Access to Funding
Attracting investment is one of the greatest challenges for entrepreneurs. It’s the ultimate test of your ideas and your efforts. Entrepreneur First is designed to make raising funding substantially easier than it would be if you were starting out alone.
What we do
- Select only the very strongest candidates, so that investors know that everyone on the programme brings something exceptional
- Introduce you to angels and venture capitalists, starting from the final round interviews. This means that you build a network of investors from the very beginning
- Help you think through your funding requirements and options from the moment you’re selected
- Teach you how to pitch for investment as a core part of our training programme
- Hold regular investor days (roughly every 12 weeks) that are exclusively for Entrepreneur First participants. This gives you the opportunity to pitch for funding as soon as you are ready
What we don’t do
- Make direct financial investment ourselves in your startup (this is why we don’t take any equity in your company)
- Guarantee that you’ll receive investment
- Pay a salary
Is Entrepreneur First financially viable for me?
If you’re selected for the programme, it’s because we’re convinced you can make it. You will probably have to “bootstrap” through the first few months (i.e. get through without a salary or investment), but that’s perfectly possible and many of the best entrepreneurs did it.
Some options that we will help you think through are:
- Raising investment from friends and family
- Taking on a part-time job (ideally related to your startup)
- Consulting or freelancing in an area of expertise
- Crowd funding
This essay by Paul Graham on the topic is worth reading.
