LaunchLab Pre-Accelerator
About the program · 1 linked sources
The LaunchLab Pre-Accelerator, powered by ZinnStarter, is a free eight-week in-person program for WVU undergraduates. It runs as two four-week stages, Discover and Test. Sessions meet once a week for 50 minutes, with about two to three hours of outside work. No prior business experience or finished idea is required.
Discover starts by defining a problem, a customer, and a way to test the idea. Test asks students to apply customer-interview practice, complete at least five customer conversations, build a lean business model canvas, and present at Demo Day. The page says Demo Day is a report-out of what students learned, not a pitch competition.
Also known as: LaunchLab Pre-Accelerator powered by ZinnStarter
How we know this: the figures on this page come from the linked sources (last verified 2026-10-08); what those sources do not state is left unknown.
Key numbers
Funding range
Not listed
Equity
None
Application
Annual
Campus Wide
Last activity
2026-10-08
High confidence
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Reminders
LaunchLab Pre-Accelerator
Get an email before a director-verified deadline for this program, this school, or this state. The program never sees your address.
LaunchLab Pre-Accelerator · Dec 3, 2026 · Unverified
Student experiences · Read or add a note
Student notes
LaunchLab Pre-Accelerator
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Application and Timing
The captured Fall 2026 calendar: applications close at 5 p.m. on September 10; Discover runs September 22 through October 13, 2026; Test runs October 19 through November 10, 2026; the cohort attends an Office of Innovation and Commercialization CEO Bootcamp on November 13; Demo Day is December 3, 2026.
Participants
WVU undergraduate students only, any college and any major. Up to five Test spots may go to students who did not finish Discover if they can show they are ready.
Funding and Equity
The page states that LaunchLab does not take equity and that there is no cost to apply or participate. It also says that after completion, funds are available for legal, accounting, marketing, or other early-stage services, and that this is a resource for a specific need rather than a prize. No dollar amount is stated. Ideas created at LaunchLab remain student-owned under WVU Board of Governance Rule 1.5, as stated on the page.
Students who complete the program and meet expectations may receive a referral to Vantage Ventures. The page says completion also prepares students to apply to IgniteWV when Round 1 opens in January. Terms for those later programs are not on this page.
Recent Activity
The program page presented the Fall 2026 cohort as open when captured on 2026-10-08.
Known Startups or Winners
None named. Demo Day is explicitly not a prize competition.
Research gaps & things to verify
Verification Gaps
The amount of post-program service funding is not stated. Vantage Ventures and IgniteWV terms were not captured. This listing is researched from the public page and is not a school-verified profile.
Program details
LaunchLab Pre-Accelerator
Additional research notesShow
Evidence
Official page: https://launch.wvu.edu/pre-accelerator-program
News & articles
News articles and official sources documenting LaunchLab Pre-Accelerator at West Virginia University.
1 source
