"Entrepreneurship Summer School was a gamechanger for me, not only did I test a real business idea and get meaningful insights into the business model and potential cu..."
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- Entrepreneurship Summer School
Assess and shape your business opportunity in a robust and practical way
Gain the skills and insights you need to research your target market and industry. Find out what it takes to turn your idea into a viable business.
- Why choose this programme?
- Is it right for me?
- Fees and financing
Are you contemplating an entrepreneurial venture but unsure how to take it forward?
- Gain a robust methodology for assessing and shaping your venture, as well as plenty of time to discuss your idea with your peers, investors and experienced entrepreneurs
- Work with a mentor to think through your business idea, overcome stumbling blocks and serve as a sounding board
- Use your experience to decide whether a career as an entrepreneur is right for you.
ESS2027 and External Applications information ESS2027.
The deadline for external applications for Entrepreneurship Summer School 2027 is the 12th of May 2027.
"ESS provided me with the structure to explore my business idea while emphasizing, above all, the need for market research. It takes the nature of the business idea"
Maeve Heneghan
Entrepreneurship Summer School student 2019 and MBA 2020
"ESS gave us that boost we needed to jumpstart our startup and provided a chance to meet many fellow entrepreneurs, dreamers, and idealists we still keep in touch with..."
Jenna Ahn
Entrepreneurship Summer School student 2019 and EMBA Global Americas and Europe 2020
" Entrepreneurship Summer School was a gamechanger for me, not only did I test a real business idea and get meaningful insights into the business model and potential c..."
Eido Almog
Entrepreneurship Summer School student 2019 and MBA 2020
"I now have a much better understanding of my business concept's true cost structure and customer needs due to the guidance and structured schedule of Entrepreneurship..."
Andrew Bates
Entrepreneurship Summer School student, 2007 and MBA, 2008
" While I have not started a business since leaving Summer School in 2005, the knowledge I gained during the summer - how to build a business plan, fund projects and d..."
Marc Berman
Entrepreneurship Summer School, 2005, and SEMBA 2006
" Thanks to ESS I found 'the cracks, so that the light could shine through'. By interacting with other students, successful and less successful founders, pragmatic and..."
Alessandro Riccombeni
Entrepreneurship Summer School student 2019, and EMBALS2020
FAQs
LBS Students (please, check eligibility with your programme manager):
First year full-time MBA, EMBA, MiF, and Sloan students.
MiM and MaM students who are taking the 4th term.
Any LBS student is eligible to take the course as an alumni after they graduate (50% reduction on the course fees).
You should note, however, that ESS has an attendance rule. You can miss no more than three sessions of ESS – and you have to attend at least part of all three elements, the block week, the weekend at the end of July, and the Friday/Saturday in September. If your part-time internship stops you from meeting ESS’s attendance requirements, then you’ve got a problem.
Yes, we don’t assume that the idea will survive ESS in its original form. So enrol with your ‘best guess’ and expect the idea to morph and iterate as you carry out your research. We’d go as far as to say that -hardly any ideas remain unscathed by ESS. Adaptation and refining is part of the process. You get to Plan B through plan A.
You should select just one idea to pursue. You can’t do two in enough depth. Remember it’s the methodology you’re learning. The venture idea is simply the vehicle for that learning.
The mentors do not necessarily have domain knowledge. Their role is to help you on the process of starting a venture, something that they’ve all been through themselves at least once. We send them the 100 words summary of you venture (plus the 100 word bio) and they then select the ventures that intrigue them and to which they think they can add value. Often they have domain expertise and contacts, but this is a bonus. We do give participants a list of all mentor bios and if there is another with that sector experience then you can contact them through their mentee.
We don’t provide this on systematic basis. Like all other types of input and expertise you need to test viability, it is for you to find. That is part of the process of building a business.
You are welcome to pursue any idea that you may have as long as it’s ‘meaty’ enough to form the basis of a thorough micro-level analysis. We ask you to commit to one then carry out a thorough macro level market and industry analysis which – if done properly – weeds out fundamentally poor ideas before they ever get to ESS.
The purpose of ESS is the test the viability of a business idea, and to see if the entrepreneurial life is for you. If you already have started your business, then ESS is not for you, because you’ve already decided that your idea is viable. ESS is for ideas that you want to be more sure about before investing more time, money and energy (as well as credibility).
Yes – maybe you’re ahead of the curve and potential users cannot envisage the benefits of the product or feel the pain of a problem they’re yet to have. Businesses like this can be the best – though there are different problems of timing and accurate ‘futurology’ which makes such ideas higher risk.
You should not schedule any other activities during the Block Week, Long Weekend, or Presentation Weekend, as these sessions will run over the full day (with some social events scheduled in the evening). It is not necessary for you to remain on campus in the weeks between these sessions, however you will need to schedule time to complete the assignments.
At the moment, LBS only allows individuals to enrol for any elective, including ESS. The bidding process doesn’t allow for team enrolment. However, on ESS we are happy to accept teams of up to 3 people – as long as all 3 members have enrolled individually and been successful with their enrolment.
Faculty will be pleased to advise any student on the suitability of their venture idea to ESS.