How to Get Accepted to Entrepreneurs First: A Founder-First Guide

Entrepreneurs First is not an accelerator, an incubator, or a startup school. It is a talent investor.

That distinction matters more than anything else when you are applying.

Most startup programs fund companies. EF funds people. It assumes that exceptional founders often exist before ideas, before teams, and sometimes even before they consciously choose Entrepreneurship as a career. EF was built around a single contrarian belief: the biggest companies of the next decade will be founded by individuals who look misallocated today.

If you are applying to EF because you already have a polished pitch, a deck, or early traction, you are thinking about it the wrong way. EF is not asking ‘what are you building?’ It is asking, ‘Why should the world back you to build something with the potential to matter at a global scale?

Acceptance into EF is less about readiness and more about trajectory. The program is designed for people who consistently outperform their peers, move faster than systems around them, and feel constrained by conventional career paths. EF exists to remove the two biggest blockers that people face: access to equally strong cofounders and access to top-tier capital.

This guide is written to help you understand how EF works.

What Entrepreneurs First Actually Offers

At its core, EF is a structured environment that turns individuals into funded founders and provides pathways into leading global startup ecosystems, including Silicon Valley.

You join EF as a person, not as a company. You leave either as a funded startup or with clarity, network, and no financial obligation or equity loss.

The Talent Investing Model

EF calls its approach Talent Investing. Instead of waiting for companies to form organically, EF selects individuals with extreme ambition and founder aptitude, then engineers the conditions under which high-quality startups emerge.

Every participant works with a Talent Investor whose job is not to mentor politely but to maximize the probability that you become a venture-scale founder. This means pressure, honesty, and fast decisions.

EF looks for two core intrinsics across all applicants:

• Ambition at a global scale

• Founder aptitude, meaning bias to action, leadership gravity, and the ability to build under uncertainty
  

Everything else is secondary.

Who Should Apply to Entrepreneurs First

Entrepreneurs First is designed for early-career outliers.

The program is built for individuals who consistently outperform their peers and show strong founder potential, even if they have not yet started a company.

You are a strong candidate if you can demonstrate:

• Clear outperformance relative to your peer group

• Evidence of building, not just studying or advising

• Ambition to work on large, non-incremental problems

• Bias to action under uncertainty
  

Common successful backgrounds include:

• Computer science, AI, robotics, systems, or applied science

• Early employees at fast-growing startups

• Former founders, including failed startups

• High performers in demanding environments who broke constraints
  

You do not need:

• A cofounder

• A validated or polished idea

• Prior fundraising experience
  

You do need:

• Conviction and intensity

• Willingness to commit full-time

• Comfort being evaluated directly and honestly

Program Structure: From Individual to Funded Startup

Phase 0: Application, Selection, and Commitment

Before the program begins, EF filters for commitment and intent.

At this stage, EF evaluates whether applicants are willing to:

• Commit full-time to founding

• Prioritize the program over other career options

• Operate under uncertainty and rapid decision-making

• Accept relocation as part of the program structure

All EF programs are full-time and in person. Applicants who treat EF as exploratory or part-time are filtered out early.

Phase 1: FORM

FORM is where EF is most differentiated from traditional accelerators.

Participants join as individuals, typically without a cofounder and often without a fixed idea. They are placed into a cohort of peers with comparable ambition and complementary skills.

Entrepreneurs First Duration by Program

• London Program (Europe): 12 weeks in London, followed by relocation to San Francisco for the final 3 months
  

• Bangalore Program (India): 14 weeks in Bangalore, followed by relocation to San Francisco for the final 3 months
  

• Bridge Residency (Europe): 8-week, San Francisco-based program designed for European graduates who completed their studies in 2023 or later.”
  

• Funding and Fellowships (United States): 3-month residencies in San Francisco. Applications accepted on a rolling basis
  

What Happens During FORM

During FORM, participants:

• Engage in systematic cofounder matching guided by EF advisors

• Form and dissolve teams rapidly based on working dynamics and progress

• Generate, test, and discard venture hypotheses.

