JetBrains Horizon
Student startup program, where bold ideas spark innovation and shape the future
Have you ever thought about your own tech startup?
If the answer is yes,
You can start your entrepreneurial journey with JetBrains Horizon!
Turn your Prototype into a Company in 14 Weeks
Join JetBrains Horizon Incubator (Spring 2026). Mentorship from startup founders, industry experts and product managers.
Access to investors and JetBrains tech community.
Closes on January 25th
Who Is This For?
We are looking for teams with:
✅ Validated prototype or landing page
You have an idea of a product, you've measured a demand for it and ready to take it further.
✅ A team of 2-3 students
You have a team of people who share your passion to change the world.
✅ Commitment to launch
You are ready to contribute 10 hours per week for lectures, assignments, workshops and building of your product.
Why spend your Spring with us?
Don't just learn – build. Spend 12 weeks turning your prototype into a launch-ready business with your own hands.
Our value
Incubator (Open)
February-May 2026
After an interview process, teams with the most promising ideas and prototypes from Step 1 are invited to join the Startup School. This semester is all about execution, growth, and getting investor-ready.
Who It's For
Teams that have a validated idea and a working prototype.
Program
- Small, but effective teams;
- Go To Market Strategy;
- Marketing, Sales, GTM strategies;
- Users feedback and pivots;
- Investments & Pitch.
Outcome
A working MVP and a seed-level pitch deck, ready for the next step of your startup journey.
How to claim your spot
1. Submit Prototype: Share your idea description and link to your repo or landing page (Required).
2. Interview: Top 15 teams invited for defense.
3. Selection: Top 10 teams enter the Incubator.
Pre-Incubator (Completed)
October-December 2025
This first semester is open to all interested students, whether you have a team or not. The goal is to explore emerging fields, learn how to generate and validate ideas, and build a foundational prototype.
Who It's For
For students who want to create a startup but don't have a settled idea yet.
Topics Covered
- The Startup Landscape: Navigating the new era of launches
- The AI & EdTech Market
- Modern Professional Tools (Dev, Marketing, Sales, e.t.c)
- BioTech and Healthcare as a Business
- Market Research and Rapid Prototyping with AI Tools
Outcome
A working prototype or landing page that validates your idea and helps you get your first potential customers.
Open Lectures
Learn from leading JetBrains experts, scientists, and industry leaders about the latest trends in high-growth fields.
Market Deep Dives
Get an insider's view of pressing challenges and opportunities in EdTech, Developer Tools, and Life Sciences.
AI-Powered Idea Generation
Use our unique AI toolkit and frameworks to brainstorm, research, and validate your own startup concepts in virtual idea-generation sessions.
Students about the program
Most of our students create exciting projects, and some of them even return to the course to start out on new adventures.
This course provided practical help through
expert feedback that helped shape our
project into a more thoughtful and market-
ready product. The direct interaction with
experts was insightful, offering
valuable lessons on building projects from
scratch and planning their growth. It is the
best course for anyone looking to turn ideas
into actionable strategies. Our small idea of an app for storing medical data showed potential and gave us confidence that startups are not as scary as it might seem.
Before the course, the concept of startup timelines was ambiguous to me. Over time my team had to overcome numerous hindrances, which taught us to prioritize a rapid idea lifecycle and to let go of a failed hypothesis. The course showed the founder's path from a realistic perspective, helping us understand how to adapt our work as a team in this fast-paced discipline.
I’ve completed the JetBrains Horizon Program twice, and I can confidently say it’s one of the most impactful programs for aspiring founders.
One of the biggest strengths of the program is its community: I found our first clients through fellow participants, and even met a co-founder to work with.
The guidance from teachers and experts was another standout feature. Each session brought valuable insights and actionable feedback that helped us improve rapidly and make informed decisions.
If you're serious about building a startup and want a practical, supportive environment to grow in – JetBrains Horizon is the place to be.
I took this course for the second time, and it gave me even more clarity and practical skills. The first time, I gained skills I didn’t have before; this time, I consolidated them and built even more confidence to start my projects. Each time the course gets better, and I’m excited to see its future developments.
The JetBrains Horizon program really helped us a lot both with the theory around startups that we hadn’t come across before and with the practical part where industry experts gave us tasks and supported us in developing the technical and business sides of our own startup. All in all, it was a great experience that allowed us to learn new things while pushing our idea forward at the same time.
