Founders of fledgling tech startups at Carnegie Mellon University are getting a glimpse inside the minds of venture capitalists and a shot at $240 million in potential investments.

The university’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship recently launched its Deep Tech Venture-Ready Program, a six-month course in wooing venture capitalists followed by 18 months of one-on-one mentorship from a potential investor.

CMU announced Tuesday it secured verbal commitments from 30 venture capital firms and corporate partners to invest $240 million in startups they deem promising. The money is not guaranteed, but reflects substantial interest from investors.

The first cohort includes more than 40 faculty members, graduate students and alumni, each with an innovation that can’t make it to market without significant cash. That’s where venture capitalists come in, offering an infusion of funds in exchange for a stake in the company.

Selected startups are in high-tech sectors like artificial intelligence, robotics and life sciences.

“These are world-changing, economy-making companies,” said Meredith Grelli, interim executive director of the Swartz Center.

The first leg of the program comes with monthly strategy workshops on how to establish distinct intellectual property, identify potential customers and commercialize products as well as lessons on the inner workings of venture capital firms.

At the end of the six months, founders will head to New York City to observe a mock investment committee session, the meetings held by venture capital firms to decide which companies to bet on.

Then, the mentorship phase begins. Founders will be paired with investors in their field to work toward securing funding from that mentor or another participating venture capitalist.

Alpha Intelligence Capital, an international venture capital firm with an office in San Francisco, has worked with CMU since last summer to develop the program. Nhi Le, a partner at the company, said in a statement founders taking part will develop “genuine investor fluency to raise capital more effectively and deploy it more strategically.”

The hope is to secure additional investment pledges and accept another cohort in the fall.

Know-how can be as much of a barrier as money for founders, leaving them stuck with exciting research but no plan for translating it into a commercially viable product, according to Grelli.

“We’re giving them more gumption and confidence to bring it to light and help make a company out of it,” she said.