Inside CREATE-X at Georgia Tech: Atlanta’s Launchpad for Student Startups

If you live in Atlanta or spend time around Midtown, you’ve probably heard about CREATE-X at Georgia Tech. It’s one of the city’s most active startup and tech ecosystem hubs, focused specifically on helping Georgia Tech students and recent alumni turn ideas into real companies—right here in Atlanta.

This guide walks you through what CREATE-X is, how it works, where it fits in Atlanta’s broader startup scene, and what to know if you want to plug into it as a student, founder, mentor, or local partner.

What Is CREATE-X at Georgia Tech?

CREATE-X is a Georgia Tech initiative designed to help students learn entrepreneurship by doing it. Instead of treating startups as a side project, CREATE-X builds entrepreneurship into the academic and campus experience.

It operates as a pipeline:

1. Learn and explore ideas
2. Develop and test a startup
3. Launch and grow a company

The program is based in Midtown Atlanta, woven into the Georgia Tech campus and surrounded by tech companies, corporate innovation centers, and other accelerators in and around Tech Square.

Where CREATE-X Fits in Atlanta’s Startup & Tech Ecosystem

Atlanta has become a serious tech and startup hub, with clusters around:

• Tech Square and Midtown – Georgia Tech, innovation centers, corporate labs
• Downtown – incubators and civic tech initiatives
• West Midtown and the Westside – creative and maker spaces
• Buckhead and Perimeter – established corporate headquarters and investors

Within this landscape, CREATE-X plays a specific, important role:

• It focuses on Georgia Tech students and recent alumni.
• It helps companies start early, often while founders are still in school.
• It keeps talent and innovation anchored in Atlanta, feeding into local accelerators, coworking spaces, and investment networks.

Many companies that begin in CREATE-X go on to raise funding, join local incubators, or hire locally—adding to the overall vibrancy of Atlanta’s tech scene.

Core CREATE-X Programs (Explore, Develop, Launch)

CREATE-X is usually described as three main pillars. If you’re in Atlanta and trying to understand how it works, think of it as a step-by-step track from idea to launch.

1. LEARN: Starting with Ideas and Skills

CREATE-X supports entrepreneurship education through:

• Courses and workshops on innovation, customer discovery, and startup basics
• Project-based classes where students build prototypes or business concepts
• Access to mentors with startup, technical, and industry experience

You’ll typically see these activities happening across campus buildings in Midtown Atlanta, often near or within the Georgia Tech College of Engineering and the Scheller College of Business.

This stage is ideal if you:

• Have an idea but no team
• Want to learn what “startup” really means in practice
• Are considering whether entrepreneurship is right for you

2. BUILD / DEVELOP: Turning Concepts Into Real Products

The middle phase focuses on validating ideas and starting to build something real.

This can include:

• Customer discovery – interviewing potential users/customers around Atlanta
• Prototype development – apps, hardware, or services tested with real people
• Business model work – figuring out how the startup might make money

Because Atlanta is so diverse—industries like logistics, fintech, health care, media, and aerospace—students have many local partners and potential early adopters to talk to.

You’ll often see students:

• Testing apps with users in Midtown
• Meeting with mentors and advisors around Tech Square
• Connecting with local companies for pilots or feedback

3. LAUNCH: The CREATE-X Startup Launch Program

The most visible part of CREATE-X is its Startup Launch accelerator, typically run in the summer.

In this phase, student and recent alumni teams:

• Receive support to work full-time on their startup
• Get access to founder coaching, legal basics, and pitch practice
• Are connected to investors and mentors in Atlanta and beyond
• Participate in demo day–style events to showcase their progress

Startup Launch is often considered one of Atlanta’s key early-stage talent pipelines, helping keep promising founders in the city after they graduate.

Who Can Participate in CREATE-X (And How It Works in Practice)

Primary Participants

CREATE-X is centered around:

• Current Georgia Tech students (undergraduate and graduate)
• Recent Georgia Tech alumni (often within a set number of years after graduation)

Others in Atlanta—such as local entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and investors—often participate as:

• Mentors and coaches
• Industry partners for pilots, feedback, or collaborations
• Speakers and judges at events and showcases

If you’re not affiliated with Georgia Tech, you typically won’t join as a founder through CREATE-X, but you may still connect through events, mentorship, or partnerships.

Typical Journey for a Student in Atlanta

1. Take a startup-related class or attend a workshop on campus.
2. Join a team or form one with classmates.
3. Work through idea validation, often interacting with customers and partners around Atlanta.
4. Apply to Startup Launch.
5. Spend a summer heavily focused on the startup, usually based in or near Tech Square in Midtown.
6. After Startup Launch, continue working on the company from Atlanta, joining local incubators or raising capital.

CREATE-X’s Physical and Geographic Context in Atlanta

CREATE-X activities are embedded in Georgia Tech’s campus, primarily around Midtown Atlanta.

You can generally orient yourself by:

• Tech Square / Technology Square

  • This is a dense cluster of Georgia Tech buildings and tech-focused centers on the east side of campus, near 5th Street NW and Spring Street NW.
  • It houses many of Georgia Tech’s innovation and entrepreneurship spaces and sits across from corporate innovation centers and labs.

