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Here are my honest personal thoughts and a comprehensive review of Leangap 2018. Overall, Leangap is a good program but it is not perfect. Some factors do bog it down a bit. It will be an even better program to attend if changes do take place! Getting to Leangap was an awesome experience, the initial pickup was fun, safe, and very enjoyable. The facility was in great condition and the staff was pretty hospitable. Unfortunately, there was no gym available to us, but we figured that out and we eventually got access to another one (thanks Nick Kao). More info upon signing up and better credibility would help this program. I know my parents were worried about the credibility of it and so were some other students. I think better communication with emails prior to the program would be beneficial as well. 4 weeks does put a lot of time constraint on the teams, especially in terms of traction and sales. While all information exists on the internet, including entrepreneurship info, this program groups you with other like-minded people you would never had the chance to meet. Most mentors were good people. They were kind and funny. The problem was with the accessibility to mentors and even assigned mentors. Teams communication could be easier with international students. Weekends were enjoyable with many plans and activities planned. I can firmly say that the program did a good job of accomplishing its stated purpose. I learned a lot, and I have experience with entrepreneurship I would not have otherwise. I also met lots of smart and interesting people that I now call friends. I look forward to seeing what we continue to accomplish in the future.

I joined Leangap the past summer hoping for insights in building a company but I ended up learning much more through their unique way of teaching by immersing us into the real world and teaching us skills that would be realistically used in the startup process.

The best time of my life meeting new people and learning about different things. Having the time to create and start a company. Can’t wait to see the result and the new things leangap has to bring next year.

I really learned so much and it allowed me to become more confident as a person, because it ripped open my flaws and let me see the road ahead of me. Leangap didn't give me a business, but it set the foundation for what I believe to be future success.

Leangap gave me one of the best summer ever. Sort Off !!! For a long time, I was so obsessed with dropping out and doing something real. I was really excited about the whole thing. Leangap is a worthy investment in a lot of ways To me, Leangap remains one of the best programs I have ever got to know about. All the mentors are super chill and they get professional when they are required to be. The mentors and their interest to help teams are the key component to Leangap. Just never hesitate to seek help from them as they take these issues professionally to solve them effectively. If you feel like you're in the wrong team or you're not being heard, talk to a mentor and they will definitely help you resolve the problem without any consequences with anyone. Passion, Skills, Uniqueness and your ability to make an Impact. These are the four main things that are considered for your admission process to Leangap. I wouldn’t say this is 100% true in reality, but most of the people whom you’ll meet at Leangap are dope. The one thing I would really push Leangap to improve on is the admission process. I have noticed some of the mates were taking Leangap as a School project while others just work really hard on their startups. This problem, I think affects teams as a whole. Leangap is overall an amazing experience. It's not just learning all day. To complete prove this; Leangap had a surprise for us after our Final Pitch, which was a cruise in the “San Francisco Bay” followed by a pizza party. We also had a Camp Fire at “Ocean Beach” which was pretty fun. The last thing is the curriculum. It moves fast AF. But if you make some right unbiased decision and work seriously on them, you’ll definitely have a real company within 4 weeks.

I am the only Chinese student this year. I met lots of challenges but all of mentors and classmates were so warm-hearted to help me so that I can succeed in co-founding a company. After Leangap, I become more confident and I've developed an invaluable network with entrepreneurs .I’m so glad that I met so many awesome people from all over the world. This summer is definitely my most memorable. In my opinion, many students in China concentrate more on the theoretical knowledge but at the same time they also have some great ideas about start-up. So I think Leangap is the best place to learn something and prove your abilities!

If you want to build a real, scalable business look no further. Leangap forces you to learn through execution. It will push you to the outskirts of your comfort zone. In the 4 weeks of the program, I learned invaluable skills such as how to do customer validation, prototyping, HTML/website design, legal formation, marketing, and pitching-the full nine yards of building a business. These skills I learned speaks volumes about the resources I had. The mentors, all experienced and passionate about their work, are always helpful and accessbile. Perhaps the best part is the location. Leangap invites established entrepreneurs to speak about their experiences while also having frequent excursions to networking events. Last but certainly not least, the people you'll meet are, frankly, amazing. Coming from all over the world, the people you'll meet are just as passionate and motivated as you are. Overall, it's a potpourri of awesomeness and you'll have a blast!

