Berkeley StEP

What Berkeley StEP does

Berkeley StEP (Student Entrepreneurship Program) is a student-run, 10-week startup incubator operating at UC Berkeley since 2013. The program targets UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and permanent faculty — explicitly excluding alumni, visiting students, and exchange scholars — who want to form founding teams and launch ventures. The curriculum is delivered as 11 sequential weekly sessions (held Wednesdays 6–8pm on the Berkeley campus), covering co-founder matching, lean methodology, problem finding, prototype design, go-to-market strategy, unit economics, fundraising, pitching, and culminating in a VC Day and Showcase Day.

The program does not operate a proprietary technology product; its core asset is the curriculum and a proprietary co-founder matching algorithm. Participants receive $5K in in-kind perks sourced from partners including AWS, Google Cloud, and HubSpot, plus mentorship from industry advisors. StEP occupies an institutional gateway role within Berkeley's entrepreneurial ecosystem: 40% of startups entering the Berkeley Launch accelerator in a prior edition were StEP alumni, and 10% of StEP alumni continued into Sky Deck, indicating a documented pipeline into downstream Berkeley-affiliated accelerators.

Berkeley StEP is free to participants and generates no direct revenue. The program is funded through institutional sponsors (Berkeley Entrepreneurship) and in-kind partner contributions. It is operated by approximately 6 student team members across two annual application cycles (September and February). The entity is effectively a university-affiliated program rather than a commercial venture, with no external investors, no parent company structure, and no disclosed financial metrics. As of 2026, the program continues to accept applications for its Fall 2026 cohort.

Name

Berkeley StEP

Legal name

Berkeley StEP

Website

https://step.berkeley.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Berkeley StEP is a free, student-run 10-week startup incubator at UC Berkeley that helps students and faculty form founding teams, build prototypes, and access investor networks through its curriculum and Berkeley entrepreneurial ecosystem partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Startup Incubator / Entrepreneurship Education

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Business Incubators & Accelerators (EDAMAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Corporate Accelerators & Startup Programs (FSANAHAD)

Keywords

• Startup incubator
• Entrepreneurship program
• Founder matching
• Startup mentorship
• Seed accelerator

Headquarters

HQ city

Berkeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. No Direct Revenue: Berkeley StEP is a free 10-week incubator program for UC Berkeley community members. The program does not charge participants. Funding appears to come from sponsors and partners who support the UC Berkeley entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Berkeley StEP is a student-run, 10-week startup incubator program at UC Berkeley that helps undergraduate and graduate students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and faculty form founding teams, develop business ideas, and pitch to investors. The program delivers a structured weekly curriculum covering ideation, prototyping, go-to-market, unit economics, and pitching, paired with mentor check-ins, a co-founder matching process, and culminating events such as Venture Capital Day and Showcase Day. Participants also receive $5K in in-kind perks including cloud credits and CRM software.

Product overview

Berkeley StEP is a single unified product: the Student Entrepreneurship Program (StEP), a 10-week startup incubator. The program is structured as a sequential curriculum of 11 sessions (modules 00-10) covering the full startup journey from finding co-founders through pitching to investors. The core program includes themed weekly sessions, mentor pairings, and access to a proprietary co-founder matching algorithm. Additional offerings include a Coaching Program (add-on support), Venture Capital Day (speed-pitching event), and Showcase Day (final pitch event). Participants also receive $5K in in-kind perks including cloud services (AWS, Google) and HubSpot CRM access.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• StEP (Student Entrepreneurship Program) A 10-week startup incubator program for UC Berkeley students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and faculty. Includes a structured curriculum of weekly themed sessions covering ideation through pitching, mentor check-ins, a co-founder matching process, and culminating events such as Venture Capital Day and Showcase Day. Free for participants.
• Coaching Program
• $5K In-Kind Perks Package

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Sky DeckcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSky Deck is a Berkeley-affiliated startup accelerator. StEP alumni have access to Sky Deck with 10% of StEP alumni joining Sky Deck after completing the program. The partnership provides a pathway for top startups emerging from the StEP program.
• Cal FounderscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCal Founders is a UC Berkeley alumni venture network. The partnership connects StEP startups with investor networks and provides credibility within the Berkeley entrepreneurial alumni community.
• Berkeley LaunchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBerkeley Launch is a startup accelerator. 40% of startups in Berkeley Launch were StEP alumni from a previous edition, indicating strong pipeline relationship between the programs.
• Berkeley EntrepreneurshipminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBerkeley Entrepreneurship (sponsor) supports the StEP program financially and through institutional resources.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Broad incumbents

• Techstars: Established global accelerator network with university-affiliated programs. Comparable as an early-stage accelerator serving founders, though it operates a paid equity-based model versus StEP's free student-run structure.
• Y Combinator: The leading global accelerator; StEP alumni flow indirectly toward YC after graduating through Sky Deck or Berkeley Launch. Comparable as the canonical accelerator model, though YC operates at vastly greater scale and takes equity.
• Harvard Innovation Labs (i-lab): Harvard's central entrepreneurship program serving undergraduate and graduate student founders. Comparable as a top-tier university-hosted founder-development program, though broader in scope than StEP.

Direct peers

• Stanford StartX: Stanford-affiliated student and alumni accelerator with a comparable university-branded, equity-light accelerator model aimed at Stanford founders. Closest geographic and structural analog outside Berkeley.
• MIT delta v: MIT's premier student-run startup accelerator running a summer bootcamp for MIT student founders — same student-run, university-hosted, equity-light model as StEP.
• Sky Deck: UC Berkeley's flagship startup accelerator; receives 10% of StEP alumni as direct downstream pipeline. Operates within the same Berkeley ecosystem and competes for the same founder talent, making it the most directly comparable peer.
• Berkeley Launch: Berkeley-affiliated startup accelerator where 40% of participants are StEP alumni. Directly comparable as a Berkeley-branded accelerator serving the same student/alumni founder pool.

Regional players

• Columbia Startup Lab: Columbia University's workspace and programming hub for student and recent alumni founders. Comparable as a New York-based university entrepreneurship program with similar student-founder cohort focus.
• Princeton Keller Center Entrepreneurship Programs: Princeton's university-hosted entrepreneurship initiative serving Princeton student founders. Comparable as a top-tier university entrepreneurship program targeting the same student-founder demographic.
• Cal Founders: UC Berkeley alumni venture network that partners with StEP. Comparable as a Berkeley entrepreneurship community node connecting student founders to alumni investors, though it focuses on alumni rather than current students.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/berkeleystep1

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Berkeley StEP