The next edition of START will take place from October to December 2025.
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The START programme is designed to help future entrepreneurs validate their ideas. During the programme, you will have the opportunity to meet peers, experts and experienced entrepreneurs, and understand the key steps to take to move your idea forward.
The programme is open to ESCP students and alumni, as well as students from partner schools.
❍ This programme is for those who are starting their entrepreneurial journey and are ready to make a serious commitment to validate their idea and build a valuable project.
❍ If you are still in the exploration phase and do not have a strong commitment to working on your idea, check out our EXPLORE (on the homepage) series of events, open to all, to discover the entrepreneurial ecosystem and learn from the journeys of experienced and inspiring entrepreneurs.
❍ If you are working on a more advanced project (e.g., developing a prototype or making initial sales), check out the LAUNCH or SEED programmes.
The online sessions are held in English from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
IMPORTANT: Participants agree to follow the entire programme and must sign a commitment charter.
The Blue Factory START programme is mainly online and in English, so you can join from anywhere.
If you can come to one of our campuses, you'll get access to a coworking space (depending on each campus availability) and EXPLORE events and local workshops.
The programme consists of online sessions from 6pm to 7.30pm with all participants present in different locations (ESCP campuses and off-campus).
The sessions include interactive masterclasses by theme (defining the value proposition, exploring the prototyping & testing phase, validating your solution) as well as tailor-made workshops by cohort on each campus designed by the Blue Factory teams.
The pitch session at the end of the programme will allow you to discover the most advanced projects, which will be pitched to entrepreneur mentors.
At the same time, you will be able to:
- interact with the programme participant community
- join additional workshops and events offered by the campuses
- request coaching according to your needs to get feedback on your progress
- benefit from co-working spaces on campus, subject to availability
- and, of course, take advantage of Blue Factory resources (EXPLORE events, BlueLuckyLetter, YouTube, recruitment offers, etc.).
The programme takes place online, twice a year: the first edition runs from February to May and the second edition from October to December.
To enable as many people as possible to participate, the sessions are organised online in English, at the end of the day from 6pm to 7.30pm.
Customised workshops designed by the campuses may be organised on various dates and at various times during the semester.
The dates of the online sessions for the next edition are:
*3 additional dates for in-person workshops will be communicated by each campus during the onboarding.
To be part of the START programme, you must:
➡️ To participate in the START programme, simply fill out the registration form, which will help us determine whether the programme is right for you. Please remember to send us the 2-minute video requested in the form, as it is necessary for your application to be reviewed. It will only be viewed by our teams. Keep it simple; a selfie will be fine.
Registration for the next edition of the programme is open until Monday 22 September 2025. To register, click HERE.
It's never too early to discover entrepreneurship! The only thing we ask of you if you join the programme is that you commit to attending all the masterclasses and getting involved with the other participants. Maybe an idea will emerge during the workshops?
If that seems like too much, you can start your entrepreneurial journey by participating in our EXPLORE events, which are posted on the homepage, also on here our and via our LinkedIn and Instagram accounts. You can also find all our content on our YouTube channel.
The START programme is designed to be accessible to as many people as possible and is made possible by donations to the ESCP Foundation's ‘Start programme’ funding initiative. More details here.
Please consider supporting the programme in any way you can to enable others to benefit from it after you. Thank you!
Participants can come from any ESCP programme or partner institution (Bachelor, MIM, MS, MSc, MBA, EMBA, etc.) and may be students or alumni.
Participants in the START programme are either embarking on an entrepreneurial adventure, with an idea that still needs to be refined, or are starting to work on their project and wish to validate their assumptions.
We are generalists and each year we have projects that are very different from one another. In addition, given the very early stages of development of the projects, it is common for them to change during the programme. This is why our support is primarily focused on the participants themselves, to help them develop projects that are important to them and to society.