Bronco Venture Accelerator FAQs

Bronco Venture Accelerator is industry-agnostic: we accept applications from companies in all industries. Bronco Venture Accelerator is open to all members of the Santa Clara University community. This means students, staff, alumni, researchers, visiting scholars, and faculty are all welcome to apply.

No, there are no application fees or tuition costs.

• We offer expertise in both business building and fundraising.
• Our mentor network leans heavily on Santa Clara graduates and other experienced Silicon Valley veterans, and we can offer assistance in finding product/market fit, building your team, and going to market. We are an official Santa Clara University program, and Santa Clara has a vibrant and powerful network in Silicon Valley. We can help you tap into that network effectively.
• From a fundraising point of view, Bronco Venture Accelerator is teaming up with industry investors and VCs from Silicon Valley and beyond who will attend the Demo Day at the end of the program. We also have seed and angel investors who attend our Demo Days in hopes of finding the next moonshot startup. We are bringing in corporate sponsors and potential investors who can help evaluate the potential of your product and help you interface with other markets where you might have potential.
• We also love deep science founders. As a member company here, you can access engineering resources and the Maker Lab.

We are open to applicants from all sectors, ranging from consumer, to enterprise, to IT, to digital health, to the hardest problems in science. However, keep in mind our goal is to nurture and grow investable companies that can raise money from venture capital or corporate partners after graduation.

Every company situation is different, but within the next six months we want to help you show significant revenues or achieve major product milestones. Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you consider the process (and these are some of the same questions we will ask as we evaluate your application):

• Can I deliver a minimally viable product within the next three months?
• Is my core team able to work on this full time (or nearly so) over the next three months? Are key aspects of the business supported by skilled co-founders?
• Have I identified who my customer is? Do I know who has buying authority, and how much they can pay?
• Do I know the size of my potential market in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years?
• Who are my potential competitors, current and future? What advantages do I have over them?
• What resources or introductions could Bronco Venture Accelerator deliver to me, and can these help my business model succeed?

No, you only need to have a complete business plan if you’re applying as an entrepreneur who wants to start an idea.

Yes. For an application to be considered, we require a team of 2 or more. This doesn’t have to be your final team - you have the freedom to add members as time permits.

No, Santa Clara University and Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship take no portion of your company. 

Concepts are vetted by an investment committee consisting of BVA team members, SCU faculty, SCU students, SCU alumni, and industry representatives. Teams are selected based on the quality of their idea (viability, desirability, feasibility) as well as the experience and diversity of the team.

Yes, some funding will be provided to teams that are accepted and fully participate in the BVA. Funding will be announced at the beginning of the program.