Track AConcrete project
Project Track
You have something concrete and early evidence it could work. Five months on validation, MVP, go-to-market and first traction.
- A formulated concept or application
- Demonstrable early feasibility
- Solo or as a team
Cohort 0
The ETH
startup factory
We remove the friction. You build.
- Run length
- 5 MONTHS
- Equity taken
- 0.00 %
- IP retained
- 100 % TEAM
- Intake window
- 01.09 – 01.10.26
What we take
0%
No equity, ever. No fee on capital you raise. All IP stays with you and your team. We want the community, not a cut.
Run length
Five months
Nov 26 → Mar 27
Station
11th floor
AI Tower
Where potential meets Trajectory.
Film · 1 September 2026
What you get Everything already in the building
We remove the friction. You build.
The most ambitious builders at ETH, in one room, for five months. Plus exclusive access to all our events.
- AI credits
- Compute access
- Lawyers
- Access to investors
- Founders with exits
- Workshops and advice
- The office, 24 h
- Demo Day
The missing piece in your startup journey.
Where are you?
Or by pillar
Not sure?
Station = program at that stage
Bar = program that spans multiple stages
Everything available, to remove the friction.
Every resource sits in the building and you decide how and when to use it. This is not a lecture series. The bar is still real: 80% attendance is required, and we keep the cohort to people who keep shipping.
For the ones who cannot stop.
This is for builders. For the delusional people who are addicted to solving one problem and want to build something enormous. You do not need an idea, a deck or a co-founder. You need a problem that annoys you and the stubbornness to stay on it. Apply alone or as a team: both tracks share one room, and that is how teams form.
- —
You have a problem you have been unable to drop for months.
- —
You would rather ship something rough than plan something perfect.
- —
You already build on evenings and weekends without anyone asking.
- —
You want honest feedback more than you want encouragement.
- —
You can give the next five months your full attention.
Track BNo idea required
Exploration Track
You want to build and haven’t landed on what. Five months on problem discovery, team formation and idea generation.
- A problem or domain you care about
- No project required
- Switch to Project Track mid-cohort
- Apply as
- One lead applicant applies for the whole team. Re-application is permitted.
- Eligibility
- Enrolled ETH students including exchange students, and alumni under two years out.
- Exclusion
- The project must not be based on ETH intellectual property, technology or research findings.
Trajectory is the ETH startup factory.
One floor, five months, and everything a company needs already in the building. The eleventh floor is yours, at nine in the morning or at midnight.
AI Tower · Zürich Oerlikon
We remove the friction.
You build.
Calendar Cohort 0 dates
Five months, November to March.
Applications open 1 September 2026 and close 1 October 2026. Decisions land in late October. The programme runs November 2026 to March 2027 and ends in Demo Day.
- 1 September 2026Applications openApplying takes about thirty minutes.
- 1 October 2026Applications closeHard deadline. The cohort after this one starts in May 2027.
- Late October 2026DecisionsEveryone hears back.
- Nov 2026 to Mar 2027The programme runsFive months on the 11th floor, ending in Demo Day.
Supporters Cohort 0
Who is behind Cohort 0.
Trajectory is run by the ETH Entrepreneur Club, a student association at ETH Zurich. Our mission is to inspire, educate and accelerate the next generation of entrepreneurs, supporting them from the moment they are merely curious to the point where they are aspiring founders.
- TBA
- TBA
Supporters of Trajectory Cohort 0.
trajectory@entrepreneur-club.org
- Intake opens
- 01.09.2026
- Intake closes
- 01.10.2026
- Demo Day
- 03.2027
Terms, eligibility & the fine print
Cohort 0A — Terms
- Attendance
- 80% mandatory. Places are limited, and participants who stop progressing may be asked to step back so the cohort stays strong.
- Equity & IP
- 0% equity, no fee on capital you raise, and all IP stays with you and your team.
- Cost
- Workshops, events, co-working, credits, lunches and Demo Day are included. A single fee of CHF 500 applies only if and when your company incorporates, and only if that happens within two years of the start of Trajectory. Nothing before that, and nothing if you never incorporate.
- Credit
- Not an ETH course and no ECTS. What you leave with instead: access to investors, access to customers, and the best startup community in Switzerland.
- Next run
- Miss this intake and the next cohort starts in May 2027.
B — Eligibility
- —
Currently enrolled ETH students, including exchange students
- —
ETH alumni who graduated less than two years ago
- —
The Bachelor’s Basisjahr must be completed
- —
For teams, at least one co-founder must meet the above
- —
One lead applicant applies for the whole team
- —
Re-application is permitted
Exclusion. The project must not be based on ETH intellectual property, technology or research findings.