Program Impact

15 Years of SVP

In the summer of 2023, we marked a special milestone for the Summer Venture Program: We welcomed the 15^th cohort of the program. We took this opportunity to conduct a longitudinal survey of the past cohorts to better understand SVP’s impact on our participating founders and their ventures and entrepreneurial goals.

We augmented our survey findings with publicly available information from Pitchbook.

The Survey:

14 Cohorts
196 SVP Founders
Results Based on 46 Respondents (23% Response Rate)

52%

of SVP ventures
are operational today

88%

of these ventures
are planning to grow
in the next three years

#1

most frequently reported growth goal
by these ventures
is to grow sales

$174+ Million

Raised by all SVP ventures in equity investment*

*Reported by Pitchbook as of November 2023. Excludes funds awarded by Babson College in competitions, accelerators, and other programs.

Growing and Scaling

30% of SVP founders reported raising equity investment for their SVP ventures. SVP founders also reported accessing other diverse sources of capital, including grants, awards/competition prizes, accelerator funding, personal savings, debt or business loans, crowdfunding/equity crowdfunding, investment by other companies, advisor funds, and revenue.

SVP gave me the confidence to be a start-up founder and equipped me with the framework and toolkit I needed.

Derek Tu '18, SVP’17

CEO and Founder of Hubble

Preparing Our Entrepreneurs to Pitch

SVP founders rated pitch practice and presentation skills as the #1 most helpful program takeaway on average. We focus on developing these skills through our signature Hot Seat pitch practice format and founder-to-founder feedback and we build towards a showcase event which concludes the program.

SVP offered me a laboratory where I could experiment and make mistakes freely.

Trevor Yahn-Grode ’19, SVP’19

Founder of Yahn Enterprises LLC

Empowering Our Entrepreneurs to Make Impact

Nearly 1/3 of SVP founders reported advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals in their SVP ventures. SVP demonstrates an alignment with Babson's mission to prepare and empower entrepreneurial leaders who create lasting economic and social value.

48%

of SVP founders reported
currently working on
a new venture

87%

of SVP founders reported
having interest in pursuing
entrepreneurship in the future

Being around so many dynamic people in one place for 10 weeks was an amazing learning experience.

Braeden Ruud MS’16, SVP’16

CEO and Co-Founder of Raised Right

74%

of SVP founders reported still being in touch with fellow cohort members