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OVERVIEW

The Stanford Graduate School of Business, in collaboration with Doerr School of Sustainability, administers Venture Experiment Funds to help ease the financial burden of meeting learning goals in certain team-based experiential entrepreneurship courses and programs that employ a hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship framework.

Through this fund, you can apply for partial (80%) reimbursement of project expenses that you incur as you run experiments during the course or program. 

Important dates

  • Submit pre-approval applications before you spend the funds, anytime during the duration of the course or program, and no later than one (1) week before the last day of class/program.

  • Spend funds before the last day of class/program

  • Submit your Final Reimbursement Form before four (4) weeks after the last day of class/program.

How much can I be reimbursed?

Maximum team reimbursement = $1000 per team, per quarter

Remember, we reimburse at a rate of 80%.

Process for Accessing Funds

1. Read the guidelines on this page. Select ONE member of your team to incur all the expenses.

2. Submit the Pre-approval Application. (*see guidance below, as some expenses do not require pre-approval)

3. Run your experiment and collect receipts as you go.

4. Submit an the Receipt Submission Form.

5. Wait for the reimbursement to show up in your Stanford account (usually is completed a few weeks after the quarter ends)

$1000

We CAN Reimburse:

  • Prototyping supplies

  • Website development

  • Interviewee/User acquisition (e.g. gift cards) - $300 limit applies

  • Ad spends  (e.g. Facebook, Google, etc.) - $400 limit applies

  • Travel for accessing target customers (e.g. trade shows, conferences or to conduct market research). There are a lot of caveats with travel, so please come talk to us if you're thinking about travelling.

  • Labor from independent contractors (come talk to us first)

  • Not sure? Ask us!

We CANNOT Reimburse:

  • Any alcohol, or drugs, or anything that is illegal in any U.S. state

  • Meals for team members 

  • Phone calls or videoconferencing (use free options)

  • Office equipment

  • Survey software (use a GoogleForm or Qualtrics instead)

  • Logo design

  • Incorporation fees or legal charges

  • Gift cards that would be used to pay for the service/product you are building  (clever! but not allowed)

  • Costs incurred by or on behalf of team members not enrolled in the course

  • Expenses incurred for a course you have dropped

  • Expenses that have already been incurred without pre-approval

  • Prototyping supplies under $100

  • Website hosting under $200

  • Website domains under $100

  • Interviewee/User acquisition (e.g. gift cards) under $100

  • Ad spend under $200

By default, the Pre-approval Form is required for any expense.  However, there are some expenses that do not require pre-approval, and only the Final Reimbursement Form is needed:

For What?

Your experiment should align with one of the five learning goals listed below.

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