It takes more to launch a startup than what you may read in a magazine. Experiencing it first hand proved to be a game-changing mindset. Also, finding the people I wanted to work with was truly memorable as well as the sentimental session we had on the last day. It reminded me that even though we’ve only seen each other on a screen, we’re all humans.

Leangap was the best opportunity to figure out what were my strengths and weaknesses. With the summer program I had the opportunity to create and build ideas and put them in action.

Leangap was the most the most stressful, sleepless, and difficult experience I've ever had, but it was also the most fun and rewarding. The mentors, despite being incredibly young, were super helpful, friendly, and smart. One time, one of the mentors even stayed up the entire night to help me program and build our prototype. Additionally, Leangap helps us build amazing connections and gives us tons of resources that I can continue to use throughout my future entrepreneuring ventures. The curriculum is unique(they teach you things that other similar programs don't) and pushes you out of your comfort zone. We also go on fun trips like a vacation to a resort in Maine, Chinatown, and a cruise. Finally, the program is 4 weeks which is a good amount of time to launch our companies, learn all basic entrepreneuring skills and knowledge, and just the right amount of time so that you feel teary when leaving all the good friends you made.

I really liked the summer camp. It was a really good experience and the entire journey of creating a startup from scratch was extremely fun. Even though our team was having a tough time in the beginning, the mentors helped us to turn that around. I enjoyed meeting people from around the world who had the same motive as me. The Leangap team did a really great job as they were very helpful and listened to our new ideas every single day of the first week with complete patience.It was an amazing experience as it was more practical and hands on rather than the boring and monotonous lectures. I want to thank Leangap so much for this great experience and I would love to do something like this again!

With full confidence, I can say that Leangap has been a changing and amazing experience. From the friends to launching a scalable company, every aspect of this 4 week program was beyond my imagination. We learned everything that was required to create a real, scalable company whether it basic HTML or various pitching techniques. I would recommend this program to anyone interested in pursuing entrepreneurship or simply trying to explore different opportunities. Don't hesitate and apply to Leangap. You will not regret it.

Before coming to leangap I was a super naive kid who dreamt of entrepreneurship but I left leangap a lot less naive and knowledgeable on entrepreneurship. I was skeptical of the program at first but the experience proved to be absolutely amazing. I barely had a rough idea of something I wanted to do for several years, but leangap helped me turn my idea into a real company I'm working on today. The best thing about leangap to me is the balanced structure, where the wonderful mentors and speakers guide the students on what to do, but the rest is up to the students to pursue. I would defenitely recommend this program to anyone interested in entrepreneurship 👍

Leangap was an amazing summer experience - the mentors were helpful, the curriculum was interesting and educational, and best of all, I left with a real company that was actually going to market and doing research, development, and marketing outside of the scope of the leangap experience. There are so many valuable experiences to be had and resources to be gained from a summer at leangap - I'm more than glad I made the choice to come.

My worst memory was when my group threatened to remove me from the group but it also opened my eyes and I started to do a lot better and prioritize and not procrastinate some work I needed to do .

I was as skeptical as any other to apply to this relatively newly-established program, but am beyond satisfied with my experience at Leangap this year, and have left confident in my ability to work collaboratively with a team of high-school students to co-found and run a company. In the process, I've developed an invaluable network with entrepreneurs and executives that will set any high-school student up for success. Highly recommend; one of my most productive summers by far.

To be honest, I wasn't very aware of how intensive and educative LEANGAP can be before attending. Before attending, I just wanted to find a program that I can improve my entrepreneurship skills as well as meet new people. However, it turns out Leangap is so much more than that.

Having been to many summer camps, Leangap is the only one where I learned so much more than I expected. Besides co-founding my own company and actually gaining decent traction and real customers by the end of 6 weeks, I met so many awesome people from all over the world who share the same passion and mindset as me. It was definitely a worthy experience.