• Conduct direct customer discovery

• Build early prototypes where relevant

• Attend weekly check-ins where progress velocity, clarity, and decision-making are evaluated

EF encourages participants to avoid staying in misaligned partnerships. If a partnership is not compounding fast enough, participants are expected to end it and move on. This process is intentionally demanding and emotionally challenging.

What EF Evaluates in FORM

Throughout FORM, EF continuously assesses:

• Founder judgment and decision-making under pressure

• Speed of learning and iteration

• Quality of collaboration and ownership

• Ambition and scope of problems explored
  

FORM is not about finding a perfect idea. It is about identifying teams capable of building something meaningful at venture scale.

Financial Support During FORM

Participants receive an equity-free stipend during FORM.

Key characteristics:

• Structured as a grant

• Intended to cover basic living costs

• No repayment required if a participant exits
  

EF takes no equity from individuals who do not progress beyond FORM.

Phase 2: Investment Committee

At the end of FORM, teams present to the Investment Committee.

This is a binary decision point:

• Teams that pass receive funding and continue in the program

• Teams that do not pass exit with no equity taken
  

Historically, roughly half of participants advance beyond this stage.

Investment Committee Evaluation Criteria

Investment Committee evaluates:

• Complementary founding teams with clear ownership of roles

• Market size and long-term venture scale potential

• Evidence of progress achieved within weeks, not promises
  

Passing the Investment Committee marks the transition from individuals being evaluated to a company being backed.

Phase 3: LAUNCH Teams that pass the Investment Committee move into LAUNCH.

The emphasis shifts from exploration to execution and external validation.

Duration

• Approximately 3 months

• Conducted in San Francisco for cohorts that include a hub transition as part of the program structure.

• 
  

Focus Areas in LAUNCH

During LAUNCH, teams work on:

• Company incorporation and a legal structure appropriate to their target market

• Product development and early traction

• Fundraising narrative, pitch, and positioning

• Hiring plans and operational setup
  

The phase culminates in a Demo Day attended by a curated group of venture investors. Many EF companies raise between $1M and $7M shortly after Demo Day.

Hub Transitions and the Bridge Residency

Some EF programs are intentionally structured across multiple locations.

• London and Bangalore programs begin locally, then transition to San Francisco for the final phase.

• Bridge Residencies begin directly in San Francisco, bypassing the local phase
  

These structures exist to:

• Expose founders to different entrepreneurial ecosystems

• Expand access to global capital and customers

• Encourage ambition beyond local markets

  
  

Participation in each structure depends on program, graduation year, and geography.

Struggling to Move Fast Enough for FORM?

The FORM phase at Entrepreneur First is intense by design. Founders who succeed move quickly, test aggressively, and ship early.

If you are not yet confident operating at that pace, Ellenox Venture Studio helps founders build the muscle before entering high-pressure programs.

Ellenox works with early-stage teams to:

• Turn rough ideas into validated MVPs

• Establish early user traction

• Develop the execution track record EF looks for
  

For founders who want to enter EF prepared rather than overwhelmed, Ellenox offers a structured way to get there.

Contact Ellenox

Funding, Terms, and Why Entrepreneurs First Is Founder Friendly

Entrepreneurs First invests earlier than almost any other venture organization. It does so transparently and in a way that limits downside for founders while preserving long-term upside.

EF’s model is designed to fund individuals before a company exists, then invest further only once a team and direction have proven themselves.

Funding While You Are Ideating

During the FORM phase, EF provides a Talent Investment stipend.

Key characteristics:

• Equity free

• Structured as a grant, not a loan

• Does not need to be repaid if you leave or fail to form a company
  

Amounts vary by region and are designed to cover basic living costs. EF takes no equity from participants who do not pass the Investment Committee.

This structure allows founders to commit fully without forcing premature company formation.

Post Investment Committee Funding

Teams that pass the Investment Committee become eligible for EF’s pre-seed investment.

