AI
Entrepreneurship Lab

Join the AI E-Lab and unlock your potential to shape the future of technology

What is the AI E-Lab?

The AI Entrepreneurship Lab is the Launchpad for your AI ventures, a 3-months founding journey for curious and driven individuals. We provide you with relevant know-how, a team, and support to lay the foundation for your own AI startup.

Inside the E-Lab: A Founder's Journey

How founders experience the E-Lab

you.yes you.you can build something great!

Entrepreneurship means change and we believe that everyone is qualified to become an entrepreneur. Think about your last big achievement, your perseverance over hurdles and what it took to succeed - you already proved that you are a real changemaker.

Are you ready for your next step? Great. With our AI Entrepreneurship Lab we aim at making the founding of AI startups accessible to everyone, including you. Bring your motivation and dedication, and we’ll provide the rest, striving to make founding as easy as possible for you.

Team ikigai profile picture

Team ikigai

"The AI E Lab was one of the few "non-bullshit" sources during our journey. It was a sandbox full of other really cool people truly wanting to challenge themselves and their idea. Through those interactions could we understand our own business better, share insights and give back to the community and feel like every single one of the people there will walk out of the AI E Lab with a new perspective!"

ikigai
Florian Scherl profile picture

Florian Scherl

"I really loved the abundance of pitch events. It not only immensely improved my pitching but I also received priceless feedback for my idea and even found my NLP team lead at the final pitch. I definitely recommend applying to the AI E-Lab and using the provided knowledge and resources to the fullest. They offer great advice and guidance. Lastly, I greatly appreciated the peer-to-peer exchange. They absolutely brought the brightest minds together to start new thriving ventures."

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Tom Dörr profile picture

Tom Dörr

"I gained real, usable insights into the world of start-ups, including the ins and outs of fundraising. The feedback of others added layers to my understanding and helped refine my ideas. The interactive nature of the sessions, were great, the one on product-market fit really stood out for me. One of the best parts was connecting with people who share a passion for AI. Working on projects with them has been a unique and rewarding experience."

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Marc Alexander Kühn (Jury) profile picture

Marc Alexander Kühn (Jury)

"Participating in AI E-Lab's final pitch event as a jury member was an enriching experience. It was great to see so many young people driving change in Artificial Intelligence. Also, it was thrilling to see some of the teams making significant progress after the incubation program. Above all, I believe what TUM.ai E-Lab is doing for the Munich ecosystem is of significant value. They're cultivating a vibrant environment for young, talented students and graduates to kick-start their entrepreneurial journey. Their dedication to unleashing the future of AI innovation in Munich is remarkable and I'm excited to see where their efforts will lead."

UVC Partners
Maximilian Jesch (Jury) profile picture

Maximilian Jesch (Jury)

"Being a jury member at the AI Startup Contest was an exhilarating experience! The passion and innovation displayed by the participating teams left me truly impressed. Their groundbreaking ideas and impeccably delivered pitches showcased the immense potential of the next generation of AI-driven entrepreneurship. I have no doubt that these teams are on the cusp of revolutionizing the industry and driving us into an exciting AI-powered future. It's an honor to be part of their journey, and I eagerly anticipate witnessing their continued success and impact on the world."

Last AI E-Lab in numbers

17+

Workshops

16

Startups

3

Winners

Top 3 Startups have

50+

B2B customers

1M+

Funding

300K+

ARR

30+

Hired employees

Benefits

We support you in achieving your endeavors because your personal growth is our goal

Are you passionate about AI and ready to make a real-world impact? TUM.ai invites you to join our AI E-Lab, a platform where visionaries, doers, and risk-takers with an interest in founding an AI-based startup come together to shape the future of AI. We value diversity, curiosity, and a commitment to learning and improvement.

As part of the AI E-Lab, you'll connect with a vibrant ecosystem of startups, industry partners, and like-minded peers. You'll have the opportunity to contribute to groundbreaking AI projects and drive positive social impact.

