Venture X is a fun progressive journey in venture creation. You can go as far as your drive and motivation takes you. This is a program as much about what you do - i.e., design and build out a concept - as it is about who you become - a confident innovator, collaborator, and value creator.
The world's most pressing problems don't come with instruction manuals. They reward people who know how to find the right question, assemble the right insights & team, and move with confidence through uncertainty. Venture X is where you learn to do exactly that — by actually doing it.
Over a few months, you'll work alongside driven students from across Purdue's colleges and disciplines all in one room, building together. That room becomes one of the most valuable learning environments you'll experience in college. You'll learn as much from the teammate who thinks completely differently from you as you will from any framework or tool. You'll be challenged, stretched, and — if you lean in — transformed.
And you won't do it alone. You will have access to proven tools. Throughout the journey, you'll meet and engage with accomplished founders, operators, investors, and domain experts — people actively building companies and backing ideas — who will push your thinking, open doors, and show you what it really looks like to create something from nothing.
By the end, you won't just have worked on a venture concept. You'll have earned a new level of confidence in your ability to tackle any complex problem — as a founder, an innovator inside a company, or a leader who creates value wherever they go.
How does one go from passion about a problem space to uncovering the clear meaningful problems worth solving or the actionable opportunities to pursue? Once a clear problem is defined, how does one discover and build the right viable and scalable solution for the problem to maximize impact? Venture X is your opportunity to experience this venture creation journey firsthand, exploring a problem space of your choice – one that you are passionate or want to learn about. You will develop game-changing skills, a problem-solving mindset, and the confidence to tackle any complex problem in front of you.
Fall · STRT 312H · 3 credits
Every great venture begins with a problem deeply understood. In X1, you'll immerse yourself in a problem space you care about — interviewing stakeholders, mapping systems, and uncovering root causes that others overlook. You won't be handed a problem to solve. You'll learn to find one worth solving.
You'll form early team connections with students from majors you may have never collaborated with before. The diversity in that room is a feature, not a coincidence — and you'll feel its value immediately.
X1 Outcome: Your Challenge X — a clearly defined, validated problem or opportunity that becomes your foundation going forward.
--> X1 returns Fall 2026. Register your interest via the Venture X1 pre-reg survey. Approved students will be notified to register for the course.
Spring · STRT 313H · 3 credits
With a real problem in hand, you'll explore the universe of possible solutions — prototyping, testing, and iterating based on direct feedback from real users and markets. This is where teams solidify, disciplines converge, and the work gets real.
You'll engage with product designers, technical founders, and sales experts who have navigated exactly this phase. Their candor — what worked, what didn't, what they wish they'd known — is worth more than any textbook. You'll engage with active investors (including Elevate Ventures and High Alpha) and experienced operators who will pressure-test your model and help you determine your best shot at real-world traction. You'll focus on what's required to get closer to launch - GTM, sales strategy, value proposition, lead generation, etc. The objective to find a customer and sell!
Funding: up to $5,000 per team to support product and customer development.
X2 Outcome: Your Solution X — a validated concept, tested with real stakeholders, ready to develop further.
--> X2 available Spring 2027. Express interest via the Venture X2 pre-reg survey. Expect most X2 students to come from successful X1 teams.
Skills that matter everywhere: Opportunity identification, human-centered design, rapid prototyping, stakeholder engagement, business model validation, decision-making under uncertainty, and the ability to communicate your ideas with clarity and conviction.
A network you won't find in a classroom: Direct access to founders, investors, operators, and domain experts — as engaged participants in your journey who push back, advise, and occasionally open doors.
A cohort of builders: Your peers in Venture X will become some of your most valuable professional relationships. Engineers who can build what you imagine. Scientists who can validate what you claim. Designers who can make it real. Marketers who can find who needs it. The interdisciplinary nature of this program isn't incidental — it's the point.
Confidence that compounds: This may be the most underrated outcome. Having navigated real ambiguity, built something with people unlike you, and engaged with real-world innovators — you will approach your career's future challenges differently. You'll know you can figure it out. That confidence is yours to keep.
Who should apply: Rising sophomores and above, all majors welcome and encouraged. No prior startup experience or specific GPA required. Bring motivation, curiosity, and a willingness to get out there and learn.
Funding: Eligible teams/concepts have access to (up to) $5K of funding per concept to reimburse and support product and customer development expenses.
Team formation: Organic, not assigned. Teams form around the most compelling ideas and the people drawn to them.
Grading: Emphasizes meaningful progress and rigorous engagement — not just outcomes. Discovering that an idea shouldn't proceed is as valuable as one that advances.
Retakes: Any course can be repeated up to three times as your ideas evolve.
Honors College students (JMHC):
Eligibility: All Purdue students are eligible. Honors College students — or teams with at least one Honors College student — have full access to all program benefits. Engineering undergraduates pursuing the Springer Engineering Business Experience Certificate also have full access to all program benefits. Not an Honors College of Engineering/Springer student? Contact Prof. Kostas Grigoriou to discuss your options.
Dr. Kostas Grigoriou (kostasg@purdue.edu)
Kostas has worked with hundreds of founders and venture builders, and brings methods and frameworks equivalent to those used by premier venture studios — High Alpha, Alloy Partners, Forum Ventures — to your experience. This is as close to real-world venture creation as a university program gets.
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