Harvard Rolls Out $699 Entrepreneur Bootcamp Using Professor AI Doubles

Harvard’s new HBS Foundry program pairs paying participants with video replicas of faculty, letting aspiring founders practice pitches and get feedback — and the school says the format helps advisers reach far more students than traditional office hours allow.

HBS Foundry is an eight-week entrepreneurship course that stitches together guided lessons, simulated conversations with Harvard instructors and online peer discussion spaces. The school has piloted the $699 program with more than 100 colleges and universities, pitching it as a quicker way to move from a raw idea to a customer-ready pitch and an investor presentation.

On video calls students interact with avatars modeled after real faculty, including senior lecturer Jeff Bussgang. Bussgang acknowledged the experience can feel odd, but he told reporters that participants respond enthusiastically and that the simulations reinforce classroom concepts. Harvard officials say the sessions are supplemented by forums where participants trade feedback and practical tips — an element faculty leaders describe as unexpectedly important.

Educators outside Harvard are already plugging the course into existing curricula. A principal at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who added the HBS Foundry option to a 12-week entrepreneurship class this summer, said in an interview that face-to-face mentoring simply can’t scale to meet demand. “We can hold dozens of meetings a week, but not hundreds,” the administrator said, arguing the program lets more founders get regular coaching without overloading staff.

Tom Eisenmann, one of the faculty co-chairs on the project, told a reporter that while the artificial instructors are useful for drilling fundamentals, the community interactions are what students value most. “They’ll use the simulated sessions to practice, but they keep coming back to human feedback,” he said, noting that the platform’s discussion groups often drive peer learning and networking.

The rollout raises questions about access, authenticity and faculty control over their likenesses. An education-technology consultant said the approach can widen access to high-caliber guidance for those who can’t afford a full-time an MBA, but warned institutions should be explicit about what the avatars can and can’t do and about data protections. For now Harvard appears intent on expanding the experiment, even as colleges weigh whether digital stand-ins should supplement — not replace — in-person mentorship.