Harvard’s $699 startup bootcamp offers AI avatars of its instructors — SkimNews
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- Harvard Business School launched the eight-week, $699 HBS Foundry bootcamp for entrepreneurs, partnering with startup HeyGen to build AI avatars that deliver individual feedback during practice pitches and board meetings while instructors lead live weekly sessions.
- Sarah Kessler of the New York Times tested the system by pitching an AI-generated copy of Flybridge Capital co-founder Jeff Bussgang; both real and virtual Bussgang rejected her "Uber for bananas" plan, though the digital version responded with what she called a "noticeably frozen smile."
- Project director Katharina Rings initially designed the AI component as a chatbot, but student feedback after a trial version pushed the team toward a more guided avatar experience.
- Bussgang conceded his digital double is "creepy" but said "My students love it," and Foundry participants told Kessler they liked the avatars despite broader college-student skepticism of AI.
- The program is part of HBS's stated effort to expand its reach beyond traditional degree students through a lower-cost, AI-augmented offering.
Why it matters: HBS is selling a $699 bootcamp that clones its own instructors as AI avatars — a fraction of degree tuition — and participating entrepreneurs embraced the format even as many college students reject AI tools, suggesting branded AI instruction is finding a willing market among founders.
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