The TEP course was truly one of the most valuable experiences for me and my team. We learned a great deal about practical aspects of building and scaling a startup, from validating ideas to structuring business models, and gained insights that we are already applying in our project. The mentorship sessions, constructive feedback, and interaction with peers from different fields gave us new perspectives and motivated us to think bigger. Overall, the program significantly shaped our approach and gave us the confidence and tools to move forward more effectively. I would warmly recommend it to anyone who wants to accelerate their entrepreneurial journey. 🙌🏻👨💻
Meet experts
For each lesson, we invite some of the best people from the industry to share their experience and help the students develop their project
JetBrains Horizon Lead. With over 12 years of experience in entrepreneurship and project management, Maria has launched offline companies, as well as C2C and B2B products. She led the product management program at the Computer Science Center and has conducted more than 10 startup schools for projects at the idea stage. She was ranked among the top 200 women CEOs and founders of global EdTech startups by Holon IQ.
Jacques is a founder, investor, and commercial leader with over 25 years in technology. His experience spans all realms of the commercial world, including sales leadership, channel management, and complex enterprise sales. At Google, he supported some of the world’s largest life science companies to harness AI and Machine Learning to drive health outcomes. Earlier, he held senior roles at Cisco and Check Point, driving innovation by advancing cybersecurity strategy across regulated industries and Fortune 500 enterprises. Today, as CEO & Founder of TechStride Partners and a Venture Scout, Jacques helps startups scale with sales strategy, fundraising, and exit planning.
Nikita is a head of Product at JetBrains. A product leader driving a portfolio of innovative tools and solutions for data professionals. With experience in sales, business development, and go-to-market strategies, he has a proven track record of successfully delivering 0-to-1 products in the areas of ML and cloud. He is currently focused on scaling and enhancing a mature business unit to achieve long-term growth.
With a degree in computer science, he has held roles at industry giants like Microsoft and AliExpress.
Head of the Education Research group for JetBrains Research. Anastasia has taught Kotlin to undergraduate students at two European universities and authored several in-IDE Kotlin courses and official Kotlin educational materials. She is currently focused on - applying her experience with the Kotlin compiler and IDE development to educational tools to improve computer science education
Katharina is a Product Manager for Data Products, where she primarily focuses on developing AI agents and LLM applications. She has over five years of product management experience in the education sector, including her previous work with JetBrains Academy, and continues to contribute as a Researcher in Education Research.
Department Lead at JetBrains
Andrew is a product leader with experience building effective teams, initiating new product directions and delivering launches of B2C products with a scale up to 100 million active users. He has a proven track record of accelerating growth applying ML/Al technologies, enabling a culture of rapid product experimentation and a growth mindset. He currently leads the AI coding agents product direction at JetBrains.
A seasoned entrepreneur in biotech and medtech. Artem has a master degree in Mathematics and Mechanics. Worked in Accenture. And afterwards was a co-founder, advisor and consultant of companies in diagnostics, genetics, SaaS and cloud services.
Research Scientist at Bell Labs. Liubov combines expertise in mathematics and theoretical physics to study network dynamics, time series analysis, and AI. After receiving her PhD from Humboldt University of Berlin and holding research positions in European and South American universities, she now focuses on network robustness, stochastic processes, and embedding techniques.
Head of Software Division at BostonGene. Denis is focused on bringing the latest tech innovations and best development practices to the field of precision oncology. A strong advocate for statistical methods in genetics and a GWAS enthusiast, he’s always looking for new ways to push the boundaries of science and technology.
FAQ about the Spring Startup School 2026
We conduct our classes online, so students and experts from different countries can join us.
Our classes take place on Wednesday evenings, each class lasts 3 hours.
Fall semester will start in September and end in November, 2025. Spring semester will start in February and end in May.
We will cover all crucial aspects of startup development, from idea assessment and user identification to business planning and MVP presentation.
During the course, you will have a full support from curators helping you outside of classes, additional 1-on-1 sessions to help you to overcome any obstacles, access to all JetBrains IDEs and a chance to win funding to continue developing your company after the course concludes.
Nothing! We just want to share our knowledge, and the only thing we will ask you for is your attention and dedication during your journey.
Yes, you can. But participating in the first semester helps you develop a stronger idea and better prepares you for the Incubator interview.
The Incubator is team-based. If you are a solo founder, you need to find co-founders before applying, since it defines not only a workload, but the whole direction of your project. You can connect with students from your university or friends who share you passion.