Frequently Asked Questions

To apply, complete the online application along with either a preliminary business plan, a business plan executive summary, or a presentation formatted roughly like the one outlined on the application site.

Businesses must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Have one or more founding partners that are an RIT student, faculty member, staff member, or alumnus, or
• Be based upon a technology in one of RIT's core technology areas including imaging science, computational science, gaming, engineering, and others.

In addition, the business concept must be scalable (sometime in the future) to at least $10,000,000 in annual revenue.

There is a cost to the startup for monthly rental of office space or the startup can choose to be a non-resident affiliate that includes use office amenities and coaching. Resident costs are determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the amount of space allotted.  Non-resident affiliate cost is a flat monthly fee.

We believe that entrepreneurs can benefit immensely from interacting with other entrepreneurs and therefore strongly advise that you become resident in our 40 Franklin Street facility. Being here will give you the opportunity to meet other entrepreneur’s through our Founder’s meetings and luncheons, other events, and from walking the same halls. That said, we do offer a non-resident affiliate program if locating here presents a hardship.

We believe that the key to our success comes from the coaching, mentoring, and connections that we provide. To do this we need to spend time with you to understand your business, your progress, and your needs. As such, we do not rent mailboxes or office space to businesses that are not part of our program.

Starting a business requires many decisions across a range of legal and accounting. Since we are neither attorneys, nor accountants, Venture Creations is not able to offer such advice. We are, however, connected with many service providers who can help you.

No, but you do need to have a business concept and have technology that has passed the proof-of-concept phase.

No, we do not. However, we are very well connected with local investors as well as some that are outside the local area. Note that we guard these connections jealously, and therefore will only connect companies with investors that we deem are ready to do so.

Give us a call. We would be happy to talk with you about your ideas for your startup business and answer any questions you have about Venture Creations. You can reach us via email at venturecreations@rit.edu, by phone at 585-239-6000, or by contacting a member of our team.

The coaches will help you with everything from crafting your company's unique value proposition and pitch deck to business model strategy, sales and marketing strategy, establishing relevant KPIs, connecting you with funding sources and professional service providers, helping you with team dynamics, and much more.