A 12-week program for recent graduates ready to build their company full time — with housing covered, a $10,000 stipend, mentorship, and a home base at SparkHaus in Covington, KY.
📍 May 18 – August 14, 2026 · Covington, Kentucky
🚀 Apply Now → · Deadline: April 5, 2026
Something is shifting. A third of new companies now have solo founders. The median age of a Y Combinator founder has dropped from 30 to 24 in three years. New grad hiring is down and salaries are sliding — but 50% of Gen Z plans to start a company anyway.
The old path is narrowing. The builder path is opening up.
Shinkle Fellows exists because the Cincy/NKY region has everything a young founder needs to go all in — except one thing: a program built specifically for them.
🏠 Housing covered — apartments in Covington, walking distance to SparkHaus
💰 $10,000 stipend — paid across the summer so you can focus on building
🧭 A dedicated mentor — weekly 1:1s built into the program every Monday
🚪 Direct access — founders, investors, and operators. No lectures. Just access.
🎤 Demo Day — close the summer pitching to the region's investors and ecosystem leader
Recent graduates from regional universities who are serious about building a company — and serious about building it here. We're not looking for the most polished application. We're looking for the person who will use this summer better than anyone else would.
✅ Recent graduate or graduating by May 2026