• Midtown MARTA Stations

  • The nearby Midtown and North Avenue MARTA rail stations make it relatively easy for students and visitors from other parts of Atlanta to attend CREATE-X events or meetings.

While specific office locations, floors, or suite numbers can change, CREATE-X is consistently tied to Georgia Tech’s central campus footprint in Midtown.

How CREATE-X Connects With Other Atlanta Resources

One reason CREATE-X is influential in Atlanta is how it links students to the broader ecosystem.

Corporate Connections

Midtown and Tech Square host corporate innovation centers for major companies with strong Atlanta footprints. Through CREATE-X, startups may:

• Meet corporate mentors
• Explore pilot projects
• Get early customer feedback

This is particularly important in sectors like:

• Fintech and payments
• Logistics and supply chain
• Enterprise software and cybersecurity
• Healthcare IT and digital health

Local Accelerators and Incubators

After CREATE-X, founders often look to:

• Atlanta-based accelerators for scale
• Coworking spaces and innovation hubs in Midtown, Downtown, and on the Westside
• Industry-specific programs in sectors like health, climate, or media

Because CREATE-X is so visible in the city, graduates of its Startup Launch program are often on the radar of local investors and ecosystem builders.

Community and Networking

CREATE-X regularly intersects with:

• Startup pitch nights and demo days around Atlanta
• University-wide and city-wide hackathons
• Meetups and tech user groups in Midtown and Buckhead

As a result, student founders don’t operate in isolation. They’re part of Atlanta’s larger innovation community, which can help with:

• Finding co-founders and early employees
• Accessing specialized technical help
• Getting warm introductions to funders or partners

What CREATE-X Offers Student Founders in Atlanta

For someone in Atlanta thinking about starting a company while at Georgia Tech, CREATE-X provides:

1. Structure and Accountability

• Clear milestones from idea to launch
• A defined timeline, especially during Startup Launch

2. Mentorship and Guidance

• Access to founders, investors, and experts who live and work in Atlanta
• Regular feedback on product, strategy, and fundraising

3. Community and Peer Support

• A cohort of other student startups you see regularly
• Exposure to alumni founders who have already built companies in the city

4. Visibility in the Atlanta Ecosystem

• Demo events attended by local investors and corporate representatives
• A recognizable program name that many Atlanta tech leaders know

5. Practical Startup Skills

• Customer discovery
• Go-to-market planning
• Basic legal and company formation topics
• Pitching and storytelling

How to Engage with CREATE-X If You’re in Atlanta

If You’re a Georgia Tech Student or Recent Alum

Here are realistic next steps if you’re on or near campus:

1. Look for entrepreneurship courses listed in Georgia Tech’s schedule that mention startups, innovation, or CREATE-X.
2. Attend info sessions or workshops announced through Georgia Tech channels, especially around the College of Engineering, Scheller College of Business, and campus-wide entrepreneurship groups.
3. Talk to faculty or advisors familiar with entrepreneurship programs; they often know how CREATE-X fits into your major and schedule.
4. Form or join a team and prepare to apply for Startup Launch if your idea gains traction.

If You’re an Atlanta-Based Mentor, Founder, or Investor

You can often:

• Volunteer as a mentor or advisor
• Participate as a guest speaker or panelist
• Attend demo events or showcases that highlight CREATE-X teams

Many in Atlanta’s tech community see CREATE-X as a way to connect early with emerging founders and technologies coming out of Georgia Tech.

If You’re Visiting Atlanta and Exploring the Tech Scene

If you’re just in town but want to understand the ecosystem:

• Walk through Tech Square in Midtown to get a feel for the area where much of Georgia Tech’s innovation and entrepreneurship activity happens.
• Check for public events or showcases happening on campus or in Tech Square, which may feature CREATE-X teams or alumni.

Quick Reference: CREATE-X in the Atlanta Context

Below is a simple overview to help you see how CREATE-X fits into Atlanta’s startup and tech ecosystem:

Practical Tips for Navigating CREATE-X from an Atlanta Perspective

• Plan around the academic calendar. Startup Launch and many CREATE-X activities follow Georgia Tech’s semester and summer schedules.
• Use Midtown’s transit and walkability. If you’re in Atlanta without a car, MARTA rail and buses plus short walks can get you to most CREATE-X-related locations near campus.
• Leverage local industry. If your startup idea touches logistics, fintech, health, media, or other strong Atlanta sectors, it’s easier to find test customers, pilots, and advisors.
• Think beyond campus. CREATE-X is often your entry point into a broader network of coworking spaces, angel investors, corporate partners, and accelerators across the city.
• Stay informed through Georgia Tech channels. Program details, specific buildings, and schedules can shift, so rely on Georgia Tech’s official information for the latest updates.

For anyone in Atlanta who cares about innovation—whether you’re a student, a local founder, an investor, or just curious—CREATE-X at Georgia Tech is a central hub where new companies and future tech leaders often get their start.