Harvard’s $699 Startup Bootcamp Uses AI Avatars for Pitch Practice
Harvard Business School's $699 HBS Foundry bootcamp uses HeyGen AI avatars of real instructors to give feedback during practice pitches and board meetings.
Harvard Business School has launched HBS Foundry, an eight-week online bootcamp for entrepreneurs priced at $699. The program pairs weekly live instructor sessions with AI avatars built by video-generation startup HeyGen. Those avatars handle feedback during practice pitches and simulated board meetings, standing in for real faculty and investors like Flybridge Capital co-founder Jeff Bussgang. Early participants say they like the format, even as Bussgang himself admits his digital replica is a bit "creepy."
What happened
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Program name | HBS Foundry |
| Price | $699 |
| Duration | Eight weeks |
| Avatar technology provider | HeyGen |
| Live sessions | Weekly, with real instructors |
| Avatar use case | Feedback on practice pitches and board meetings |
Harvard Business School launched the HBS Foundry bootcamp to reach a wider audience of early-stage founders. Rather than relying solely on human faculty, the school partnered with HeyGen, a startup that creates realistic AI video avatars, to produce digital replicas of its instructors.
New York Times reporter Sarah Kessler tested the system by pitching an AI copy of Jeff Bussgang, co-founder of Flybridge Capital, on a concept she described as “Uber for bananas.” According to her account, both the real Bussgang and his avatar were unimpressed. She did note one tell: the virtual version held a noticeably frozen smile throughout.
Why it matters
At $699 for eight weeks, HBS Foundry sits far below the cost of traditional executive education. The avatar layer lets the school scale personalized feedback without adding proportional instructor time. That model could spread quickly across other business schools and professional training programs.
For founders, the pitch-practice angle is the most practical piece. Repeated practice in front of a simulated investor, available on demand, is genuinely useful preparation. The question is whether avatar feedback is accurate and specific enough to actually sharpen a pitch, or whether it just feels like feedback. The frozen-smile detail Kessler flagged hints that the experience still has rough edges.
The design shift is also telling. Project director Katharina Rings originally planned a chatbot-style AI component. After a trial run, students pushed back and asked for something more structured. That feedback loop produced the avatar format now in use, which suggests participants are engaged enough to care about the quality of the tool.
Our take
This is a real use of AI that is easy to mock and harder to dismiss. The “creepy” avatar of a real investor is an obvious target, but the underlying mechanic, on-demand practice pitches with immediate feedback, is something founders actually need. Most people don’t have a Jeff Bussgang in their network to call for a dry run.
The HeyGen integration also signals something broader: AI avatars are moving from novelty demos into structured learning products with paying customers. If the feedback quality holds up, expect more programs like this. If it doesn’t, students will say so quickly. At $699 for eight weeks, the expectations are real.
For any business thinking about how AI might handle client-facing or training interactions, this is worth watching closely. Our own work on AI integration for business workflows consistently shows that the gap between “technically impressive” and “actually useful” comes down to how much the output is grounded in real expertise rather than generic responses. HBS is betting Bussgang’s expertise can survive the copy process.
For more on how AI avatars and tools are being tested across industries, follow our ongoing AI news coverage.
What to do about it
- If you run training or coaching programs, evaluate HeyGen or comparable avatar tools for scalable practice scenarios, especially for skills like sales pitches or client presentations.
- Look at how the HBS Foundry model separates live instruction from AI-assisted practice. That split may suit your own training budget better than a fully live format.
- Test any avatar tool with real users before committing. The shift from chatbot to avatar in HBS Foundry happened because students flagged the original format as insufficient.
- Track whether feedback from AI avatars is specific enough to act on. Generic encouragement is not practice, it is noise.
The format will mature fast. Getting hands-on with it now puts you ahead of the curve before it becomes standard in professional development.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the Harvard HBS Foundry bootcamp cost?
The HBS Foundry bootcamp costs $699 for an eight-week program aimed at entrepreneurs.
What is HeyGen and how is Harvard using it?
HeyGen is a startup that creates AI video avatars. Harvard Business School used it to build digital replicas of real instructors, which provide feedback to students during practice pitches and simulated board meetings in the HBS Foundry program.
Do Harvard's AI avatars replace human instructors?
No. HBS Foundry includes live weekly sessions with real instructors. The AI avatars are used specifically for feedback during practice exercises like pitch sessions and board meetings.
What do students think of the Harvard AI avatar instructors?
According to a New York Times report, Foundry participants said they like the avatars. Project director Katharina Rings also noted that students in a trial version asked for a more guided experience, which led to the current avatar format.
