General FAQs

At Entrepreneur First, we believe today’s founders have the opportunity to shape mankind’s future in profound ways. It not only matters what companies get started. But it matters who starts them. 

We believe that for many of these talented future founders, entrepreneurship is not an obvious or entirely legible career path. 

Therefore we exist to identify and invest in these exceptional individuals. Individuals with enormous potential, insatiable curiosity, and an impatience for impact.

We back these founders to become the founders of the exceptional businesses of tomorrow. 

We call this Talent Investing. Each future founder on our programs will work with a Talent Investor to maximize their chances of success during the program

Our program brings together exceptional individuals to find cofounders and build startups from scratch.  Within eight weeks, 80% of participants will find a cofounder. This unique process works due to the cohort’s shared focus and commitment to founding right now. This works best in person, where ideas and relationships can be quickly forged and iterated on. 

That’s why we expect you to commit full-time to the program, and move to one of our hub cities to take part in person. We host a highly anticipated Kick Off Summit ahead of each program, where your cohort will be brought together for the first time for a residential weekend.

When you join EF, you’ll join a network of some of the world’s best founders, investors, and operators. 

You’ll gain access to our Global Advisory Network, a mentoring program with former founders and operators who will push you to greatness. 

We believe the best advisors are those that have a deep relationship with the founders. So once you’ve formed your team, you’ll meet them weekly. They’ll support you with developing your initial idea all the way through to fundraising. Often, your advisor will maintain a long term advisory relationship with you and your company as you scale.

You’ll also have a dedicated Talent Investor to support you as an individual and to ensure you can maximize your chances of success during the program.

Read more about our advisors here.

EF Graduate is for students, recent graduates, and individuals with less than two years of professional experience. 

EF Core is for early career professionals, academics, and PhD graduates with two or more years of experience.

Please only apply for one program, in one hub city, at a time. 

No you do not need a cofounder to apply. Our program brings together exceptional individuals to find a cofounder and build a startup from scratch. 

We assess all applicants as individuals, before they have a business, cofounder or an idea. If you already have a cofounder, please mention this on your application, or get in touch with your local EF team to discuss.

No, you do not need an idea to apply, although most applicants to EF have a range of areas that they’re interested in, or actively exploring. 

We do not assess individuals based on their ideas; we look for those with the talent, ambition, and founder aptitude to build a globally important startup. 

At EF, we build technology companies. The majority of individuals who join EF will have a technical background, from self-taught developer through to a Computer Science PhD. We do take a small number of non-technical individuals who demonstrate solid technical understanding, even if they don’t have the means of production. 

Read more about who we’re for here. 

This is atypical, but yes, you are still eligible to apply if you have taken a small amount of investment or been awarded a grant.  

In this case, please tell us more about your current situation in your application.