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An overview of Entrepreneur First - why we exist, what problem we're solving and what we're learned
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How to actually build startups with graduatesSilicon Valley Comes to Oxford 2013
@matthewclifford // @EntreFirst
What is EF?
In Year 1:33 individuals-> 11 startups-> $11m raised in seed
We start with recent grads, pre-team and pre-idea, and achieve top-tier accelerator-like funding outcomes for the companies they create
An uncontroversial premise...
More students should start startups when they graduate
It was hard to find people who disagreed with the premise…
… with some implementation “challenges”
Only two problems with students who want to start startups…
… with some implementation challenges
They don’t have teams and they have bad ideas1
… and hard to find people who thought it was possible
1 I’m going to focus on how we solve the first problem today, as it’s the harder one to solve
The existing infrastructure isn’t the answer
Accelerators don’t solve the problem
Find a good accelerator who will take you pre-team and pre-idea
The existing infrastructure isn’t the answer
(and actually accelerators are broken)
An accelerator for graduate startups wouldn’t be any good
How new accelerators imagine the market for teams1
The 10th best football player is a little bit worse than the best
Team at 100th percentile
Team at 90th percentile
Team quality
Exit value
1 Maybe they don’t imagine this is true, but they act as though they do
How it actually works
The 10th best startup is a LOT less successful than the best
Team at 100th percentile
Team at 90th percentile
Team quality
Exit value
The existing infrastructure isn’t the answer
Picking first matters a lot
This is true fractally. A massive proportion of YCombinator’s value is in two companies.
The existing infrastructure isn’t the answer
EF is YC for individuals
We want to pick first – e.g. before Google, Goldman Sachs, etc
How EF works
1. 6 months team building2. 3 months validation3. 3 months acceleration
Team building is part-time, starting in the February before people graduate. Validation and acceleration are full-time, starting in September.
How team building works
We treat teams the way Lean treats ideas
TEAM
People start with team “hunches”. We require them to test these hunches repeatedly by building real products in multiple team permutations over the summer. The idea is to fail the team fast.
Some case studies
Mobile and web app for mobile mechanics with real-time bookings and quote engine, drawing on massive dataset of repair times
Growing revenue 40% per month
Andy ManagementManchester
FelixCompSciImperial
Some case studies
Rashid CompSci Sussex
Models billions of desktop, mobile and tablet datapoints to create a single customer profile for mobile advertisers
Raised one of the largest seed rounds in Europe (£1.5m) earlier this year
EliaCompSciWarwick
Some case studies
ZefiEnglish, UCL
Version control for everyone and everything (First step: git running inside MS Office)
Funded by YCombinator
LeoHistory, St Andrews, self-taught hacker
Why it works
1. Everyone is awesome2. Everyone is determined3. Everyone commits a full year
These three conditions have to be in place – and it’s hard to put them in place for people other than recent grads. Who else can commit a year?
Apply now: entrepreneurfirst.org.uk
@matthewclifford // @entrefirst
Any questions?
We’re recruiting now for 2014