network of mentors and advisors, and offer unique virtual and physical convening opportunities so thousands of diverse college students can go further, faster. Students learn by doing, gaining knowledge and critical skills to help them succeed as a founder or contributor to the innovation economy. LaunchPad’s ever-expanding network encompasses campuses with predominantly underrepresented populations.
About Blackstone Charitable Foundation:
Founded in 2007, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation is committed to creating economic opportunity for diverse and historically under-represented communities. Our programs aim to increase access to entrepreneurship and innovation skills, including our flagship Blackstone LaunchPad network, which helps college and university students gain entrepreneurial experiences and competencies to build successful companies and careers. The Foundation also supports communities through BX Connects, a best-in-class employee engagement, fundraising and board service program, providing grants and volunteer hours to our global nonprofit partners. More on the Blackstone Charitable Foundation and its work can be found here.