Blackstone LaunchPad Releases Second Annual Student Entrepreneurship Outlook Survey

October 21, 2021

Blackstone LaunchPad recently released the findings from its second annual Student Entrepreneurship Outlook survey. Distributed after a year of living with the COVID-19 pandemic – and ensuing disruptions to academic, extra-curricular, and social plans – the survey sought to understand the impact on student entrepreneurs across the LaunchPad network.

Key results:

• Student entrepreneurs honed in on what they need the most to succeed – learning how to ask for funding, mentoring opportunities, and network access.
• Student entrepreneurs were more optimistic coming out of the pandemic and saw even more opportunity to pivot their businesses in the face of new trends such as virtual work.
• Diversity and social impact have never been more important to our students – and they are prioritizing it by building diverse teams and focusing on missions that promote economic opportunity.

Blackstone LaunchPad uses these findings to inform our evolving programming. This year, we’ve introduced a new Ideas Competition to make LaunchPad more accessible to students, regardless of their prior experience, and have plans to implement new programming centered around skill-building.

Read the full survey report here.