Explore grants help aspiring entrepreneurs identify and validate real problems worth solving. 

One of the earliest stages of building a venture starts with identifying the problem you hope to solve using entrepreneurship. This is an important part of the entrepreneurial process. We call it Bottom-up Research, and Explore Grants are designated to help with this critical stage of venture development. Most bottom-up research can be done at little or no cost. Learn how to explore user needs, test ideas, and gather feedback before applying. 

Experiment Grant supports the second phase of exploring the problem you hope to solve using entrepreneurship and is designed to help you take the insights you gained from your bottom-up research and begin building and testing possible solutions. This is an iterative process in which you iterate, improve, and move closer to a sustainable solution. 

Example uses of an Experiment Grant:

• Prototype Testing: Build low-fidelity versions — for software, use flowcharts, sketches, Figma, or Canva; for physical products, try a Lego or cardboard model.
• Pilot / Proof of Concept: Run a small test with target users.
• Early Messaging & Strategy Testing: Experiment with messaging, offerings, or distribution approaches.
• Data Collection: Gather insights to inform key product or business decisions.

Expand grants help accelerate the next phase of growth. Whether deepening product-market fit, developing revenue and a sustainability model, or expanding operations and partnerships.

Grants are awarded to ventures that clearly define who they serve, demonstrate the unique value of their solution, and show how additional resources will drive growth. Strong applicants provide evidence of early traction and present a thoughtful plan to build on that momentum—whether through expanded operations, stronger systems, or a path toward financial stability.

Hazeltine Grants are designed to encourage more students to design and build technology-related projects and to support students already doing such projects. Successful applicants will receive between $500 and $1000 to help them pay for project expenses, engineering mentorship from Professors Barrett Hazeltine, and entrepreneurship support from the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship. Grants are renewed on a case-by-case basis.

For more information, please contact Professor Hazeltine and CC Tina Trahan. 

The Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA) and the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship are partnering to bring together students from across the university to create solutions addressing anti-Black and systemic racism. The Anti-Black & Systemic Racism Venture Grants are designed to support and empower students to use entrepreneurship to design solutions for these issues. There are few restrictions when it comes to the specific issues that a team may want to tackle, so long as they have articulated the problem and how it relates to the issue of anti-Black and systemic racism. 

For questions, contact NCE or Stéphanie Larrieux, Associate Director at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America.

The Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, in conjunction with the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES), is excited to provide dedicated support for climate change/sustainability-focused ventures. These early-stage venture grants are for undergraduate and graduate students interested in developing entrepreneurial solutions to environmental problems. They come with dedicated advising and funding.

For questions, contact NCE or Stephen Porder, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Environment and Society.

$4,000 scholarly fellowship award to founders eligible

Brown University’s B-Lab is an intensive 8-week accelerator program designed to support student entrepreneurs developing high-impact ventures. Each participating team receives access to custom mentoring, a peer cohort of dedicated founders, and co-working space. 

$50,000 total in prizes

The Brown Venture Prize (BVP) is designed to empower the most advanced ventures by Brown students. It supports teams who have identified a significant opportunity and whose ventures have the potential to create impact at scale. The prize is agnostic with respect to what sectors or industries ventures are working in. The essential thing is that teams have identified a problem and are thinking big about how to solve it. Winners will receive prize money, critical mentorship, and access to leaders in the Brown entrepreneurial community and beyond.