Batten Founder Fellows Program - Ventures - Batten Institute

Batten Founder Fellows (BFFs) is a pilot program which encourages graduating Darden student founders who worked on promising ventures while pursuing their degree to continue on the founder path by supporting their entrepreneurial journeys post-graduation.   

In year one of the program, 2024, the Batten Institute awarded significant grants to Fellows, with the potential of follow-on support. 

Students must meet eligibility requirements to apply to the Batten Founder Fellows program. For the class of 2025, those criteria include: 

• Degree from Darden conferred in year of participation (including MSBA, Ph.D., MBA).
• Participation in the i.Lab Incubator summer program prior to the year of graduation (strongly preferred).
• Completion of Darden’s Venture Velocity or Venturing Lab course. (In the event a student is unable to enroll in one of these courses, an equivalent course or independent study may serve as a potential substitute, determined on case-by-case basis). 
• Participation in the UVA Entrepreneurship Cup and/or successful application for a Batten Innovation or Accelerate Grant.
• Been a proactive leader for entrepreneurship among the Darden community.
• Proven commitment to fully pursuing venture upon graduation – student intends to work on venture full-time, has not accepted another offer and is not actively pursuing opportunities other than working on building the venture.
• Venture is incorporated.

Key Dates 

• Application opens: 11 April 2025
• Applications Due: 25 April 2025
• Students notified of selection: 9 May 2025
• Payments issued: June 2025
• Four-month check-in: October 2025

Application

Complete the online application, including the following: 

• Confirm criteria satisfied 
• Upload Executive summary no longer than two pages 
  • Company Overview 
  • Product or Service Description 
  • Market and Competitive Analysis 
  • Business Model 
  • Marketing and Sales Strategy 
  • Management Team 
  • Financial Projections 
• Upload plans for upcoming four months, ideally as a Gantt Chart. Model with and without Batten Institute BFF support. 
• Submit your two most recent stakeholder updates 
• Describe how founder(s) have supported others in the community in the i.Lab, Darden, Charlottesville area, etc. 
• List a mentor with whom you actively meet who has strong knowledge of the venture who we can contact as a reference 
• For founders who did not participate in the prior year’s i.Lab Incubator, submit a one-page overview of how you leveraged your Darden experience to enable you to pursue this venture full-time post Darden. (We have gained insights on students who participated in the i.Lab via their engagement in the summer programming and Accelerate phase over their second year.)