6 months ago, an experiment was put forth to prove the hypothesis that a lot of startups struggle in the early days and few break out the pattern to create a successful momentum. Furthermore, not all successful startup founders were always from a great company or a great background.
What made the difference was how they executed, led their teams, secured funding, and were passionate about solving customer problems.
At Foundership, we started with a humble intent to validate this hypothesis and enable startup founders & teams to get their basics right and taking effective decisions around product, business, funding, and growth.
Since Jan 2021, we have had the fortune to interact with over 200+ startups across Idea, Seed, Early & Growth stages.
We saw the hunger in each of these founders to take their business to the next level of growth. They also wanted unbiased views of their current path and opinions on the choices they need to make. We call this a "Founder Dilemma". When faced with a dilemma, first think from mid (using data) and then let the heart help you make the final decision as you cannot ignore your Instinct.
We ran a 30 Day program that focussed on Solve 1 Business problem. We had the privilege of working with 40+ founders in this program across seed, early, and growth stages.
We experimented with formats, engagements, and outcomes. Some founders extracted the highest value by gaining deep insights into their customer and problem statement, while others gained the most by having cofounder & team alignment. Every one of them gave us an NPS of 90+ and shared that it would have taken more than 6 months to build such clarity ad momentum.
These experiments and journeys validated our hypothesis that Active Coaching with a weekly goal, making themselves accountable, focusing on achieving goals, hands-on intervention by mentors (founders & leaders) will build significant momentum.
This enabled us to conceptualize the Seed Acceleration program with a commitment of "Build a Fundable* Startup in 4 months" Fundable = Customer Revenue or via Investor Capital.
Several first-time founders make the rookie mistake of giving away too much equity for very little value. One of our key objectives is to ensure you build momentum and take capital for the right value at fair equity.
The Seed acceleration program is different from several ones that have existed in the past. Our whole focus will be on the execution rigor, driven by OKR & metrics to ensure weekly progress to build consistent momentum of the business.
We received over 166 applications from India, the EU & Russia. We put in a fair process to evaluate every application to see where we can add maximum value. We were fortunate to commit our Mentors who chipped in during the evaluation process. Post application form evaluation, we held a 1:1 discussion with each shortlisted startup & a panel of mentors. Post the interviews, and we finalized the Top 5 startups who agreed to be part of this flagship program.
Investors typically leverage the use of different signals on the potential of a startup. Now imagine their current signals are augmented with true execution signals and insights on how the startup operates. This enables them as investors to de-risk their decision-making process and have more meaningful conversations with faster decision turnarounds.
Our Investor circle consists of incredible founders and leaders, angel syndicates and some seed-stage VC funds as well. This support completely validates our hypothesis from the ecosystem as well.
We are delighted to have the support of great Founders, Leaders, Investors & friends from the ecosystem that has been built over 10+ years. This trust, support, and encouragement are priceless and we will strive each day to add our value to the ecosystem, make it stronger, and strive for Foundership to be a destination for Startups to Succeed Together!
Foundership's mission is to supports startups to accelerate growth through coaching, raising capital and the founders' network.
Coaching: We coach the seed/pre-seed & early-stage startups to build initial growth with our Seed acceleration program. We run cohort programs for early-stage founders to solve business challenges. We host office hours to help founders to share their challenges and specific advice they need.
Capital: We bring Founders & Leaders to get startup funding signals via the Foundership Signal - A system for Funding. We invite our funding partners to participate in Seed Acceleration Program to work with startups and choose to invest.
Connect: We connect startups with incredible Founders & Leaders to get help and also expand their network. We help startups to grow via partnership and market access programs.
Want to join the mission to help Startups Succeed Together?
Apply as a mentor: https://tally.so/r/nrAG5w
Join as a Funding Partner: https://tally.so/r/3EQ7r3
Thank you!
Team Foundership
