Xperience

Build bold solutions.
Solve grand challenges.
Gain real experience.

Secure over a year of hands-on experience and resume-ready credentials, competing with other student teams and preparing you for venture creation and leading roles post-graduation.

Solve the problem

You don’t need a fully formed business idea to participate. Each year, you can choose from real-world challenges aligned with your passion, energy, and talent, and develop that into a viable solution.

Your mission? Build your team and work together to solve a grand challenge.

Brainstorm, prototype, and refine real solutions with support from the Resource MatriX – your toolkit for expert mentorship, AI tools, and more.

Evidence-Based Decisions

Build products fueled by real user feedback and hard evidence.

MultiDisciplinary Collaboration

Collaborate across disciplines to build solutions that work in the real world.

Real-World Impact

Step out of the classroom and into the market to test ideas against real-world constraints.

Investment ready

Go beyond the prototype. Build a validated, scalable venture that is ready to pitch for seed capital.

Why participate

Build a real product

Design, test, and refine a minimum viable product (MVP) over 15–18 months using real user feedback.

Expert feedback

Work with industry leaders, founders, and CXOs and get actionable feedback to sharpen your product.

Compete for real investment

Pitch to real investors, with winning ventures securing up to $2M in investment and post-launch support.

Get recognized

Earn official competitor, finalist, or winner badges to showcase on your LinkedIn and resume.

Stand out after graduation

Graduate with real experience, proof of your work, and a story employers care about. Or, use your MVP to start a new venture.

How to register

Join ConneXions, xFoundry’s community of students and mentors, to get started:
  • Register for programs, form teams, and access exclusive resources
  • Participate in events, meet teammates, and connect with mentors

Evaluation criteria

To secure a spot in the Finals, your solution must meet various validation metrics:
  • Real user validation
  • Evidence-backed decisions
  • Meaningful iteration over time
  • Product–market fit

Eligibility

You must be currently enrolled or recently graduated from an accredited university or community college (North America only), and meet one of the following criteria:
  • Sophomore standing and above
  • A current graduate student
  • An alumni less than 24 months from graduation

Team information

All team members must meet the individual eligibility requirements, and the collective team meets eligibility throughout the competition with:
  • 3-6 team members
  • By Finals Verification, at least three disciplines represented across the team

Previous champions

School Safety Xperience winner

Team DefenX

Team DefenX is preparing schools to detect guns using accessible, AI-driven real-time surveillance. Their solution combines computer vision and seamless integration for an immediate response.

institution

University of Maryland

Prize

$250K secured investment

Hear from our students

Learn what it’s like to compete in Xperience, straight from students who’ve built, tested, and grown through the program.

Competitions

Active
Upcoming
Past
Registration Open

Mental Health Xperience

Build a scalable solution to improve student mental health and engagement, centered around one of seven high-impact entry approaches. Secure up to $250K in an investment to launch your company.

Registration closes

Mar 26, 2026

investment Prize

Up to $250K

Finals

Apr 2027

The next Xperience competition launches in September 2026
Sign up for ConneXions to stay informed.

Registration Closed

School Safety Xperience

The competition focused on developing an affordable and automated solution for rapid detection and notification of school shooting events for K-12 schools and colleges.

Status

Awarded

Grand Prize

$250K

Finals

Sep 2025

Frequently asked questions

What type of challenges does Xperience focus on?
What support do teams receive?
Do I need a business or technical background to join?
Do I need to already have a team to join?
What is the time commitment?
Register here