UIUC's BoldestBuilding Together.

Founders is the student entrepreneurship organization at Illinois. We help students at every step, from a half-formed idea to a pitch in front of real judges.

See events Meet the team

2,000+

event attendees

300+

startups pitched

200+

mentors

100+

past events

active members

What Founders is

An org for people who'd rather try it than talk about it.

Founders is a selective community of student builders. Members come from every corner of campus: engineering, finance, design and psych.

We run hackathons, a startup weekend in Chicago, workshops and mentorship, and we keep the community tight enough that people actually show up for each other.

Pick a door

Where do you want to go?

/events

Events

54, Forge, speakers and workshops. What's coming up.

/forge

Forge

The Midwest's largest student-run startup weekend.

/team

The team

The people running Founders this semester.

/startups

Startups

Companies built by Founders members.

/newsletter

This Week at UIUC Founders, in your inbox.

/podcast

Podcast

Conversations with builders from our community.

Flagship events

The big ones

All events →

Hackathon

54

A 54-hour startup hackathon. Over 100 students form teams, work with Y Combinator founders, and pitch a startup.

Startup weekend

Forge 2027

The Midwest's largest student-run startup weekend. Two days in Chicago with VCs, founders and top student startups: pitch for prizes, get 1:1 mentoring, and sharpen your idea in workshops.

Runway

Twelve months, a pile of hard calls, and three things that can kill your startup. How long can you last?

Cash-5/mo

Users

Morale

The game

Keep your startup alive for 12 months.

Every month brings a decision. Swipe left or right, or use the buttons. You burn cash every month no matter what, so watch your cash, users and morale. If any of them hits zero, you're done.

Community