Judges and Mentors

Mentorship

Mentors provide remote feedback to teams during the first stage of the competition in the General Ventures, Healthcare Ventures, Medical Technology Ventures, or Sustainability Ventures category using the business plan development platform LivePlan. Mentorship is flexible and can be completed anywhere. Mentors can choose their preferred communication method and review their teams’ materials at their convenience within the mentorship feedback windows.

Mentors guide HopStart teams by evolving their business ideas, helping to shape their plans, and providing feedback on pitches. On average, mentors spend between 1 and 2 hours mentoring in Round 1 and 3 to 5 hours engaging with mentees in Round 2. This year, we have added a pitch review mentorship window in mid-April, which should take between 30 minutes to 1 hour to complete.

Important details regarding HopStart Mentorship:

• No travel is required. Mentors can choose how they prefer to communicate with their teams, whether that is over the phone or in Zoom meetings, through the platform LivePlan, over email, or a combination of platforms.
• In Round 1, mentors will review each team’s Round 1 submission and provide feedback (approx. 30 minutes to 1 hour per team).
• In Round 2, mentors will review each team’s Round 2 submission and provide feedback (approx. 1 to 2 hours per team).
• In Round 3, mentors will meet with teams to review pitches and provide feedback in advance of competition day.
• Please see our competition timeline for the dates of each round of mentorship.
• Depending on the number of mentors who apply and the number of teams who compete, mentors will be matched with 1 to 3 teams.
• During registration, mentors will select first and second choices of category and will be matched to team(s) based on preference and team needs.
• Please see our LivePlan template for an idea of the questions teams are asked in each round of competition.
• Mentors selected for this program are invited to attend the competition or serve as judges on competition day.

Judging

Judges have the opportunity to evaluate pitches, select winners, and network with participants on competition day – April 24, 2026 (the competition-day schedule is available here). Finalists and winners are selected through a combination of scoring and discussion at the conclusion of each round of competition.

In the first round, teams are evaluated on the following:

• how well they explain the problem and identify their target customer
• the quality of their solution
• the overall strength of their pitch
• the strength of their responses to questions from judges

In the final round, teams are evaluated on the following:

• articulated value created by their product or service
• the attractiveness of the market opportunity
• their competitive advantage
• their operational and technological viability
• the overall strength of their presentation
• the strength of their pitch deck
• the strength of their responses to questions from judges

Please email us at hopstart@jhu.edu for more information on becoming a judge.

Interested individuals can serve as a mentor, a judge, or both.