ASES Launchpad is a two-day event for high school students across the country to explore the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. This year, our in-person program explores the theme of Social Good in San Francisco. In teams, you will create socially impactful ideas to tackle various issues in San Francisco—such as food security, transportation, and housing—and we'll provide you with the skills to turn that idea into a viable prototype and pitch.
We at ASES believe that any individual can make a positive impact through entrepreneurship. Launchpad is completely free for participants and no prior experience is required — in fact, we especially encourage those without any entrepreneurship experience and those historically underrepresented in tech to apply!
Industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and people all around the world are using the design thinking process in order to identify big problems and come up with creative solutions. As part of this program, we will walk you through this process: from identifying a problem, to searching for your very own solutions.
Now that you've got your idea, you're ready to develop your pitch, whether that's for potential co-founders, high-powered investors or curious strangers. You'll learn to create your pitch from people who have keynoted at conferences and won pitch competitions. Best of all, you'll get lots of practice and individualized feedback to hone your skills.
Design is becoming a cornerstone for the growth, image, and functionality of any product. We'll teach you the fundamentals of graphic design, as well as take you through creating your own product mock-up and user testing.
We welcome anyone to apply to Launchpad, regardless of your experience in entrepreneurship - in fact, we especially encourage those without any entrepreneurship experience and those from underrepresented backgrounds to apply. The only requirement is that you are a current high school student and are able to be present during the entire duration of Launchpad.
Yes! We will provide lunch on both days of Launchpad, though you are welcome to bring your own meal as well.
Participants must provide their own transportation to and from the event facility.
Since Launchpad is a highly collaborative event, we expect all participants to be present in-person. However, we plan to record sessions and make them available to participants after the event has concluded.
Reach out to the Launchpad co-directors Tatiana Zhang (tytzhang@stanford.edu) and Jenny Wei (jennywei@stanford.edu) with any questions.
