HOW IT WORKS
We invest in exceptional people to build companies with global impact.
If you’re ultra-smart, ambitious, and want to solve the world’s hardest problems – Entrepreneur First is for you.
Entrepreneur First isn’t an accelerator. We don’t invest in pre-existing companies or teams.
We select individuals we recognise to have huge founder potential, and bring them together to build globally ambitious startups.
Every one of our founders is hand-chosen for their skills, behaviours and potential. If you’re one of them, we’ll give you the ideal environment to trial co-founding partnerships, and test ideas at a rapid pace. We’ll cover your living costs while you do it. We’ll give you access to a global network of founders, advisors and investors.
If we believe the company you build has the potential to succeed at scale, we’ll invest.
It’s intense, it’s challenging, it’ll be the fastest you ever learn in your life. But our most successful founders create US$1M a week in value – so if you succeed, it’s worth it.
The cohort progression will go on as follows:
- You’ll first fill in an application form, for us to assess whether that could be you. If the answer is yes, you’ll be invited to meet with our team to explore further.
- Day 1’ of the programme isn’t really the beginning. Most of our cohort begin forming their first teams and developing ideas before the programme even starts. If you secure a place, you’ll attend pre-programme events and be sent reading materials, to ensure you don’t waste any time when we ‘officially’ kick off.
- As soon as you join the programme full time, you’ll be testing out ideas and working relationships with multiple potential co-founders. Once you find the optimal partnership, you’ll start building your company. After three months, the two of you will present to our Investment Committee.
- If you and your co-founder are successful at Investment Committee, you’ll spend three months developing your company and honing your value proposition before being introduced to our network of investors.
The programme is divided into two main stages: ‘Form’, our flagship programme for finding a co-founder and developing an idea from scratch, and ‘Launch’, to accelerate and grow your company to global success. We offer multiple different pathways through these programmes, depending on your stage, location and specialism:
Core – runs in Berlin, London, Paris and Bangalore
Our flagship programme for the world’s most exceptional people to build the next big technology companies. Sector agnostic, with opportunities to build in industries including healthcare, commerce, b2b, b2c, finance and biotechnology.
Graduate – runs in Berlin, London and Paris
For those who’ve graduated <2 years before the programme starts. Contains an additional pre-programme to immerse yourself in the startup world. Sector agnostic.
web3 – runs in London
For founders who want to build in web3.
Climate – runs in London
For founders who want to build a company tackling climate change.