In collaboration with King's E-Lab, University of Cambridge
From raw ideas to incubator-ready ventures in 48 hours.
A practical, high-energy venture-building format hosted at Cambridge Judge Business School, in collaboration with King's E-Lab. Challenge your thinking, form a team, and leave with a validated direction.
Delivered in Collaboration With
48h
Intensive Format
Idea to venture direction
4
Ideas Incubated
From inaugural cohort
Spark
Cambridge Incubator
Placement pipeline
Food & Agri
October Theme
Planetary Health Focus
100%
Form Real Teams
Across disciplines
48h
Intensive Format
Idea to venture direction
4
Ideas Incubated
From inaugural cohort
Spark
Cambridge Incubator
Placement pipeline
Food & Agri
October Theme
Planetary Health Focus
100%
Form Real Teams
Across disciplines
48h
Intensive Format
Idea to venture direction
4
Ideas Incubated
From inaugural cohort
Spark
Cambridge Incubator
Placement pipeline
Food & Agri
October Theme
Planetary Health Focus
100%
Form Real Teams
Across disciplines
Most incubators and accelerators are designed for teams that already have a defined idea, a formed team, early validation and founder confidence.
Zero-to-One fills the stage before that.
Participants find the hidden 'how' inside an early idea, challenge it through teamwork and mentoring, and begin turning uncertainty into validated 'yeses'.
Researchers, business students, alumni, early-stage founders and curious builders across disciplines.
A validated venture direction, a team, and a pathway to formal incubation or accelerator support.
Fast-paced problem-framing bursts, team formation, AI prototyping, mentor clinics and validation.
Not to start with the best idea, but to develop founder-thinking: how to find the 'how' inside any 'what'.
A timely theme connecting health, climate, biology, food systems, sustainability, agriculture, AI, supply chains, behaviour change and commercial innovation. One of the most pressing systems challenges of our era — and an enormous venture opportunity.
Why This Theme
Global food systems are under pressure from climate change, population growth, and shifting consumer expectations — creating the largest venture opportunity of the decade.
Four of the ten ideas that emerged from the inaugural Zero-to-One weekend were offered places on the Spark Incubator at the University of Cambridge, while two other teams are now receiving active support to develop early-stage partnerships and explore pilot opportunities.
The programme doesn't just end with an idea — it creates a pathway. Participants walk away with a team, a validated direction, and a warm introduction to Cambridge's innovation ecosystem.
4
Ideas on Spark Incubator
2
Teams in active pilot support
100%
Participants form real teams
The Experience
Zero-To-One Highlights
Day 1
Evening
Check-in at Cambridge Judge Business School. Opening reception with mentors and peers.
Night
Meet your cohort, mentors and Cambridge ecosystem leaders.
You don't need the perfect idea. You need curiosity, drive, and the desire to think like a founder.
Scientists and academics who have insights or findings that could translate into real-world impact.
MBA and master's students looking to build real-world venture experience alongside their studies.
Those with early ideas who want to stress-test, refine and build with like-minded collaborators.
Technologists, designers and product people who want to channel their skills into a new venture.
The 48 hours pushed me to think about a problem I knew scientifically from a completely different angle, as a market structure failure, not just a research gap. That reframe was th...
Sydney Conner
PhD in Biomedical...
What I liked most about GEL Zero-to-One was the ability to work with mentors as they really helped transform and learn new skills and ways of thinking. It helped me refine my idea by making me thin...
Tendai Nzonzo
Winning Team, Sana AI
Join Zero-to-One this June at Cambridge and build a venture from the ground up in 48 hours.