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Hopper Tank

hopper tank

The Patty Abramson Social Venture Lab

The Hopper Tank (Patty Abramson Social Venture Lab) aims to nurture future generations of GDS social entrepreneurs by providing the skills, mentorship and, in some cases, seed money (aka “Patty Grants”) to create and incubate social ventures. Recognizing that bringing an idea to life requires support, mentorship, cheerleading, technical training, and financial acumen, the Venture Lab is intended to serve as an incubation hub for young entrepreneurs at GDS who have transformative ideas for social change whether that be tackling food waste, challenges in our healthcare system, educational inequities or beyond. The Lab program runs for ~12 weeks and culminates in a Hopper Tank pitch competition judged by the entire Middle School.

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Click here if you are interested in developing your own venture and would like to participate in next year's Hopper Tank!


Inspired by the legacy of Patty Abramson, a venture capitalist focused on investing in women (Patty was also a former member of the GDS board of trustees, alumni parent and grandparent), the Venture Lab connects directly to one of the Civic Lab’s aims, which is to spur social entrepreneurship among young people looking to solve urgent societal challenges. It is open to all young people regardless of gender identity — and, given Patty’s life work of trying to even the playing field for female entrepreneurs, it features an intentional focus on nurturing future generations of GDS female entrepreneurs by ensuring that young women are at least 50% of the Venture Lab’s participants, grant recipients, and mentors. 

Leaning into Patty’s legacy, the Venture Lab plays a role in closing the entrepreneurial gender gap. For context, just 2.1% of all venture capital dollars go to female-led businesses (PitchBook), and less than 15% of all venture capitalists check writers and 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Of unicorn companies (startups valued at $1 billion or more) only 14% have at least one female founder. Patty’s daughter, Jenny Abramson ‘95 (also a current GDS parent and former Chair of the GDS Board of Trustees), was inspired by her mother’s legacy and yet surprised by the persistence of the challenges her mother worked so hard to address over her career. In a previous interview with a news outlet, Jenny reflected:  “When my mom was investing 20 plus years ago, women got 2.5% of all venture capital dollars, and today, women get less than that.”


And yet, when women do get an opportunity to lead, they excel. Data conclusively shows that women-led companies actually earn more revenue (10% more revenue, BCG), have higher valuations (64% vs. 55%, IFC), and lead their companies to quicker exits than those with all male teams (on average, one year faster, All Raise/PitchBook). 

The purpose of the Patty Abramson Social Venture Lab is to help give students the foundational and practical skills in their formative years to be social entrepreneurs – regardless of gender but with an eye to promoting gender equity in the entrepreneurship space. Imagine how much potential can be unlocked in our society if we give everyone an equal opportunity and the support behind it to be the founders of tomorrow’s great new organizations, companies, and social ventures.