All the mentors are really young and fun! The camp was so stressful because we had to make a company but i learned a lot.

I initially felt apprehensive about the entire process. After going through the entire startup experience every single day and putting in all of the long hours, I left Leangap with a viable business that I am continuing to work on with my team. All of the mentors are extremely helpful and highly qualified with their own unique skill sets. I can truly say that my summer at Leangap was one of the best and most productive summers ever, and I would highly recommend applying and enrolling if you are considering it. You will not regret it.

4 weeks of entrepreneurship was the best decision I ever made for my summer. At Leangap, I helped start a company and made many friends. I would definitely recommend others try it.

Leangap was a great experience. The program puts you in the drivers seat and shows you what it is really like to bring an idea to fruition. I met a lot of great kids, with a lot of different backgrounds and interested which was awesome. 4 weeks may have seemed like a long time when I first got there, but it flew by so fast and I am happy I got to spend my summer there.

I was definitely unsure how much I would enjoy this program and skeptical going into the summer. I can confidently say that it was the most enjoyable and effective summers of my life. I made a great family of friends at Leangap that I will remember and know forever! The best part about it compared with other programs is the fact that we were able to have real businesses, ready for sales. This is something that a high school student can't do anywhere else. Leangap was wonderful and I recommend it to all high school students!

LeanGap changed my life forever for the better. Walking in I didn’t know what I was getting myself into and I was I informed very quickly that it would be the hardest yet the most useful summer of my life. The experience I got in just a month is insane and the passion and motivation I got to continue in business is still in me to this day. I got to meet such amazing people, the mentors will always be there for you even after the camp, and I learned values that no other experience in my life has taught me. I can’t begin to describe how grateful I am for LeanGap and I encourage anyone that is driven to be successful in business to join. I must say you have to have thick skin to join and you must be motivated by something bigger than yourself. That is when you will get the most out of the program. To end this off on a good note thank you so much to the mentors who taught me not only the business aspect but as well as the personal bonds that I will forever cherish.

As a high schooler from Los Angeles completely inexperienced in business, traveling to participate in an entrepreneurship program was completely out of my comfort zone. Yet I returned home with invaluable knowledge, unforgettable memories, best friends, and coolest of all, an actual, scalable company. Don't hesitate to apply to and attend Leangap -- with the love and maturation you'll experience there, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

If you are someone who aspires to be an entrepreneur, Leangap is definitely the program to go with. While there are other "competitors" like LaunchX, the decision making process is black and white. If you want to take notes, have fun, and move on after a month, go with LaunchX. But if you truly want to experience what it's like to be an entrepreneur, get uncomfortable, and have real traction, go with Leangap. The networking opportunities as well as the specialized help you get from each mentor is incredible and the connections you make will remain even after the program.

I think the long hours spent and effort required to launch a business was something that I wasn’t totally prepared for, and I think this goes for everyone. But this business experience was what I came for. I’m glad I learned how to market, how to get affirming data, and how to present in a way that is convincing. The feedback I got for what I thought were good ideas was something I couldn’t have easily gotten somewhere else.

I believe Leangap is the absolute best program for a high school entrepreneur, full stop. No other student entrepreneurship program does what Leangap does. Leangap is about doing things in the real world, without coddling or holding your hand. In the second week of the camp, my team was selected to pitch our software idea to high-level engineers at Twitter. Leangap was not a classroom environment, it was a fast-paced business environment that expected much from its students and got above and beyond. Bottom line - take a summer business course if you want to learn about writing a 3-page business plan and maybe, possibly get a team together to launch. Go to Leangap to evolve and change the world how you want to.

I can proudly say that this summer at leangap, has changed my life. The mentors and resources available here are amazing and is one of the reasons why making my teams organization was possible. I’ve never learned how to hustle (gsd) as hard as I did at leangap and find the passion and drive to create something that could change the world. You will learn life long lessons from every lecture to every pitch and invaluable friends that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

LeanGap was a really fun and interesting experience. It was great meeting so many like-minded people and learn about entrepreneurship!

