//University of Notre Dame · Fall 2026
Build real software for real companies.
Innovation Sprint Lab is Notre Dame's student-run engineering accelerator: small sprint teams shipping production software for real companies, mentored by senior industry engineers. The fall runs from weekly Coding Sessions with JP through SprintHack@ND on October 3–4 to the Innovation Sprint Lab Showcase on December 5.
A company or alum? Here's how to plug in · Just want updates?
Sponsored by 
//Two doors, one pipeline
First, who are you?
The open weekend
SprintHack@ND
October 3–4 · Innovation Park
Real problems from real companies, $5,000 in prizes, 60+ builders last year. No application, any major, meals covered; bring a team or form one on site, and walk out with a shipped demo on your resume. Plus a live Q&A with Joe Grand, probably the most famous hardware hacker in the world.
See the hackathonThe selective program
The Sprint Lab
October–December · Showcase Dec 5
100% of cohort one landed internships or full-time roles: Boeing, AWS, IBM, NVIDIA. 15 spots, 70+ applied last year; mentors like ClickUp's co-founder and CTO.
Apply to the lab//Fall 2025 cohort
Where our members ended up after the lab.
Internships, full-time roles, and fellowships from cohort one.
Pariveda
Hourglass Capital
//How the fall works
One semester. Four stages.
Run with CS4Good, the Notre Dame Data Club, and NDVC, so more students get to build real things.
- 01 · SEP
Lectures
What professional engineering looks like, taught by JP Burford, our CTO-in-Residence, plus speakers from across the industry. Open across all four clubs. Attend 5 of the 6 Tuesday sessions plus SprintHack and earn the Certificate in Applied AI Software Engineering.
- 02 · OCT 3-4
SprintHack@ND
Saturday October 3 to Sunday October 4 at Innovation Park. The whole weekend, the format, and last year's record live on the SprintHack@ND page.
- 03 · OCT-DEC
Sprint Lab
The strongest builders go deeper: multi-week sprint teams inside partner codebases, mentored by senior engineers.
- 04 · DEC 5
Innovation Sprint Lab Showcase
Saturday December 5. Working software, demoed to founders, investors, and partner companies, with feedback from people you'd never otherwise meet.
//October 3–4 · open to everyone
SprintHack@ND has its own page.
The weekend plan, the reverse-pitch format, a live Q&A with legendary hacker Joe Grand, and how companies plug in.
//Every Tuesday · up to three presenters
So does Show and Tell.
Five minutes to show the room what you are building, five of questions.
//Fall 2026 calendar
Every date, in order.
Weekly sessions with JP on Tuesdays, 7:00 to 8:30 PM, open to everyone, plus SprintHack and the Innovation Sprint Lab Showcase. Thursday sprint meetings are for Innovation Sprint Lab teams only. Each Tuesday session has up to three Show and Tell slots, open to anyone building something.
Import to Google CalendarDownload .icsOne click, then Add in Google Calendar: every session lands in your calendar and stays in sync with room updates. The .ics works with Apple Calendar and Outlook.
//Organized by
//Not coursework
Semester one shipped.
Fast-track hiring offers
ClickUp offered to fast-track hiring for strong participants; TeamWorthy opened its portfolio pipeline.
Inside a live portfolio codebase
A team embedded in WorthySchools, a TeamWorthy Ventures portfolio company, mentored by an ex-Meta engineer.
Mentors who've built it
An ex-YC engineer with 40 years of programming experience, and the founder-CTO of ClickUp, a $4B+ company, working with teams directly.
100% internship/full-time placement
Cohort one landed at Boeing, AWS, IBM, NVIDIA, and more. Shipped production work reads differently on a resume than club projects.
“This past semester I had the privilege of working with entrepreneurial Notre Dame students looking to build products. Two standout members of the teams were Joshua Tighe and Khang Le. Josh stood out managing challenging team dynamics with shifting resources… Khang was the go-to person on his team for complex problems… also a strong sprint lead, keeping his team moving forward with high velocity and holding people accountable. Thanks for your hard work!”
