Harvard Business School is experimenting with a new approach to entrepreneurship education, combining human-led teaching with AI-generated versions of its instructors to provide founders with personalised practice and feedback.
The technology forms part of the school’s HBS Foundry initiative, an AI-powered entrepreneurship platform designed to make startup education and guidance accessible to a much wider group of aspiring founders. Harvard Business School describes Foundry as an AI-native platform intended to help entrepreneurs develop ideas, strengthen their business models and move towards securing funding.
At the centre of the initiative is an eight-week, $699 startup bootcamp that blends weekly sessions with human instructors and AI-powered simulations.
AI Avatars Provide Founder Feedback
One of the more unusual elements of the Foundry experience is the use of digital replicas of instructors.
The avatars were developed using technology from AI video startup HeyGen and are designed to interact with entrepreneurs during simulated business situations, including practice investor pitches and board meetings.
Rather than requiring an instructor to participate in every individual exercise, founders can repeatedly test their presentation skills and business arguments against an AI representation of an experienced entrepreneur or investor.
HeyGen specialises in creating digital avatars and AI-generated video presenters. Its technology can create digital versions of people capable of delivering generated speech and replicating elements of their appearance and behaviour.
Harvard’s official Foundry material describes the Startup Bootcamp as a structured 8-week programme covering areas including problem definition, market mapping, validation and pitch development. Participants are also expected to produce practical deliverables while receiving structured feedback throughout the programme.
Putting a Virtual Investor to the Test
The technology was recently tested by New York Times reporter Sarah Kessler, who interacted with an AI representation of Jeff Bussgang, co-founder of venture capital firm Flybridge Capital and an instructor associated with the programme.
For the experiment, Kessler presented a fictional startup concept described as “Uber for bananas.”
Neither Bussgang nor his AI counterpart appeared particularly convinced by the idea.
The experiment did, however, demonstrate how the technology could allow entrepreneurs to rehearse investor conversations without requiring an investor or instructor to be available for every practice session.
Kessler also observed one of the limitations of the current technology: the virtual Bussgang reportedly maintained a noticeably frozen smile during the presentation.
The Idea Originally Started as a Chatbot
The avatar-based system was not Harvard Business School’s original plan.
Project director Katharina Rings initially considered creating something closer to a conventional AI chatbot for the programme. Feedback from students testing an early version, however, indicated that participants wanted a more structured and guided experience.
That feedback ultimately contributed to the development of the instructor-avatar approach, creating a simulation that more closely resembles a conversation with a real person rather than a standard text exchange.
The approach also reflects a wider AI strategy already emerging across Harvard Business School.
In his 2026 commencement remarks, HBS Dean Srikant Datar said the school had been developing AI-based tutoring and feedback tools alongside Foundry, with the broader objective of using artificial intelligence to extend the institution’s educational reach and increase personalised support.
Harvard has separately highlighted work involving conversational AI, feedback agents, tutorbots and interactive voice and video simulations across its educational programmes.
Students Appear More Positive Than Some Wider AI Audiences
The experiment arrives at a time when attitudes towards artificial intelligence among students remain divided.
Recent university events in the US have demonstrated some of that resistance. Students have publicly criticised AI during commencement ceremonies, including speeches where references to the technology prompted audible negative reactions from graduates.
Participants using Foundry’s avatars, however, reportedly responded more positively.
According to the reporting, students testing the programme said they liked interacting with the virtual instructors.
Bussgang himself acknowledged that seeing an artificial version of himself can feel “creepy,” while adding: “My students love it.”
AI Could Make Personalised Business Education Easier to Scale
For Harvard Business School, the experiment demonstrates one potential way artificial intelligence could address a long-standing limitation in professional education: the difficulty of providing individual access to experienced instructors at scale.
A professor, entrepreneur or investor has limited time available for one-to-one coaching. A digital version could theoretically conduct large numbers of simulated meetings and practice sessions while allowing the human instructor to focus on live teaching, mentoring and more complex interactions.
Foundry’s broader model follows this principle. Harvard says AI agents within the programme can support founders with areas such as market research, competitive analysis and customer discovery while the programme retains human-led elements.
The Startup Bootcamp also feeds into a wider Foundry pathway. Selected founders can progress towards the Foundry Catalyst programme and potentially compete for up to $100K in funding at a Harvard Business School pitch event in 2027.
The introduction of AI instructor avatars therefore represents more than a novelty for Harvard. It offers an early look at how universities and professional training providers could combine human expertise with scalable AI simulations.
The avatars may not yet perfectly reproduce their human counterparts, but if participants continue to find the simulations useful, Harvard’s experiment could provide a model for how personalised coaching is delivered across entrepreneurship education in the future.
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