"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 customers, but also, I got a chance to test myself a..."
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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.
Entrepreneurship Summer School information 2026 and External Applications information ESS 2026.
The deadline for external applications for Entrepreneurship Summer School 2026 is the 12th of May 2026.
"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 customers, but also, I got a chance to test myself ..."
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 Summer School."
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 develop entrepreneurial skills - has proved vital i..."
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
Faculty FAQs
LBS Students:
- 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 really need to plan to attend all sessions. The only leeway we give is in the final weekend when we know that some students have already started exchange programmes. But the block week and August weekend are mandatory.
It would be very difficult to complete both the ESS programme and a full-time internship properly. Both absorb your time – and just as importantly, your creative, thinking time. Part-time internships (say three days a week) seem to be more manageable (inasmuch as students have done so and done OK at ESS). If the internship is in a very similar sector to the ESS project then maybe you can combine but in that case I sure hope you’re disclosing your entrepreneurial ambition to the firm at which you’re interning!
Yes, we don’t assume that the idea will survive ESS in its original form. So apply 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 a thriving 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.
Yes, we accept teams of up to 3 people. Each member of a team must submit a CV, Bio and Personal Mission Statement. All other parts of the application may be submitted jointly.
Of course, one representative of your business idea may participate in ESS alone, it is not necessary for the whole team to apply together if this is not feasible.
We very explicitly do not judge the venture idea – rather we admit you on the arguments you present for the market and industry being OK (i.e. no early, obvious showstoppers). Clearly we do have thoughts on weak spots and are happy to discuss in class. However even here it is far healthier for participants to test out their ideas on each other and to come to their own conclusions on the areas where they should prioritise their research (which may or may not involve building some kind of MVP).