Total Potential Investment: $250,000

Instrument	Amount
EF post money SAFE (8 percent)	$125,000
Transpose MFN SAFE (optional)	$125,000
Total	$250,000

Conditions:

• The second $125,000 tranche requires Delaware C Corp incorporation

• Founders must relocate to San Francisco to unlock the second tranche
  

The MFN SAFE allows Transpose to receive the best terms of a future financing round without imposing an immediate valuation cap.

How Ownership Typically Evolves in an EF Company

EF invests at a point when there is usually no company, no product, and no traction. Because of that, early dilution is front-loaded, but it stabilizes quickly as the company grows.

Immediately After EF Investment

When EF invests, founders still own 100 percent of the company. EF’s ownership is represented through SAFEs that convert later.

At this stage:

• Founders retain full control

• No shares are issued yetAfter the First External Fundraise

• Dilution is deferred, not avoided
  

This structure gives founders time to build real value before pricing equity.

Once the company raises a typical early SAFE or seed round and creates an option pool, the founders usually own around seventy percent of the company on a fully diluted basis.

At this point:

• EF and its co-investors together hold a single-digit percentage

• New investors and the option pool account for the remaining dilution
  

This is a normal ownership profile for a company that has raised initial institutional capital.

After a Priced Equity Round

Following a larger priced round, such as a Series A, founders commonly retain a majority stake, often in the mid-fifties percent range combined.

By this stage:

• EF’s ownership has diluted to a mid-single-digit percentage

• New institutional investors hold the largest non-founder stake

• The option pool is sized for future hires
  

Importantly, founders are not structurally capped or over-diluted. The cap table looks comparable to strong venture-backed startups that did not come through EF.

For more Infor Check: www.joinef.com/illustrative-cap-tables/ 

The Entrepreneurs First Application Process

Entrepreneurs First runs one of the most selective application funnels in early-stage venture creation. Acceptance rates have historically been around 3 percent. The application is designed to identify individuals with strong founder potential before they have a company, team, or traction.

The application evaluates you as an individual, not as a startup.

The Application Form

The process begins with an online application consisting of approximately 10 to 12 questions.

The form is intentionally concise. Each question is designed to surface trajectory, ambition, and founder aptitude rather than completeness or polish.

Core Components

• Personal background and trajectory

• Motivation for founding

• Your unfair advantage or Edge

• A short video introduction
  

Two questions dominate the application narrative:

• Why do you want to build a startup

• What is your Edge
  

Applicants who fail to answer these clearly are rarely advanced.

Narrative Construction

Strong applications tell a coherent story. EF looks for candidates whose past behavior points toward future founder behavior.

What matters most is relative achievement. Recruiters compare you to others with similar time, resources, and background. A candidate who launched something independently often signals more founder aptitude than one who simply progressed through prestigious institutions.

The Video Requirement

The short video introduction functions as a behavioral filter as much as a content filter.

EF uses the video to evaluate:

• Communication clarity

• Energy and presence

• Conviction and intensity
  

A robotic, low-energy, or overly scripted video is a common rejection reason. The goal is not performance, but credible enthusiasm and directness.

CV Strategy

EF recruiters are trained to look past logos and titles.

Prestige without agency is discounted. The CV should highlight specific actions and outcomes:

• Projects you initiated

• Research you independently drove

• Products you shipped

• Teams you led through uncertainty
  

The question EF implicitly asks is whether you create momentum or merely absorb structure.

The Entrepreneurs First Interview Process

Applicants who pass the application review move into interviews. Most candidates complete between two and four rounds, depending on profile, background, and program location.

Each interview round evaluates a distinct dimension of founder potential.

Round 1: Behavioral Screening

Objective: To assess communication ability, motivation, resilience, and raw ambition.

Key themes

• Why do you want to build a company

• What level of ambition do you actually hold?

