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Winter cohort · Jan 4–22, 2027 · One Kendall Square, Cambridge MA

Three weeks.
Your team, our floor.
Build an AI company.

Link Launchpad is a January build program at Link Studio for student founding teams of two to four. Software or hardware, AI at the core. You arrive with an idea. You leave with a working product and two pitch days behind you.

Apply now See the schedule
Dates
Jan 4–22, 2027
Location
Cambridge, MA
Stipend
$5K / team
Cohort
~10–12 teams
Founders
2–4 each
Admissions
Rolling
Founders presenting their startup on demo day in the Link Studio loft, the cohort seated around them.
Demo Day Link Studio · One Kendall Square

01 — The Floor

You build where we build.

Launchpad doesn't run in a borrowed classroom. It runs on Link Studio's own state-of-the-art build floor at One Kendall Square — desks, whiteboards, and advisors in the room. Kendall Square is the densest square mile of technical talent in the country, and in January it's all yours.

Workstation pods beside Link Studio's signature red wall at One Kendall Square.
The floor · workstation pods
Founders working at standing desks by Link Studio's tall, brick-framed windows.
Standing desks · the windows
Founders working together in the Link Studio workspace.
Teams · heads down
Two people talking in Link Studio's bright lounge beneath its wood-slatted ceiling.
The lounge · coffee at 9:00

02 — Schedule

Schedule

A typical day, deliberately not over-programmed. Sessions are few and high-leverage; the rest of the time the studio is yours and the work is the schedule.

  1. 9:00 AM

    Coffee & community

    Coffee and informal chat in the Link Studio lounge as the floor fills up.

  2. 11:30 AM

    Workshop or build

    A workshop or talk roughly twice a week. Every other day, this is build time.

  3. 12:30 PM

    Lunch

    Catered on program days when the cohort eats together — otherwise Kendall Square is at the door.

  4. 1:30 PM

    Protected build time

    The longest uninterrupted block of the day. Heads down.

  5. 3:30 PM

    Advisor office hours

    Twenty-minute 1:1 slots with advisors, when you want them.

  6. All day

    Snacks & cafe

    Open in the Link Studio cafe whenever you need fuel.

03 — Workshops & Firesides

Pattern recognition, straight from the people who have it.

You spend three weeks learning from industry leaders and operators who build companies for a living. Founders and investors who have seen this stage many times over come to the floor, tell you what actually happened, and then sit down with your team one on one. Not a lecture series — access.

A speaker taking questions from the cohort during a fireside talk.
Workshops & firesides · on the floor

What they cover

A handful of workshops and an investor fireside across the three weeks, plus 1:1 office hours. From the topic pool:

  • Problem definition & customer discovery in 14 days
  • Org structure / GitHub for software startups
  • Fundraising 101: raising your first round
  • Pricing, packaging, and the first ten customers
  • Learning how to pitch

04 — What You Get

We remove the obstacles. You build.

The conditions are concrete — space, capital, compute, people — because serious builders shouldn't spend January on logistics.

  1. $5K stipend per team

    So January is a build month, not a side project. Cash to the team on day one.

  2. A desk on the floor

    Desks, monitors, and whiteboards on Link Studio's state-of-the-art build floor — plus a complimentary gym membership in the building.

  3. Compute, on us

    Claude Enterprise seats, API credits, and your IDE of choice. Set up before you arrive.

  4. Hands-on advisors

    Operators, founders, investors, and technical experts, plugged in where useful.

  5. Food & swag

    Catered meals at the moments the cohort comes together, snacks and coffee on the floor, and Launchpad gear.

  6. Real next steps

    Teams that build something worth continuing get direct conversations about investment, studio support, and what comes next.

05 — Who Should Apply

Builders, not spectators.

  • You have 2–4 founders who already trust each other.
  • You care more about building than talking about building.
  • You're building an AI startup — software or hardware, AI at the core.
  • You have a real problem, early signal, or a prototype worth pushing.
  • You want a real business — not a competition trophy.
  • You can be in Cambridge, full-time, January 4–22, 2027.

What we expect

  1. Show up. Most days are flexible, but kickoff dinner, the founders dinner, dress rehearsal, and Demo Days are mandatory.
  2. Ship things. A problem doc by end of Week 1, a working demo by end of Week 2, a real pitch by end of Week 3.
  3. Help your cohort. Friday demos and User Test Day work because everyone shows up for each other.

06 — The Team

Run by people who build companies for a living.

Link Studio creates and operates new companies from its build floor at One Kendall Square — first money in, close to the work. Link Ventures, our sister venture firm in the same building, writes follow-on checks. Launchpad is the program we run when school's out and the right people are free to build.

The wider bench

Link Ventures, our sister venture firm, works out of the same building. These are the investors around the program — the people you run into on the floor and get in front of when your team needs a read on the market, the raise, or the next hire.

  • Boaz Fachler

    Managing Director · Link Ventures

    Boaz Fachler

  • Frazer Anderson

    Managing Director · Link Ventures

    Frazer Anderson

  • Colin Kamhi

    Investor · Link Ventures

    Colin Kamhi

  • Rachel Harkavy

    Investor · Link Ventures

    Rachel Harkavy

07 — Apply

Three weeks. Your team. Let's go.

Rolling acceptances — the earlier you apply, the better. Admission is competitive: we expect to take roughly 10–12 teams, and the cohort flexes with the strength of the applications. Round up your co-founders, tell us what you want to build, and we'll be in touch fast.

Team Lead
The Project