Read the full post“Incredibly transformative.”
“An invaluable extension of the classroom.”First cohort engineers
Don't take our word for it: the semester-one retro and the SprintHack@ND recap, photos and all, on LinkedIn.
//Semester one mentors, judges & sponsors
ClickUp
PivotNorth Capital
Replit- iNDustry Labs
Graham Allen Partners
//Fall 2026
Already in for the fall.
The first partner problems are locked, with the mentors attached to them.
RETURNING PARTNER Fall 2026
ClickUp
Back for a second year. Thirty minutes every week with Alex Yurkowski, co-founder and CTO of ClickUp, a $4B+ company, and a Notre Dame alum.
PROGRAM PARTNER Fall 2026
Goodwill Michiana
A regional institution scaling from $50M toward $100M. Mentorship comes from Goodwill's president and an ex-Amazon engineer who designed Amazon's first one-hour delivery systems and helped lead the Whole Foods integration.
MORE COMING Fall 2026
Your company here
The partner list is still open. Bring a problem worth solving and we scope it in one call. How to plug in
//Season one, on the record
The Lab
The accelerator
- Engineers selected15
- Applicants screened70+
- Industry placement100%
SprintHack@ND
The hackathon
- Builders60+
- Teams12
//For companies
Pre-vetted engineers on your problem.
We vet the builders; you bring the problem, or just your brand. Hiring-grade signal without the recruiting spend, and a shipped answer for a fraction of agency cost, from the school ranked #7 in the country for long-term career success on LinkedIn Top Colleges 2026. Three lanes, from an afternoon at the hackathon to a three-month sprint; the tiers live on the SprintHack page.
// Bring a problem
Several independent prototypes of it in one weekend, plus a shortlist of the students you would want on it for three months.
// Sponsor
Your brand in front of the whole room: 60+ builders last year, more this year. Plus first access to vetted engineers.
// Partner on the lab
A vetted team works your problem in weekly sprints, October to December: a working deliverable by the Innovation Sprint Lab Showcase for one stakeholder hour a week.
//For individuals · alumni & industry
Give a builder an hour.
Reconnect with Notre Dame, give the next builders what you wish you had, and build your own name doing it. No company needed, no ND degree either.
// Judge SprintHack
Sunday, October 4, on a panel next to fellow alumni and people from Google, Amazon, and venture; office hours with teams during the build.
// Mentor a sprint team
Give the next builders what you wish you had: one hour a week, and a team ships your advice by the Innovation Sprint Lab Showcase.
// Speak at a session
Twenty minutes on a Tuesday night, and hundreds of CS students across four clubs know your name.
//Register
One form, whatever you came for.
Coming to the JP sessions? This is the signup: check the sessions box and the weekly reminder with the room and topic lands in your inbox. The same form covers SprintHack updates, lab news, and how companies and alums want to plug in. A couple of emails a week during the fall, that's it. Attendance for the certificate is tracked at the door, not here.
Applying to the lab is separate and takes about ten minutes; applications close Sunday, September 27. SprintHack registration closes Tuesday, September 29.
//The team
The people running it.
- Alex YurkowskiCo-Founder & CTO, ClickUp · Technical Mentor · Notre Dame Alum
- JP BurfordCTO-in-Residence · ex-WebMD Director of Engineering · 2x YC startup CTO
- John HenryDirector of Student Startups, IDEA Center
- Michael WicksAdvisor from the College of Engineering
- Gaspar LarrainPresident, Notre Dame Data Club
- Kirby BachPresident, CS4Good
- Dawson MedinaPresident, NDVC
- Joseph DienerOperations · NDVC Board
- Mark EvgenevCEO, Desync AI · Industry Partnerships
- Emily KimBusiness Development & Partnerships
- Hector HerreraBusiness Development & Partnerships
- Stefan OleksiienkoFounder & Program Director
