Harvard Business School Launches $699 AI-Powered Startup Bootcamp

Harvard Business School (HBS) has introduced “HBS Foundry,” an eight-week bootcamp for entrepreneurs priced at $699. The curriculum blends weekly live sessions with real instructors and AI video avatars that deliver individualized feedback during practice pitches, sales meetings, and simulated board discussions. The avatars are created by the startup HeyGen and are modeled on the appearance, teaching style, and expertise of HBS faculty.

Harvard's $699 bootcamp deploys AI avatars as startup coaches Harvard’s $699 Startup Bootcamp Uses AI Avatars for Personalized Feedback The New York Times reported on the 22nd (local time) that the Harvard Business School (HBS) has open. .

HBS’s traditional MBA admits roughly 900 students per year, and each professor can hold only 20 to 30 face-to-face meetings weekly. By digitizing instructor feedback, HBS aims to overcome the physical limits of its MBA quota and extend its brand to entrepreneurs nationwide through about 100 university start-up centers in all 50 states.

The New York Times reported on the 22nd (local time) that the Harvard Business School (HBS) has open. .

• Program length: eight weeks

The New York Times reported on the 22nd (local time) that the Harvard Business School (HBS) has open. .

• Tuition: $699 (approximately 960,000 won)

Harvard's $699 bootcamp deploys AI avatars as startup coaches

• Traditional MBA tuition: upward of $75,000 per year (less than 1 % of that cost)

Harvard's $699 bootcamp deploys AI avatars as startup coaches

• HBS faculty-to-student ratio limit: 20–30 in-person meetings per professor per week

The New York Times reported on the 22nd (local time) that the Harvard Business School (HBS) has open. .

• AI avatar provider: HeyGen

Harvard’s $699 Startup Bootcamp Uses AI Avatars for Personalized Feedback

Project director Katharina Rings explained that the AI component was originally envisioned as a chatbot, but student feedback during a trial prompted a shift toward a more guided, interactive video experience. Jeff Bussgang, co-founder of Flybridge Capital and HBS adjunct professor, described his digital counterpart as “a little creepy,” yet added, “My students love it.” Tom Eisenman, co-lead professor of the project, emphasized the strictness of the AI feedback: the agents are trained to provide rigorous critique, rarely approving a business idea on the first attempt.

Harvard’s $699 Startup Bootcamp Uses AI Avatars for Personalized Feedback

• “AI agents are trained to provide strict feedback to the extent that they rarely approve any business ideas in the first attempt.” — Tom Eisenman, co-lead professor of the project

The New York Times reported on the 22nd (local time) that the Harvard Business School (HBS) has open. .

• “The limit is 20 to 30 face-to-face meetings that a professor can hold a week. Expansion through AI is essential to meet the demand for start-ups across the campus.” — Harold Solomon, head of Georgia Tech’s start-up program

The New York Times reported on the 22nd (local time) that the Harvard Business School (HBS) has open. .

The initiative illustrates a broader trend of leveraging artificial intelligence to deliver scalable, personalized learning in higher education. By offering a low-cost, AI-augmented alternative to the traditional MBA, HBS seeks to democratize access to elite mentorship while preserving a degree of human oversight. If successful, the model could influence how other business schools and accelerator programs incorporate AI into their curricula, potentially reshaping the economics of entrepreneurship education.

Harvard's $699 bootcamp deploys AI avatars as startup coaches

HBS has indicated that the bootcamp will continue to iterate on avatar realism and feedback algorithms, though no specific future milestones or rollout dates have been announced.

Harvard’s $699 Startup Bootcamp Uses AI Avatars for Personalized Feedback