Creative Destruction Lab » Accelerator Program Guide

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Program Type

Objectives-Based Program

Headquarters

Toronto, Canada

Focus

Science & Deep Tech

Overview

Creative Destruction Lab began at the University of Toronto's Rotman School and has expanded to universities across several countries.

Its model is distinctive: companies set specific objectives with a group of experienced entrepreneurs and investors every eight weeks, and those who fail to meet them leave the programme. That selection pressure is the mechanism.

Program Structure

Nine-month programme structured around eight-week objective cycles
Companies that miss objectives are cut from the programme
Mentorship from accomplished founders and investors, not staff
Streams organised by sector including AI, health, space, and climate
No equity taken by the programme itself

What They Look For

Science and technology companies with defensible technical foundations
Founders able to set and hit concrete objectives
Fit with a specific sector stream
Willingness to be assessed critically every cycle
Massively scalable technology rather than incremental products

Notable Portfolio

Companies they've backed.

Deep Genomics and Xanadu in quantum computing are among the companies that have gone through Creative Destruction Lab streams.

Explore related programmes.

The Engine · Berkeley SkyDeck · Entrepreneur First

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