Become a Judge or Mentor
Join us as a HopStart judge or mentor and share your expertise with students who are innovating to solve some of today’s most pressing problems. Mentors help student teams perfect their business plans in advance of competition day, and judges evaluate pitches, provide feedback, and network with teams in person on competition day. Learn more on our Judges and Mentors page or contact us at hopstart@jhu.edu for more information.
About HopStart: Hopkins New Venture Challenge
Did you know next year's event will be our 23rd competition? Over the years, HopStart has grown from just 20 competitors to over 200 and from just 6 judges to over 40.
Latest News
2019 winners Relavo awarded NSF grant
Team Relavo, second place winner in the Medical Technology and Life Sciences category in 2019, has been awarded a $256,000 NSF grant. The grant “will be instrumental in demonstrating the safety” of their technology that seeks to lower risk of infection during at-home dialysis.
2019 winners Relavo awarded NSF grant
Proscia, competitors in the 2014 JHU Business Plan Competition, have raised $23M in most recent round of funding, centered on their AI-driven software platform Concentriq.
2019 winners Relavo awarded NSF grant
Veteran mentor and judge Derek Lewis recently spoke with BPC intern Akash Mandavilli about his ten years of experience participating in the JHU Business Plan Competition. Learn more about how mentors and mentees can get the most out of the early rounds of competition here.
Testimonials
"The extensive feedback and conversations with mentors really forces competitors to do a deeper dive on all the subsections of the business plan, and because of that, the BPC is ideal for startups at all stages."
Ronak Mahatme
'21 Competitor
"One of my favorite things about the competition is being inspired by everything that the other student entrepreneurs are building. It’s always very exciting to see what they do, and we can learn a lot from them too."
Vinicius Lepca
'21 Competitor