Menu

The Capstone Project

The TRIUM Capstone Project is an opportunity to apply your program learning to a real-life strategic opportunity, such as launching a start-up or social venture, or restructuring an existing business environment.

Capstone Project runner up group 2017

Graduation, London

A challenging, rewarding journey

The Capstone Project brings your coursework to life in a real-world and potentially life-changing way.

You and your classmates will propose projects and create self-formed teams to develop a business idea from inception to launch over the course of the TRIUM program. You will leverage the resources of our TRIUM program and faculty, your classmates and alumni connections to apply your classroom learning in the real world.

You’ll get the intellectual space, resources and mandate to strike out in a new and innovative direction: the opportunity to take your vision, expertise and experience, and solve a business challenge or identify a strategic opportunity to create something new.

Capstone Project winning group 2017

You can expect Capstone to push and challenge you and your team; the intense teamwork will help you form deep and lasting professional and personal connections with your classmates, as rewarding and invaluable as the project outcome itself.

Whether your interest in our program is to further your career in a major corporation, or give you the confidence to set out on your own, your participation in the Capstone Project will enable you to do so in ways you may never have considered before.

You decide the theme

While the kinds of initiatives that a group might consider are diverse, they usually fall into one of three broad types:

  1. The strategic development and/or restructuring of an existing firm, NGO or social enterprise
  2. The development of a new for-profit business
  3. The development of a new non-profit NGO or social enterprise

If the project is the development of a new business, NGO, or social enterprise, you will be required to demonstrate that the project ultimately will be economically self-sufficient.

78% Develop new businesses
19% Develop new NGOs or social enterprises
3% Develop strategic projects for existing organizations

Strategic Development and/or Restructuring of an Existing Firm, NGO or Social Enterprise

The first possibility is to analyze a strategic initiative for an existing firm, evaluate its feasibility and propose an implementation plan.

The strategic initiative could be the launch of innovative products and services, a geographical expansion, a restructuring or any initiative significantly impacting the scope, scale or business model of the firm. These projects are usually led by someone from within the group who works at or owns the company or organization in question. Depending on the circumstances, TRIUM may require a commitment letter from the company or organization in which the scope of the project, including deliverables and timeframes, is addressed.

Development of a New For-profit Business

A second possibility is for a team to prepare a business plan for a new enterprise. This approach requires the “classical” business analysis of markets, competitiveness, strategic positioning, etc. Please be aware that a project of this type will need to have realistic economic assumptions required to give the business case face validity. The project must show evidence of the proof of concept(s) and viability of key aspects of the business plan which would attract potential investors.

Development of a New Non-profit NGO or Social Enterprise

As a third option, a Capstone team may also decide to prepare a business plan for a new NGO or social enterprise. Consistent with the NGO / social enterprise mission, the primary objective of the project should be to deliver a positive social or environmental outcome on a sustainable basis. In practice, this type of Capstone Project is very similar to the ones described above.

Selected Capstone Projects

Design Duality

Capstone winner 2020, connecting independent tailors with global markets

View project

Design Duality

Capstone winner 2020, connecting independent tailors with global markets

Hide project

Design Duality is a business idea that enables global consumers to purchase authentic, made-to-measure fashions made by experienced, independent tailors from developing markets.

Read more

Argencove

Artisan chocolate and cocoa from the plains of Nicaragua

View project

Argencove

Artisan chocolate and cocoa from the plains of Nicaragua

Hide project

Peter MacFadyen used Capstone to develop and trial an idea for business with great peers and professors. This gave me the confidence to present the idea outside the program, acquire finance and build a company with an extraordinary team.

Visit Argencove website

Fix

A meal-kit delivery service that disrupted the way existing services were executed

View project

Fix

A meal-kit delivery service that disrupted the way existing services were executed

Hide project

Wayne Culbreth came to TRIUM intending to leverage the program to launch a company. He recruited a team with specific backgrounds, each complementing one another. Wayne and his Capstone team built a business plan and incorporated the company during the program, raised an angel round of funding soon after graduation, and began operations a few weeks later.

Lumiga

A data-driven energy management platform that empowers small and medium businesses to take back control of their energy future

View project

Lumiga

A data-driven energy management platform that empowers small and medium businesses to take back control of their energy future

Hide project

The project team's objective was to create an energy efficient project that would build on their diverse areas of expertise, that could be launched after graduation. LUMIGA embodies the idea of utilizing innovative technology, market centered solutions, and a dedicated solution design team to tackle an immense challenge to the world – rising energy costs.

Alumni experience

Beyond the Capstone Project experience our network of alumni continue to collaborate on projects and draw on their unique breadth of expetise to continue their professional growth and open doors to new opportunities.

Peter McFadyen

Australia Class of 2016

I was attracted to TRIUM diverse content and network of colleagues and professors. Capstone was a large drawcard for me. It allowed for a structured way to approach a new business with progressive feedback but also required forming a group of different professionals to deliver a succinct project.

Chris Burggraeve

Belgium Class of 2005

Ask yourself and others how the immersive TRIUM experience will help you reinvent yourself on an existential level. You normally have at least two or three great chapters in you. Can TRIUM help unlock the next big one?

Wayne Culbreth

United States Class of 2018

You will find no better collection of classmates and professors than the TRIUM program anywhere in the world. I highly recommend the program to anyone contemplating transitioning from the corporate world to startups. TRIUM is unparalleled in the entrepreneurial focus.

View our alumni stories