13 Startup Incubators in San Francisco for High School Students
If you are a high school student interested in business or entrepreneurship, learning by doing is one of the most powerful ways to understand how to turn ideas into real products and companies. This is where startup incubators come in.
What do startup incubators in San Francisco for high school students involve?
Startup incubators are designed to support early-stage founders in a multitude of ways. They can offer you access to resources, mentorship, and direction to develop and launch your business venture. San Francisco is among the entrepreneurial hubs that offer exactly this kind of learning to students. Many incubators, innovation labs, and youth-focused entrepreneurial programs in the city welcome high school students who want to explore how startups grow from concept to launch.
Why pursue startup incubators in San Francisco for high school students?
Depending on the program, you might brainstorm solutions to real problems, work with mentors, participate in pitch sessions, or build prototypes using industry tools. These experiences can be helpful in building your own venture and getting a clearer sense of which parts of entrepreneurship excite you most. They can also help you with future college applications and building entrepreneurial skills.
If you’re interested in entrepreneurship or starting your own business, also check out teen startup accelerator programs here.
To help you with your search, here are 13 startup incubators in San Francisco for high school students!
13 Startup Incubators in San Francisco for High School Students
1. UPenn Wharton Global Youth Program: San Francisco: Innovation and Startup Culture
Location: Wharton San Francisco campus, San Francisco, CA)
Cost: $8,959 tuition + $100 non-refundable application fee; financial aid available
Application deadline: March 18
Dates: July 5 – 17; July 19 – 31
Eligibility: High school students currently enrolled in grades 9–11 with a minimum 3.3 unweighted GPA or equivalent
In this program, you spend two weeks at Wharton’s San Francisco campus exploring how founders generate ideas and build startups in the broader Silicon Valley ecosystem. You will join a team of peers to develop a new business idea, evaluate its profit potential, and build an innovative model aimed at reaching product‑market fit. The schedule combines lectures, interactive activities, and company visits across the Bay Area to help you explore different types of ventures and see how they operate. Throughout the program, you will use frameworks from entrepreneurship, marketing, and finance to analyze opportunities and refine your venture. At the end, you will participate in a pitch day and present your ideas to investors and entrepreneurs familiar with the local startup scene, receiving structured feedback on your concept and execution.
2. Young Founders Lab
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on program type; full financial aid available
Application deadline: Varies according to cohort; you can learn more and apply here!
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including summer, fall, winter, and spring
Eligibility: High school students
The Young Founder’s Lab is a start-up boot camp founded and run by Harvard entrepreneurs. Here, you will work on building a revenue-generating start-up that addresses a complex problem. You will also have the opportunity to be mentored by established entrepreneurs and professionals from Google, Microsoft, and X. Apart from building the venture itself, you will participate in classes covering business fundamentals and business ideations, workshops and skill-building sessions, case studies, panel discussions, and more. The program can be an opportunity to delve into the world of business in high school and explore multiple theoretical and practical frameworks that lead to a successful business. You can learn more by checking out the program brochure here.
3. UC San Diego Extended Studies: High School: Startup Bootcamp
Location: Virtual
Cost: TBA
Application deadline: Not specified
Dates: TBA; 15-hour course
Eligibility: High school students
Startup Bootcamp: Build Your Big Idea is a 15-hour program that introduces you to the fundamental steps of starting a business. You will learn how to identify a problem, outline a product or service that addresses it, and pinpoint your potential customers. The program covers topics such as conducting market research, drafting a basic business plan, organizing simple financial projections, and presenting your concept clearly. You will also look at approaches for attracting and retaining customers. The bootcamp ends with a simulated investor pitch, where you will walk through your idea and how it could operate in practice.
4. Ladder Internships
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies based on the program format you choose; need-based financial assistance is available.
Application deadline: Varies by cohort
Dates: Several cohorts run each year during spring, summer, fall, and winter.
Eligibility: High school students
Ladder Internships offers high schoolers opportunities to work with high-growth start-ups in various fields, including deep tech, environmental science, artificial intelligence, healthcare, software engineering, web design/UX, finance, and mental health. As an intern, you will work under the guidance of a start-up manager and a Ladder Coach on projects that align with your interests and the organization’s goals. The experience can help you contribute to real projects and build professional skills. While applying, you can choose the Startup Internship and work with an organization’s representative, or opt for the CEO Internship, where you will work directly with a start-up CEO from a FAANG (Facebook, Google, etc.) background. You can also choose the Combination program, which combines the CEO Internship format with mentored research.
5. INCubatoredu by Uncharted Learning
Location: Partner high schools in multiple U.S. locations, including in California and the broader San Francisco Bay Area
Cost: Free for students; fees paid by participating schools
Application deadline: Varies by school
Dates: Academic-year program
Eligibility: High school students, grades 10 – 12, at participating schools
INCubatoredu is a year-long program that guides you through the steps of creating a business, starting with developing an idea and ending with a formal pitch. You will work within a team to conduct market research, outline your product, and build a basic business plan. Throughout the program, you will also hear from local professionals and visit nearby companies to see how different parts of the startup process function in real settings. When the program wraps up, you will present your business idea to a panel of entrepreneurs and community members.
6. Georgetown University’s Becoming an Entrepreneur: An Inside Look at Innovation Course
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,895; scholarships available
Application deadline: Varies by session; typically, one week before the session starts
Dates: Multiple one-, two-, or four-week intensives available throughout the year
Eligibility: Students, ages 13 and up
Georgetown University’s pre-college online course, Becoming an Entrepreneur: An Inside Look at Innovation, covers the core ideas behind launching a venture. Here, you will learn how to recognize unmet needs in a market, compare different business models, and adjust your approach when your initial plan doesn’t work out. The course also discusses ways to build professional connections, find collaborators, and learn about funding options. Additionally, you will get an overview of college pathways and career fields related to entrepreneurship. For your Capstone Project, you will develop and present a business idea, outlining its main features, intended customers, and how it could generate revenue.
