Written by Amy Kundrat MBA ’21, Director of Innovation Community at Yale Ventures

Welcome to Yale’s innovation ecosystem—an ever-growing constellation of people, places, and ideas, rooted in centuries of scholarship and fueled by a spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration. After meeting hundreds of new and returning students at this week’s Yale Innovation Expo, I realized I kept returning to the same themes. Below are some of the insights I’ve shared with students after more than a decade at Yale—first as staff, then as a grad student, and now an alumna working at Yale Ventures. This isn’t a definitive guide; it’s a collection of insights I’ve picked up along the way. Think of me less as the expert with the map and more as a fellow traveler pointing out paths worth exploring.
 

1. Find Your Front Door

Yale doesn’t just have one entry point to innovation—it has dozens: Tsai CITY, SOM’s Program on Entrepreneurship, CEID, CCAM, Dwight Hall, the list goes on, and of course, Yale Ventures. Pick one, test, and pivot as needed. Chances are you’ll visit them all.

2. Build Your Pipeline

Think of attending Yale events as a way to run your own customer discovery. Pitch nights, hackathons, panels, mixers—you’re testing your hypothesis of what you want to explore while you’re at Yale, asking a ton of questions, and listening carefully. Subscribe to every Yale calendar you can find and just show up. Even if you don’t have a venture or a co-founder yet, showing up is basically the MVP of networking.

3. Ship for Your Launch Date

Anchor your year around the big milestone events at Yale: Startup Yale (April) and the Yale Innovation Summit (May). Mark your calendar now and if you start now, you have 8 months to test, refine, and iterate before you step on stage. These events aren’t just about pitching—they’re about meeting potential partners, future investors, mentors and peers.

4. Don’t Ask For Permission

If you don’t see what you need, build it. Many of Yale’s groups—Yale Blockchain Club, Hillhouse Fellows, Yale Entrepreneurial Society—started because students asked, “Why doesn’t this exist?” Then they made it real. Momentum sometimes (all of the time?) matters more than permission.

5. Think Outside the Yale Courtyard

Yale innovation doesn’t stop at Phelps gates. Step off campus and you’ll find collaborators, investors, and maybe even a future home for your ideas. MakeHaven is the community’s makerspace, while NXTHVN is a powerhouse for art and entrepreneurship, and ClimateHaven is a home for climate tech innovators. The city is also an excellent place to spend your time over the summer gaining experience working within and supporting startups, just ask any of the many alumni who interned at Connecticut Innovations, Tsai CITY, Yale CBEY, or Yale Ventures!

6. Mentors and Multipliers

Some of Yale’s most powerful resources aren’t buildings or programs—they’re people. Faculty mentors, staff connectors, alumni founders, and peers can open doors that no official program ever could. Identify your “multipliers,” the Yale staff, faculty, and students who seem to know everyone, and make time to build those relationships. Not sure where to start? Check out Tsai CITY’s mentor network or Yale Ventures EIRs. Yale’s network is its superpower. 

Like building a new venture, there’s no single roadmap for navigating Yale’s innovation ecosystem. Everyone’s path looks different—that’s the point. Start where you are, lean in to resources within your own school, but give yourself time to explore beyond its walls. The only wrong move? Waiting until commencement to wander into CEID, CCAM, or Tsai CITY and realizing you’ve just missed out on one of Yale’s best-kept secrets.

* By “Insider,” I don’t mean gatekeeper—I mean someone who’s been inside long enough to get lost a few times. I’m still learning, just pointing out the routes (and detours) I’ve discovered along the way.