Hyperion
A venture program designed for the dreamers, the builders, and the change-makers tackling the most complex challenges of our time
The next great companies won’t just disrupt markets, they’ll rebuild the systems we all depend on, which is why we're backing founders who dare to imagine and build
27 weeks over 2 Phases
From foundation and mission fit to strategy and execution
Starting ventures focused on public innovation is notoriously challenging, we know that, and yet, as the world's challenges become ever more complex, we urgently need solutions, driven by innovation and invention, to tackle them. ​​
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Hyperion offers founders with big ideas the tools to build companies with the potential to scale and drive impact in the public sector. Navigate the lengthy and often obscure procurement and sales processes, design Go-to-Market strategies, and build alongside investors and city leaders - your customers.
Key Information
Applications Open
Applications Close
Interview Period
Notifications
First Day
How Hyperion Works
Cohort-Based Model: Founders join a small, curated cohort of entrepreneurs tackling a diverse range of public challenges. This intentional structure fosters deep peer learning, collaboration, and cross-sector insight.
Structured 6-Month Curriculum: Over six months, founders participate in weekly sessions focused on stakeholder mapping, navigating public procurement, equity-centered design, regulatory readiness, business models for public impact, and more.
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1:1 Mentorship and Advisory Support: Each team is paired with experienced mentors, from former policymakers and city leaders to public sector investors and technologists, who understand the nuances of building in public systems.
Direct Engagement with Cities: Founders work closely with municipal leaders and government partners to pressure-test their solutions, access pilot opportunities, and understand real-world public sector dynamics.
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Embedded Research Infrastructure: Hyperion founders benefit from the deep research ecosystem of the Public Innovation Institute, including access to affiliated labs, policy scholars, and applied research networks across MIT and Harvard University.
Funding and Access to Capital: Selected ventures may receive catalytic funding through recoverable grants or flexible early-stage instruments. We also connect teams to aligned investors, philanthropic funders, and SPV opportunities through PII.
Lifelong Network: Hyperion alumni join a vibrant community of builders, researchers, policymakers, and investors working at the frontier of civic and social innovation.
Program Advisors
Khahlil Louisy
Executive Director
The Public Innovation Institute
Stephen Caines
Chief Innovation Officer & Budget Director
City of San Jose, California
Elizabeth Crowe
Director, Urban Analytics & Innovation
City of Cleveland, Ohio
Ryan taylor
Investor
Fusion Fund
Alex Wissner-Gross
Investor
REIFIED
Program Structure
Phase One
Month One: Foundation & Mission Fit
Monthly Convening 1
Theme: The Public Problem: What’s Worth Solving Now
Roundtables with civic leaders, technologists, and funders on urgent challenges across climate, health, labor, housing, and other public sectors.
Week 1: The Basics
Session: The Building Blocks: Public Innovation in Practice
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Orientation, introductions, the public interest venture landscape, what “public-good scale” really looks like.
Week 2: Stakeholder Mapping + Systems Thinking
Session: Who you serve
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Define your users, funders, regulators, and blockers. Center lived experience in problem validation.
Week 3: The Value You're Creating
Session: Defining the Problem & Theory of Change
Sharpen your public value proposition. Are you solving for equity? Efficiency? Trust?
Week 4: The Public Product
Session: Building with Government (or Around It)
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Regulatory timelines, procurement basics, and go-to-market in public systems.
Month Two: Product + Policy
Convening 2:
Theme: Doing Business With Government​
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Live case studies with founders, procurement officials, and legal advisors.
Week 5: The Feedback Loop
Session: Pilots, Partners, and Participatory Design
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How to structure early pilots with cities, community orgs, or agencies.
Week 6: Power + Policy
Session: Working in Political Environments
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How elections, budgets, and bureaucracy shape your venture’s chances. Special focus on state/local gov.
Week 7: Revenue That Makes Sense
Theme: Pricing, Business Models & Public Sector Buyers
Recoverable grants, contracting, tiered pricing, and public-private hybrids.
Week 8: Public Interest Tech Ethics
Session: Designing for Trust and Long-Term Consequences
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Privacy, data governance, algorithmic equity, and avoiding “move fast, break trust.”
Month Three: Capital + Momentum
Convening 3:
Theme: From Pilot to Policy: Scaling Public Ventures​
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Spotlight on scale pathways, follow-on funding, partnerships with city, state, and philanthropic partners.
Week 9: Funding the Mission
Session: Public-Interest Capital Stack
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SAFEs vs. grants vs. recoverable capital, how to talk to catalytic funders, layered investment strategies.
Week 10: Telling the Story
Session: Narratives that Move Stakeholders
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Pitch decks for funders ≠ policy briefs ≠ city memos. Learn to speak all three languages.
