Ignite transforms exceptional students into founders.
Ignite gives students with ordinary experience yet extraordinary potential the opportunity to grow their foundation of proof through a guided experience of entrepreneurship.
Most of us never start.
Babson College is overwhelmingly the entrepreneurship school. Unsurprisingly, many students come here to pursue entrepreneurship for themselves. Most of us never start. Fear of the infinite possibilities of failure holds us back from taking the leap of faith in ourselves necessary to revolutionize our lives.
#1 in undergraduate entrepreneurship, 29 years running (U.S. News, 2025 cycle), yet roughly 1 in 10 graduates pursues entrepreneurship at graduation (President Spinelli). Every student arrives bright-eyed about entrepreneurship. The system loses them.
this is real.
Ignite is not entrepreneurial study. Ignite is not a business simulation. Founders bear responsibility for actual venture creation, operation, and success. To do great things, we must trust ourselves to be great. To build that trust, we need quality proof of execution we can turn to in times of doubt.
the founder comes first.
Ignite invests in founders as people, serving purpose beyond an executive front. A venture is an externalization of its founder’s vision. Impact is built on the ability to seek growth at each turn, in service of purpose and despite the pain.
you are not alone.
Ignite supports founders through the rejection of isolation. By aggregating experiences and creating community around a shared desire for entrepreneurship, we increase our capacity for contribution and expand our horizon for purpose.
A Babson where extraordinary potential is realized.
Ignite creates a Babson where extraordinary entrepreneurial potential is realized. Founders leave with the confidence, competence, and clarity necessary to pursue their greatest visions.
Babson’s AI lab, and the community Ignite lives in.
The Generator is Babson College’s interdisciplinary AI lab. On the faculty side it runs research labs and AI education. On the student side it runs the events, the Generator Cafe, the Buildathon, and the teams that make them happen. Ignite is its incubator: the selective cohort inside the open funnel.
Ignite is fully aligned with The Generator’s vision and is its own entity with its own identity, systems, and space.
Upstream of the accelerators. Downstream of the itch.
FME, Generator Cafe, the Buildathon
Where you learn the tools and find out you want to build something.
Zero to one
Eight weeks, one venture, a mentor, and a cohort. Passion is the only prerequisite.
Accelerators and competitions
The rooms that screen for traction. What you build here is what gets you in.