For me, Leangap was certainly an awesome and worthy experience. To get to the point, these are my top reasons why you should join the program: 1. Meet like-minded peers: It can be hard to find compatible people to start a company with. Spending 4 weeks building meaningful things with 40 other passionate students is an excellent way to do so 2. Build cool network 3. Get mentorship: Heck, you can even google how to surf. But, like entrepreneurship, reading alone is not sufficient. Having people who give you feedback and advice along the way is the true value of the program (at least for me) On the other hand, think twice before joining the program if you want to: 1. Make quick money during the program: entrepreneurship is a long-term game. 2. Have a pleasant summer vacation: things will go wrong in the program, and that’s probably okay 🙂 All in all, I’m thankful to be a part of Leangap, and hope the program will continue growing.

Leangap was definitely a great summer experience to not just learn about entrepreneurship, but apply those skills to develop a startup. There were a few, trivial issues such as SFSU (our residence for the duration of the program) management, minor inconsistencies in pacing the material learned, few difficulties in contacting mentors (not so much for our group specifically though), & the abruptness of initial pitches & team formation. However, I believe the practical experience & hands-on approach to entrepreneurship (largely different from online videos and textbooks) by building a startup I gained largely outweighed any negatives. In Leangap, you are privy to a group of like-minded, friendly peers with diverse talents and backgrounds which is definitely a key aspect of the program. For my team's startup at least, the contacts & mentors we were able to build are extremely helpful in legitimately scaling our company. All in all, while there should be improvements made to the program (and I have no doubt that they will), Leangap is a fantastic program which allows you to not only create a startup but gives you the tools to continue on independently as well.

Working with a group for the startup was super stressful and I felt like it mirrored the real life challenges that would happen if one was to make a startup like this

LeanGap was a great experience that really helped me find, join, and build a startup I'm highly interested in. It's been 2 weeks since the end of the program and the outlook is great, so I'm pleased with both the experience and results from LeanGap. The only consistent issue that I found hindering to our progress was our team's budget. We were a hardware startup and, as expected, we needed quite a bit of funding to get through our prototyping stage. We did receive funding, but it was not quite enough to cover everything. We hoped LeanGap would have a lot of expertise on hardware as well, looking at the previous hardware startups that have come out of LeanGap successfully. Our startup didn't receive all of the technical mentoring necessary on our hardware, meaning we had to make some decisions ourselves. Only after going through many iterations of prototypes, we were able to develop a functional version of the product. My suggestion to LeanGap is to provide hardware startups with the resources necessary to build a functional product. Overall, LeanGap was definitely a positive experience and I don't regret the time, effort, or money spent there. We received entrepreneurship education, advice, a strong network, and, of course, a real startup that we're continuing to work on.

It was definitely a real-world experience, most other programs won't give you that. I don't want to learn about companies' work in a classroom setting because I wouldn't get a lot out of that. Leangap was legit - the content that I spent an entire year working on through INCubatoredu was covered in a week and a half. that's mind-blowing to me.

Life is what you make it. And Leangap is an experience that pushes you to make it awesome! Letting go of the technical and more materialistic aspects of leangap, which were nonetheless amazing, I was at leangap to learn. To learn about myself. The setting lets you tap the inner Columbus of you, which then roams around grasping and exploring ideas, exhilarated by knowing what was unknown to it. It listens, understands and argues to your hearts content. Basically, lets you do what you always wanted to and in the process teaches you a couple of life lessons, and you take away 30+ amazing friends( including mentors) who you can always look up to. This is what made leangap amazing for me. And it's a whole lotta stuff.

I attended Leangap this summer and I have to say it was one of the best summers of high school. I made lots of new friends and learnt how to create a business in a fun and engaging environment. I know these friends will stay for life and the lessons will help me in the future to create my own business.