7. GOODdler Social Innovation Youth Incubator
Location: Gooddler Social Innovation Youth Incubator, San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Cost: $5,500; a limited number of scholarships are available.
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Dates: April (dates not specified); the program includes four days of intensive training sessions + additional meetings and independent work hours, with dates confirmed after acceptance.
Eligibility: Youth, ages 13 and up; no tech experience required
In this incubator, you will focus on social entrepreneurship and systems‑based approaches rather than conventional startup tactics, working on understanding and redesigning “social realities” behind local and global issues. You will conduct Stakeholder Discovery to study multiple stakeholder groups, including people who may be strongly affected by a venture but lack power or resources. This will be followed by the Testing phase, during which you will build prototypes, work with customers and partners, and iterate based on feedback while receiving guidance from Curators, mentors, and advisors. A Pitch Workshop and a period set aside for pitch mastery and relationship‑building will prepare you for Demo Day, where you will present to investors and social impact leaders. One team will be selected to pitch at the Gooddler Social Innovation Youth Summit, and all participants receive a personalized leadership development report with mentor feedback.
8. TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Silicon Valley Summer Cohort
Location: TiE office, Silicon Valley (San Francisco Bay Area), CA
Cost: $599 (TiE members) | $699 (non-members)
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Dates: July 14 – 18
Eligibility: High school students and rising eighth-graders
The TiE Young Entrepreneurs Silicon Valley Summer Cohort is a week-long program where you learn core elements of entrepreneurship through structured, hands-on sessions. Taught by a UC Berkeley entrepreneurship professor and other industry professionals, the program walks you through the main steps of building a business over five days. You will explore how to develop an idea, apply design thinking, identify customer needs, assess market size, create basic financial plans, and prepare a pitch. Each day includes two instructional modules, a conversation with a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and time to work with your group on applying the material. The program ends with a pitch session, where you will present your business concept to a panel of judges.
9. GEB Silicon Valley Exchange Program
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Cost: $2,000 registration fee; partial scholarships available
Application deadline: Rolling until spots are filled
Dates: May 11 – 14
Eligibility: High school and university students, gap-year students, or early-stage entrepreneurs with strong English proficiency
The GEB Silicon Valley Exchange Program is a four-day experience that introduces you to innovation and entrepreneurship in the Bay Area. You will take part in workshops on design thinking, idea development, and basic business modeling, led by mentors with university and industry backgrounds. The program includes visits to companies such as Google, Apple, Netflix, and Uber, as well as a stop at Stanford University, where you will observe how different organizations approach problem-solving and product development. The experience will end with a pitch session, which will offer you the chance to present your idea to a group of investors and founders and receive feedback. You will also meet students from diverse backgrounds during the program.
10. HEX High Accelerator
Location: Virtual
Cost: AUD 1190 (783.49 USD)
Application deadline: February 4
Dates: Term 1: February 17 – March 28 | Term 2: May 4 – June 11
Eligibility: Current high school students
The HEX High Accelerator is a six-week online program where you will collaborate with students from various countries to develop a startup concept. You will progress through steps such as defining a problem, studying the market, shaping your product idea, and building the basics of a brand. In the process, you will learn relevant entrepreneurial skills and receive guidance along the way. Toward the end of the program, you will prepare a pitch and present your work in a virtual showcase attended by investors and industry professionals.
11. H&C Incubator Program
Location: Virtual
Cost: Information available upon contacting the H&C team
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Dates: Multiple cohorts, typically lasting two to four months
Eligibility: Middle and high school students who are 13 to 17 years old
In the H&C Incubator Program, you will work one-on-one with a mentor to design and develop a project or early-stage venture. Across two to four months, you will move through core steps such as generating ideas, testing initial assumptions, conducting market research, and shaping your concept based on what you learn. You will attend meetings over video calls with the H&C leadership team. During the program, you will also create a personal website, update your LinkedIn profile, and write a professional essay describing your project and process. The experience can offer you direction for your work and resources to continue developing your ideas on your own.
12. Future Founders’ Be Your Own Boss Internship
Location: Virtual options available
Cost/Stipend: Free; cash stipends of up to $250 available
Application deadline: January 12
Dates: January 20 – February 12
Eligibility: High school students, ages 14 to 18, who attend public or charter schools in the U.S.
The Be Your Own Boss Internship from Future Founders is a paid, virtual incubator for high school students. Over four weeks, you will work with a team to develop a startup concept, create a simple app prototype, and present your project at a final showcase. Throughout the program, you will receive guidance from entrepreneurs and take part in workshops. You also have opportunities to practice leadership, build professional connections, and earn a stipend for your participation. The program is open to public and charter school students across the country and supports collaborative, creative problem-solving.
13. OPEN Silicon Valley Youth Membership Program
Location: Hybrid events and mentorship sessions in Silicon Valley, CA
Cost: $50 annual membership fee
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Dates: Year-round program with ongoing events, workshops, and mentorship sessions
Eligibility: High school students, ages 16 – 18, and college undergraduates and young entrepreneurs under 25
Although not a typical startup incubator, OPEN Silicon Valley’s Youth Membership Program offers high school students opportunities to learn about technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. As a Youth Member, you will receive guidance from professionals in the field and participate in workshops aimed at building practical skills. You will also meet entrepreneurs from the local startup community and attend panels, networking sessions, and webinars focused on business and career development. Through OPEN’s broader network, you will gain access to internship and job listings that can help you explore workplace environments and consider different career options.
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