Practicum

The TVL Practicum connects local startup companies with talented and entrepreneurial graduate students from UT Austin.  A majority of the students come from the MBA, law, engineering, pharmacy, and natural sciences programs but all majors are welcome.

These students participate in semester-long consulting projects solving important problems alongside the company’s founders. Students work with the startups to deliver 200-300 hours of quality consulting work in exchange for academic course credit.

The TVL Practicum is a cross-disciplinary networking and learning program with a hands-on approach using the academic foundations of entrepreneurship and business modeling. Students learn valuable skills such as project management, client relations, team collaboration, market validation, competitive research, price modeling and analytics.

We leverage the Austin ecosystem with unique, hands-on programs that extend across graduate programs on campus and the greater Austin startup community. Since 2010,  816 Master’s and PhD students have gone through the TVL Practicum.

Applications to be a part of the 2022 Spring TVL Practicum are open.  

 Apply now. 

Investment Competition

2021 Spring Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition Results

The 2021 Spring Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition (TVLIC) was held on May 7, 2021. TVLIC mimics the real-world process of raising venture capital. Graduate students from the University of Texas System present their ideas for new businesses and receive invaluable feedback from entrepreneurs and investors. Many TVLIC competitors go on to launch their businesses. Successful competitors have included uShip, Ordoro, BeatBox Beverages, Phurnace Software and Qcue among others.

The winning team was NiSOC. The United States Government is actively searching for less expensive and more reliable solutions to its current radiation detection capability at US ports of entry. NiSOC has secured SBIR funding from the DoD for its innovative ( patented) solution based on a semiconductor platform. NiSOC successfully demonstrated its proof of principle in Phase I. Using funding from Phase II, NiSOC successfully demonstrated a working prototype semiconductor chip.

The Texas Superstar Award went to Bold Move Beverages in second place, and the Texas Rising Star went to Root Medical Translation in third place. Root Medical Translation also won the ScaleHealth Innovation Award. The E. Craig Nemec Elevator Challenge Award is given to the best elevator pitches delivered by TVLIC competitors. The three winners of this quick-pitch component were NiSOC, Root Medical Translation and GRIT Chew.

The 2021 Fall TVLIC will be held on Friday, December 3, 2021.

Startup Fellows

Graduate Student and Alumni Startup Consulting Projects

TVL Startup Fellows gain experience in a variety of industries and functions while building their expertise and networks in their target careers. They get first-hand experience leading projects and solving problems while reinforcing classroom learning. Fellows can bridge the gap between their career aspirations and current skill set.

TVL Startup Fellows can choose between three distinct tracks based on their interests and the types of companies with which they want to work. The Commercialization track focuses on translational research, new technologies and company launch while the Growth & Scale track focuses on established products and company expansion. The Venture track is focused on startup investment and fundraising activities within firms. 

JBTVL serves as a gateway for graduate students and graduate student alumni to connect with the Texas startup ecosystem. In addition to their project work, Startup Fellows enjoy access to a range of programming. This includes guest speakers, networking opportunities and mentoring from members of the JBTVL Advisory Board which represents many early-stage investors and accelerator programs across Texas.

Interested UT-Austin graduate students and graduate student alumni can apply here: bit.ly/TVLStartupFellows

TVL Startup Fellows will be selected based on an application and interview process. Each Startup Fellow will be matched with a JBTVL Accelerator company that aligns with the Fellow’s interests and expertise. Upon mutual acceptance of project criteria between the Startup Fellow and Accelerator company, the Startup Fellow will work with the company for approximately 10 hours per week for the duration of the fellowship.

Upcoming Events

Calling all Austin Startups Looking for Consulting Help 

The Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs Accelerator matches Austin-area startups with cross-functional teams of UT Austin graduate students for 10-week long startup consulting projects. Our rigorous market validation process and our students’ research accelerates startups towards funding. 

The JBTVL Accelerator is a zero cost, zero equity program that collaborates with Texas-based startups who want to work with graduate student consultants for up to 300 hours of high impact business consulting over the course of a 10-week semester. We accept applications from both pre-revenue and post-revenue companies who have a working prototype or product, can clearly define 2-3 projects for students, and are ready to engage with the student team.

We welcome startups from ALL industries! In addition to our MBA, MSTC, and McCombs MS students, many of our graduate students come from science, engineering, and computer science disciplines. Since we are embedded in an academic institution and surrounded by brilliant scientific and technical talent, startups who can leverage technical PhD and Masters students in their project work are always encouraged to apply.

​Apply today