Week 11: Sharpen the Edge
Theme: Founder Critic & Feedback Forum
Peer review, rapid iteration, and final polish of deck/messaging/pilot plan.
Week 12: Phase One Final Week
Event: Advisory Board Review + Winter Showcase
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Each team shares their refined pitch, public impact roadmap, and asks for support.
Phase Two
Month Four: Strategy & Go-To-Market Design
Monthly Convening 4
Theme: Funding the First Pilot
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Funder roundtable (philanthropy, gov innovation funds, impact investors) on how early-stage public ventures get off the ground.
Week 13: Reentry & Strategic Reset
Session: Vision Reboot : What Changed, What’s Next​
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Founders re-ground their work post-break, review policy landscape changes, refine key hypotheses.
Week 14: Business Models for Public Ventures
Session: Beyond the Deck: Pathways to Financial Sustainability​
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Deep dive into B2G, B2B2G, and hybrid pricing; layering grants + contracts; cost-sharing with anchor partners.
Week 15: Go-To-Market Strategy I: Channels & Champions
Session: Who Opens the Door
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Mapping early partners: civic accelerators, city tech units, procurement allies, local champions.
Week 16: Go-To-Market Strategy II: Tactics & Sequencing
Session: Where to Launch, and Why
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Case studies on sequencing cities, designing for quick wins, geographic focus vs issue-based pilots.
Month Five: Pilots & Partnerships
Convening 5:
Theme: The Startup–City Playbook​​
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Founder–city leader pairings share how they structured and learned from early-stage pilots.
Week 17: Pilot Design I: Anatomy of a Good Pilot
Session: Scope, Duration, Metrics​
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How to make your pilot tight, realistic, and high-leverage; working with constraints.
Week 18: Pilot Design II: Partnering with Cities
Session: The MOU Moment
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Sample city MOUs, negotiation strategies, timelines, and power mapping public stakeholders.
Week 19: Policy Alignment & Strategic Timing
Theme: Budget Cycles, Elections, and Windows of Opportunity
Understand government rhythms: what makes mayors say “yes,” when to wait, and how to align with broader policy goals.
Week 20: Procurement 101
Session: From Pilot to Contract
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How public procurement works (and how to work around it); partnerships vs purchasing vs contracting.
Optional: Pilot Activation Window
If any teams are ready to test pilots with city or nonprofit partners, March is the activation window.​
Month Six: Pilots & Partnerships
Convening 6:
Theme: Testing What Matters
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Showcase of active pilots, learning from failures, sharing emerging metrics and early outcomes.
Week 21: The First Implementation Sprint
Session: Delivering in the Wild​
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Sprint planning, success criteria, and change management for early public sector partners.
Week 22: Public Venture Ops
Session: Hiring, Scaling, and Team Design
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Org structures for mission-driven ventures: when to hire policy leads vs product leads vs ops.
Week 23: Equity, Risk, and the Long Game
Theme: What Could Go Wrong? And Who’s Accountable?
Building for accountability, community feedback loops, and resilience through failure.
Week 24: Board & Governance Strategy
Session: Who Guides The Mission?
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Best practices for early advisory boards, community boards, and public sector-informed governance.
Month Seven: Wrap Up & Launch Readiness
Week 25: Refining the Public Narrative
Session: Your Venture, in 3 Slides or 90 Seconds
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Training for civic audiences, funders, and policy leaders. Keep it sharp, human, and high-stakes.
Week 26: Fundraising for Public Ventures
Session: Post-Program Capital Stack Strategy​
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Guidance on blending catalytic philanthropy, mission-aligned VCs, government grants, and PRIs.
Week 27: From Pilot to Policy
Session: Embedding in Systems
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How to move beyond point solutions: scale via policy adoption, institutional partnerships, or standards.
Week 28: Final Prep + Transition Planning
Theme: From Cohort to Community
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Ongoing support models, network engagement, and how to stay connected beyond April.
Final Convening and Demo Day
Theme: Build What the Future Needs​
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Each team presents pilot results, updated public impact roadmap, and scaling strategy to a curated audience of funders, city leaders, media, and policy shapers.
Eligibility
Hyperion supports early-stage founders—those at the idea to pre-seed stage—who are building bold, public-interest ventures that engage complex civic, social, or environmental challenges from the ground up.
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We’re looking for teams currently based in the U.S. who understand that successful ventures in this space must account for regulatory complexity, public procurement, systems-level impact, and the needs of diverse stakeholders from day one.
Ideal applicants will:
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Seek to build scalable solutions that serve the public good
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Benefit from access to our deep network of research institutions, government partners, corporate sponsors, and investors
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Thrive in a collaborative, mission-driven community of like-minded founders
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Value rigor, humility, and cross-sector fluency as they navigate public and private landscapes
Hyperion is designed for founders who want to build with the public, not just for it.