Spears LAUNCH Accelerator

Spears LAUNCH is the signature 12-week intensive accelerator at the Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership. The inaugural cohort culminated in Demo Day on August 21, 2025 at the George W. Bush Presidential Center with 11 student-led startups pitching to 150+ investors and business leaders.

• Duration: 12 weeks (summer intensive)
• Operator: smu-spears-institute
• Head of Accelerator: Bhavna Kumar
• Demo Day venue: George W. Bush Presidential Center (inaugural 2025)
• Emcees: Nirav and Megha Tolia (Spears Co-Founding Directors)

11 startups including FitCheck, TIMIO News, Ellie, MyKin & Co., En Casa, SynChronos, Universal Drug Discovery, HydroVolt, Popkle, PetWell, and InsightX.

Trey Bowles, Jordan Miller, Brandon Stokes, Henry Talamantes, Trent Mervine, Kyle Waldrep, James Wong, David Schnabel, Josh Taylor, Kiku Chaudhuri, Ichan Stall.

• Classroom rigor paired with real-world mentorship
• Custom founder flags at kickoff; "plant your flag" ritual at Demo Day
• Inaugural Spears Pioneer Award (2025: LTK founders Amber Venz Box and Baxter Box)

• smu-caruth-institute — Curriculum and pitch pipeline
• smu-hart-institute — Tech venture feed-in
• smu-cox-innovation-triad — Parent ecosystem framework