Protect your courage.
Watson Institute powers venture and career accelerators for highly promising, next-generation entrepreneurs and leaders in partnership with corporations, foundations, and universities.
A lifetime of impact begins.
Watson Institute is a place where rising entrepreneurs and leaders can find their community, discover their calling, and accelerate their careers.
In partnership with leading corporations and foundations, Watson Institute powers Fellowships to support highly promising, historically disenfranchised rising entrepreneurs and leaders. The Fellowships provide award-winning entrepreneurship and leadership skills training, committed mentorship, stipends, long-term Alumni support, and access to a global community of peers, mentors, and opportunities.
In partnership with Ford Motor Company Fund, Comcast, Google, Western Union Foundation, Truist Foundation, BMO, and several private foundations and corporations, Watson Institute’s programs will positively impact approximately 2,400 rising leaders this year.
Alumni of Watson Institute’s Fellowships have raised over $185 million, created over 1,900 paid jobs, and impacted 10 million people around the world through initiatives they help lead. 90% of Watson Institute alums are employed, continuing their education, or building a venture. This is on par with leading business schools, yet all of the Fellowships Watson Institute powers are free. 99% of Watson Institute Alumni use a skill they learned while in a Watson Institute powered program up to 10 years later. Watson Institute’s Alumni have been selected to Y Combinator, the Echoing Green Fellowship and seven have been named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 lists. Alums continue their education at Harvard University, New York University, and Princeton University, among others.
Watson Institute, Boulder
The Watson Accelerator is an 18-week fully funded fellowship program designed for impact-driven entrepreneurs seeking to elevate their ventures to achieve product-market fit and scale. The program kicks off with a 3-week immersive in-person experience in Boulder, Colorado.
Watson Institute at Lynn University
The revolutionary Bachelor of Science in Social Impact and Entrepreneurship from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida is built for students to ‘Major in their mission’, intern with leading organizations, and develop a skill set necessary to launch and lead impactful, successful careers.
The Watson Institute Experience
We exist to serve as a platform for the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators to build successful careers and impactful lives.
Each element of the Watson Institute program is tailored to give next generation entrepreneurial leaders the intensive training, global network, committed mentorship, and hands-on experience to launch impactful careers.
These are the main pillars of each Watson Institute program:
Mentorship
Mentorship catalyzes personal growth, leadership development, and entrepreneurial success while greatly expanding the network of our students. For this reason, the Mentor Program is a pillar of the Watson experience and consistently ranked as one of the most impactful parts of our program.
At Watson Institute, students are paired with proven local entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders based on how well they align with their mission and current skillset. Mentors coach students through their journey and challenge them to increase their impact by adding perspective, expanding their network, questioning their assumptions, and enhancing their worldview.
Impact Series
Watson Institute’s Impact Series welcomes the world’s foremost leaders, entrepreneurs, and practitioners to serve as short-term entrepreneurs in residence. Throughout every program, a series of impact driven speakers are invited to our programs to share their entrepreneurial journey and experience as well as mentor the Watson Institute students and Fellows. The Impact Series may include a Fireside Chat or an interactive workshop, and revolves around sharing best practices, as well as learnings and failures. This pillar of the Watson Institute experience exposes our community to inspiring individuals who are committed to leading a life of impact.
Previous Impact Series Teachers’ include: Jerry White, a leader of the Nobel Prize winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines; Hunter Lovins, author of Natural Capitalism and Time Magazine’s Hero of the Planet; Erin Schrode, the youngest person to run for US congress; and Tom Chi, former head of product experience at Google X where he developed technology such as Google Glass and Google’s self-driving cars.
Intensive Training
Watson Institute’s training develops the hard and soft skills necessary to forge a successful career and impactful life including transformative communication, leadership, fundraising, finance, grit, empathy, and resilience. Preceptors are Watson Institute’s equivalent of faculty who themselves are carefully selected practitioners, leaders, and entrepreneurs who teach the Watson curriculum, draw on a wealth of personal experience, and individually mentor students.
Watson Institute’s team of Preceptors facilitate courses like Design Your Life, Transformative Action, Transformative Entrepreneurship, Impact Gap Canvas, Apprenticing with a Problem, and the Watson Lab.
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