This is a part-time program and we expect you to provide us with intermediate deliverables on a weekly basis: pitches, MVPs, learning outcomes, sprint planning, etc. Our events are planned to take place in Munich, so you must be able join in person. The more you commit, the more you get.

Access to our network

In order to shape something meaningful and have impact, knowledge alone does not suffice. You need a network of diverse people you can learn from and share your passion with. We therefore organise several events where you can meet and mingle with TUM.ai members, business and domain experts, startups, founders, investors and many more. Of course, you're also welcome to reach out at any time in between our scheduled events.

Count on our support

We help you develop your final MVP and guide you through the program with individual coaching and tailored mentoring with founders and domain experts. You and your team have the opportunity to experience vivid discussions in our co-working spaces. We also provide you with software and hardware resources, and you can count on tech support.

Learn and grow

Everyone has superpowers and we support you in using them to excel. With hands-on workshops we provide you with the knowledge to found your AI startup and encourage you to test it in a real-world setting. You’ll hear stories of other founders and have the possibility to learn from their experiences. Our program is customer-centric and feedback-oriented, emphasising the importance of listening and interacting with others for personal growth and success.

We are equity free

Making AI and the founding process accessible to everyone is one of our missions at TUM.ai. We, therefore, do not charge any costs for the AI E-Lab and do not take any equity stake in your venture. Further, we don’t expect pre-seed readiness or any initial investment. The only investment you have to arrange is your time, eagerness and dedication.

Timeline

1

Formation & Ideation

4 Weeks
October 2024

You will interact with potential co-founders, explore ideas, and form teams through the AI E-Lab onboarding, co-founder matching/team building, and ideation activities. This phase will end with a relaxed informal event where you and your team will share your ideas and concepts.

2

Idea validation

2 Weeks
November 2024

You will focus on validating and shaping your startup idea from the previous phase through market research and developing robust business models that will undergo evaluation in the first pitch event, a Litmus Test to a jury.

3

Build-measure learn

4 Weeks
Nov - Dec 2024

If your team can make it through the Litmus Test with validated ideas you will start to build prototypes, measure performance, gather valuable feedback from mentors, industry experts, and customers, and continuously iterate towards achieving product-market fit. This phase will end with a Stress test (second pitch event) where a more experienced jury will rigorously test the product market fit and prototypes of your startup and determine who is fit enough to make it to the final pitch to pitch to investors in Phase 4.

4

Refinement & Final pitch

4 Weeks
Dec - Jan 2025

Should your team successfully pass the Stress Test, you will continue to refine your prototypes into Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) and further refine your business models, and pitches based on the valuable feedback received from customers, mentors, industry experts, and the jury during the Stress Test. The goal of your startup in this phase will be to prepare to showcase your polished startups to real investors and a public audience in the AI E-Lab final pitch event.

Meet our Partners and Sponsors

AI+Munich
Ewor
Campus Founders
Merantix
Burda
UVC Partners
Cherry VC
Ananda Impact Ventures

Meet the Team behind the AI E-LAB

The AI Entrepreneurship Lab is organized by passionate TUM.ai Members who are committed to fostering the next generation of AI entrepreneurs. Our mission is to ignite your innovative spirit and equip you with the relevant know-how to build your own AI startup with the help of the Munich Entrepreneurship Ecosystem.

Jan-Christopher Michalczik

Jan-Christopher Michalczik

Strategy & Events

Benedikt Wieser

Benedikt Wieser

Strategy & Events

Emine Hakani

Emine Hakani

Partners & Sponsors

Philip Jünemann

Philip Jünemann

Talent & Community

David Reyes

David Reyes

Talent & Community

Zaid Efraij

Zaid Efraij

Events & Strategy

Nagah Sreenivasulu

Nagaharshith Makam Sreenivasulu

Marketing

FAQ

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