My Experience with Utrecht Inc’s Student Validation Program

In April 2025 I joined the UtrechtInc Student Validation Program with a project of mine and my 5 colleagues, CalvAlert, and it turned out to be one of the most valuable experiences I’ve had this year.

I first heard about UtrechtInc after my internship at Beyond Weather, one of the startups based there. UtrechtInc is one of the top 10 university-linked incubators worldwide, and it has a vibrant mix of startups, office spaces, monthly networking events, and tailored programs on early-stage startups needing ideation, validation, or acceleration.

A Quick Note on CalvAlert

CalvAlert is an AI-powered computer vision calving monitoring system for dairy farms. The idea is simple but important: detect calving events (cows giving birth) and difficult births (like dystocia) in real time so that farmers can intervene when needed.

CalvAlert results in:

• Better animal welfare

• Saved labor costs for farmers

• Prevention of calf deaths, which are both costly and unwanted

This post isn’t about CalvAlert itself, but about my journey inside the program — what I learned, who I met, and how it helped shape our next steps.

If you are interested in our project, feel free to visit our website: https://withlency.com/.

That’s all I’ll say here.

Getting into the Program

I knew about the program since September 2024, and my team was waiting for the next opening in April. The process was straightforward:

• We filled an application form and applied to the program

• Then, we submitted a one-pager, a single-page document that summarizes key information about our project

• Got shortlisted and went ahead and pitched our project in person

From there, we were accepted along with about 10 other startups.

Inside the Program

The program was 3 months long. It included a series of classes and workshops that were especially helpful since all of us came from CS and AI backgrounds. Topics included:

• Marketing

• Pitching

• Business plan validation

• Value proposition design

There were also community events for networking as well as sharing your project to others to get feedback which allowed us to improve our website and gave us new ideas on how to refine CalvAlert. These events were my favorite since through them I got to meet new entrepreneurial people, exchange ideas and connect with them to keep up to date with what they’re working on as well.

We also got paired with a mentor, Marko, from NeoLook (a startup offering video services for neonatal and pediatric intensive care). His experience was very useful for us since his product had a similar infrastructure to ours, just in a different domain. His advice helped us guide the development of our project and key decisions regarding outreaching people interested in our research.

At the time, CalvAlert was still in its early stages. We had a business plan and one pilot running in Cyprus to gather data for our MVP.

Through UtrechtInc, our main goals were to:

• Validate our business model plan

• Build a stronger Dutch network connecting with other Dutch startups and like-minded people from the Netherlands and Utrecht

• Explore opportunities for a second pilot in the Netherlands, where the dairy industry is massive

• Achieve a small funding for CalvAlert expenses

Key Highlights

The program gave us a lot more than theory:

• We pitched at multiple community events and spoke directly with visitors during a testing grounds event.

• Through a connection from the program, we landed a second pilot program at Dairy Campus, one of the biggest dairy research farms in the Netherlands which is part of Wageningen University. That was a huge milestone for us.

• I met a lot of entrepreneurial and tech-savvy people. Staying connected with them has kept me more plugged into the Utrecht and Dutch startup ecosystem as well as to what ideas overall are happening currently, mostly revolved around Artificial Intelligence.

• Thanks to the program, I got closer with another mentor at the university (UU Playground), which led to us securing €1,000 in funding.

Looking Back

The program

The UtrechtInc Student Validation Program was an amazing experience. I’d recommend it to anyone with a startup idea, even if it’s not fully developed. The amount of learning about business and marketing makes it worthwhile, while just the networking aspect is worth it on its own.

As for us, CalvAlert now has:

• Two pilot programs running (Cyprus and the Netherlands)

• A goal of starting a third

• An MVP under development that we aim to finish by the end of 2025

• A website and social media presence. Find us at Lency.

My advice to others

My key takeaway here isn’t just about entrepreneurial programs. It’s about engaging with events and meeting people. Doing so opens your mind to new perspectives and helps you grow both in your career and personal development.

Especially in the computer science field, many of us tend to be a bit more isolated. For a long time, especially during my computer science bachelor, I didn’t see the value of attending events, thinking I could just find the information online if I needed it. What I was missing was the fact that it’s not really about general knowledge. It’s about the personal experiences people share, and about the connections you form with others who share your interests. That’s something you simply can’t replicate through internet research.

When it comes to entrepreneurial programs, I highly recommend giving them a try. If you’re in Utrecht, definitely check out Utrecht Inc. and UU Playground (if you’re an Utrecht University student). Across the Netherlands, there are plenty of other programs such as YES!Delft and Starthub at Wageningen University. Each country and university usually has something equivalent, so it’s worth doing some research to find opportunities near you.

And even if you don’t yet have a product or project idea, you can still get involved. There are entrepreneurial events happening all the time. For example, Crossroads is a startup networking event in Utrecht that I was lucky to attend this year. I also recommend events from StartLife, an AgriFoodTech startup accelerator. I went to one of their events and was fascinated by the latest Food and AgriTech innovations being developed.

In the end, the real value lies not just in building products, but also in building connections that shape who you become along the way.