Harvard Business School Is Using AI Avatars to Coach Its $699 Startup Bootcamp Students

Key points

• Harvard Business School's Foundry bootcamp, priced at $699 for eight weeks, uses AI avatars built by startup HeyGen to give feedback to student entrepreneurs.
• The avatars simulate real instructors and investors, including Flybridge Capital co-founder Jeff Bussgang.
• Students in the program said they prefer the avatars over a basic chatbot experience.
• Bussgang called his digital double "a little creepy" but said his students love it.

Harvard Business School wants to reach more aspiring entrepreneurs. Its answer, at least partly, is to clone its instructors.

The school's Foundry programme is an eight-week online bootcamp for people starting a business, costing $699. Each week includes a live session with a human instructor. But when students practise their investor pitches or run mock board meetings, the feedback comes from an AI avatar, a computer-generated video likeness that looks and speaks like a real person.

Those avatars were built by HeyGen, a startup that specialises in creating realistic digital doubles of real individuals.

What does an AI avatar actually do here?

The avatar stands in for a real instructor or investor during practice runs, listening to a student's pitch and responding with feedback. It is closer to a video call with a virtual person than a text chatbot.

TechCrunch AI first reported that New York Times journalist Sarah Kessler tried the experience herself. She pitched a fictional business idea, described as "Uber for bananas," to an AI avatar built to resemble Jeff Bussgang, co-founder of venture capital firm Flybridge Capital. The real Bussgang was also unimpressed by the concept. His digital double, Kessler noted, held a noticeably frozen smile throughout.

Project director Katharina Rings said the original plan was something simpler, closer to a standard text chatbot. After an early trial, students pushed back. They wanted more guidance and a more lifelike interaction, so the programme shifted toward the full avatar format.

Should students or instructors be worried?

Neither group has raised serious alarms so far. Students enrolled in Foundry told Kessler they actually like the avatars, finding them useful for low-stakes practice before facing a real investor.

Bussgang, whose face and voice were used to build the digital double, is candid about the oddness of the situation. "Creepy" was his word. But he added: "My students love it."

For ordinary people considering a programme like this, the practical reality is straightforward. You are not getting less human contact overall. The live weekly sessions stay human. The avatars handle the repetitive, practice-round feedback that would otherwise either fall to an overworked instructor or not happen at all.

Common questions

Is the AI avatar the same as the real instructor?

No. The avatar handles practice feedback only. Live teaching sessions are still run by human instructors each week.

Can anyone sign up for the Foundry bootcamp?

The programme is an eight-week online course open to entrepreneurs and costs $699. It is run through Harvard Business School but is not a degree programme.