I attended Leangap over the summer. I had to say that I was not expecting to learn that much. The mentors, especially Sadok, and Jasmine, were some of the most helpful people I had encountered. I can now go back home resting easily knowing that I know the basic fundamentals of a startup.

I had a lot of fun at Leangap this summer. While I felt that my group's communication with our mentor could have been better, I gained a lot of experience working on creating a real company and will definitely continue with my entrepreneurial ambitions going forward. We spent every waking moment at leangap learning by doing everything we need for our startups and that made the experience incredibly helpful. I especially appreciate how we learned networking skills and the environment of us just doing whatever we think needs to get done. Leangap a lot of work, but it was worth it for what I learned.

Leangap is pretty cool. I learned valuable skills and went to saw some awesome places. But best of all were the people I met here, who have all had a tremendous impact on me and have honestly changes my perspective on entrepreneurship and the world as a whole.

Well for one I am not completely clueless about the entrepreneurship process anymore. Also I think the speakers really helped to clarify the seemingly miraculous success stories of businesses and how exactly that happened!

My fondest memory of Leangap was the last game night we had. There was a really strong sense of community and it felt like everyone was friends with each other.

Offering very beginner-level classes to give students a chance to find new skills/interests was really helpful.

Leangap not only is an amazing experience, but every single student has a real company by the end of the program, something that is usually incredibly difficult to do regardless of what it is. Leangap helps smooth that process out for the student. The mentors are great, along with the networking opportunities and students from all around the world. I especially appreciate how the program places emphasis on being like the real business world instead of a high school summer camp. I've made friends here who I'll keep in touch with for a while.

Leangap pushes students rigorously, challenging and confronting them with the real world. I was pushed above and beyond my limit, and gave more than I thought I had in my arsenal for the sake of the company and my team. I came home with the start of a movement, incredible friends, and the knowledge/backing of an invaluable network of entrepreneurs. An unparalleled, fun summer experience!

I don’t know why schools don’t teach the same way Leangap taught us! It’s so much more productive and rewarding to learn through hands on experience like what we went through in San Fransisco. I would recommend this program to anyone who wants to really expand their skill set and knowledge of the business world. Beyond the business aspect, you expand more then your workforce skills, you learn more about yourself. Being surrounded by so much talent and potential your perspective adjusts quickly in learning about your own strengths and weaknesses and bridging that gap between the two becomes second nature. In my opinion, this program will give you a new perspective on your future, whether it be college or entrepreneurship or any other path chosen, Leangap truly inspired me to never conform and always be the best version of yourself.

I definitely felt that I was challenged during the 4 weeks, and working with a small group to overcome these challenges helped me tremendously.

I was impressed with the mentors: how responsive they are, how blunt with feedback they are, and how empathetic they are.

When I was applying I realy wanted to understand the principles of marketing and ads. With our mentor we could fully understand and try our own ads.

Although I was a little doubtful about the program but Leangap far exceeded all of my expectations. I wasn't sure whether I could start a viable business in just 6 weeks, but the team of experienced mentors guided my team through all of the challenges of launching a startup. The best thing about Leangap, in my opinion, is that it is modeled after a real incubator. I learned things that I only could by actually building a business, stuff I wouldn't learn by attending "entrepreneurship" classes. Overall it was a great summer, and I would recommend Leangap to anyone who is interested in actually building a company.

Leangap was truly an amazing investment of my time and energy this summer. First off, the Mentors. The Mentors are what makes Leangap so special. They are not people who are there just to make an extra buck, they are all young, smart, and very successful people who give a huge portion of their summer to give back. They are not just great when it comes to business advice but I can truly say that every single mentor is a friend for a lifetime. I came to Leangap with a business idea that I was working on for a while. Leangap taught me the proper steps to I needed to take to get our first sale because we actually executed and did it! You feel 10x more confident about business, marketing, and especially public speaking after the short time of 4 weeks. Leangap is not your ordinary summer camp where you go to mess around, it is a challenging program that will test you in many different aspects, they truly treat you like an adult and expect great things out of everyone. If you want to make a difference in the World at a young age and want understand the start-up process, Leangap is for you.