Founder Sprint
Founder Sprint is an intensive program crafted to help student bring out their best founder potential.
Founder School
Discover Aalto Founder School
Founder School is Aalto University’s entry point to entrepreneurial learning. Through monthly Founder Talks, a new minor studies programme, and a tailor-made Founder Sprint for the most driven founders, it helps students develop the mindset to build companies over time.
Aalto Founder School brings entrepreneurial learning together from across campus - one place for students at any level of education, from all six schools. It supports students who are driven to create something new, whether they are still exploring their interests, shaping early ideas, or already taking their first steps toward building a company.
Founder School focuses on early-stage founder development. People who think boldly, act under uncertainty, and sustain momentum over time.
And no one does it alone. Founder School is embedded in Aalto's broader entrepreneurial ecosystem, connected to the people, programs, and communities that keep the journey moving.
Company valuation
over €30 billion
Over
15,000
jobs created
Combined turnover exceeds
€3 billion
annually
Companies founded by Aalto university's students and alumni have a strong societal impact.
"Finland’s strongest asset—economically and as a country—is the success of its growth companies."
Programmes overview
Founder School offers all Aalto students multiple entry points into entrepreneurial learning, designed to support different interests and needs.
Founder Minor
A structured academic pathway into entrepreneurship. We invite students to take practice-oriented courses to learn about product development, product management, building a business, go-to-market, financing a venture, entrepreneurship law, founder storytelling, and a host of other topics relevant for founders. Students from all disciplinary backgrounds are welcome to these courses. By completing a series of founder focused courses, students can earn a Founder Minor.
Founder Sprint
Founder Sprint is a highly selective program (10% acceptance rate) for the most driven founders-to-be at Aalto. Designed to accelerate entrepreneurial growth and fast-track students’ startup journey, the intensive program combines deep-dive learning modules, personalized coaching, and hands-on venture-building experience.
Applications are open to students from all six Aalto schools. Whether you're studying arts, business, design, science, or engineering, what matters most is your ambition to create and build.
Whether or not participants go on to found a company, they leave with the mindset, skills, and network needed to do so.
Each Sprint is built around a carefully curated cohort of students from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Together with experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors from the Founder School network, participants help shape the content based on their ambitions, challenges, and the latest best practices from the startup ecosystem.
Founder Talks
A hybrid event series about entrepreneurship for all startup curious students. Enjoy the fireside chats where well-known Finnish and international founders share their journey, interviewed by students from Aalto University.
The talks provide insight into real entrepreneurial journeys, highlighting both challenges, successes and lessons learnt along the way.
Founder Talks: new event series brings founders on stage
Aalto Founder School brings entrepreneurship closer to all students at Aalto through monthly Founder Talks, a new minor studies programme, and a tailor-made Founder Sprint for the most promising ideas. Â
Founder Minor
Lär dig hur idéer blir till produkter och företag som skapar genomslag. Biämnet Founder Minor hjälper studerande att utveckla färdigheter i entreprenörskap oavsett vad de studerar.
Prototyping and Validation Grant
Turn an idea into something real and validate a market.
As part of the Aalto Founder Sprint program, participants begin with the Insight Sprint, where they research and analyze an emerging trend, industry, or market and produce an Insight Report. This report develops the ability to synthesize research into clear insights and identify potential opportunity spaces. The exercise helps participants understand the broader landscape before moving on to product prototyping and business strategy in later sprints.
News from Aalto founder community
Aalto-universitetet lanserar online-kurs i entreprenörskap så att världen inte går miste om bra idéer
Kursen Starting Up skapades i samarbete med studerande och den europeiska startup-gemenskapen och är Finlands nyaste bidrag till gratis undervisning efter succén med Elements of AIGrant Articles
Prototyping and Validation Grant: VeinOptima
An Aalto design student is building a device to help nurses find veins faster, funded by Aalto's Prototyping and Validation Grant.
Prototyping and Validation Grant: Stealth Startup
Two Aalto students got the Prototyping and Validation Grant. What they did before building anything is the part worth copying: a three-week trial
Prototyping and Validation Grant: Deployable
Four Aalto master's students built a physical AI startup on a borrowed GPU, beat PhD teams at a hackathon, and received Aalto's prototyping and validation grant.
Events for Aalto Founder community
Team