• Whether you want to build a venture-scale business rather than a lifestyle company
  

Common questions

• What does success look like for you

• Tell me about a time you broke rules to get results

• What would you do if this fails

The rule-breaking question tests willingness to bypass bureaucracy and social norms when necessary. EF refers to this internally as the naughty trait.

Round 2: Edge Deep Dive

Objective: To verify the depth, credibility, and defensibility of the Edge you claim.

The structure varies by candidate archetype.

Technical Edge

Interviewers, often with technical backgrounds themselves, drill into depth and understanding.

Common patterns:

• Explaining complex work in simple terms

• Describing architectural or algorithmic trade-offs

• Translating research into potential products
  

Questions may include:

• Explain your thesis or system to a non-expert

• Why does this approach outperform alternatives?

• How could this become a real company
  

There has been a noticeable shift toward system design and architectural thinking, with less emphasis on purely algorithmic puzzles. EF wants to know if you can build products, not just solve isolated problems.

Communication of reasoning matters more than perfect implementation.

Domain Edge

Interviewers test whether your insight is non-obvious and valuable.

Common challenges:

• Why has this not been solved already

• Is this a feature or a company

• What structural change makes this possible now
  

Candidates must show that their insight comes from lived exposure rather than surface-level research.

Catalyst Edge

The interview focuses on execution and persuasion.

Common themes:

• Situations where you influenced outcomes without authority

• Selling an idea or product under resistance

• Driving momentum in ambiguous environments
  

EF looks for force multipliers rather than pure sales profiles. Appreciation for technology and partnership with technical founders is essential.

Round 3: Partner or Final Interview

Objective: Final sign-off on commitment, risk tolerance, and readiness.

This interview is often conducted by a senior leader and can be deliberately high-pressure.

Focus areas

• Willingness to commit full-time

• Timing and readiness to leave current roles

• Openness to relocation within the program

• Comfort with uncertainty and rapid change
  

Common questions include:

• Are you ready to quit your job soon

• What would make you hesitate

• How do you think about risk at this stage
  

Hesitation or hedging at this stage is a frequent rejection reason. EF prefers clear commitment over optionality.

Strategic Recommendations for Applicants

Application Strategy

• Define your archetype clearly. Do not present yourself as a generalist

• Anchor your narrative around your strongest Edge

• Show trajectory through concrete examples rather than statements of intent

• In the video and interviews, demonstrate action. Saying you built something is stronger than saying you care
  

If applying from Europe or India, explicitly state your intention to build a global company and your willingness to relocate if required. Alignment with EF’s program structure matters.

Interview Preparation

• Technical candidates should prepare for system design and architectural discussions

• Domain candidates should articulate a clear contrarian insight about their market

• Catalyst candidates should prepare concrete stories demonstrating persuasion and execution
  

You should be able to explain not just what you did, but why you made specific decisions.

Mental Preparation

• Ensure you can survive on the stipend during FORM

• Expect rejection and volatility

• If rejected, ask for feedback, build additional evidence of Edge, and reapply
  

Persistence is viewed positively. Many successful EF founders were accepted on a later application.

Entrepreneurs First Locations and Program Dates

egion	Program	Cohort	Start Date	Apply By	Structure / Notes
Europe	London Program	Spring 2026	April 2026	08 February 2026	12 weeks in London followed by relocation to San Francisco for the final phase
Europe	The Bridge Residency	Spring 2026	April 2026	10 January 2026	Eight-week residency in San Francisco. For Europeans who graduated in 2023 or later
Europe	The Bridge Residency	Summer 2026	July 2026	16 February 2026	Residency based in the United States
United States	Funding and Fellowships	Rolling	Rolling from 2025	Rolling	Three-month residencies in San Francisco for founders ready to build full-time
India	Bangalore Program	Spring 2026	April 2026	09 January 2026	Fourteen weeks in Bangalore followed by relocation to San Francisco

Final Note: Build Leverage Before You Apply

Entrepreneur First selects founders who already demonstrate momentum, judgment, and the ability to execute under uncertainty. Many capable candidates are rejected not because they lack ambition, but because they apply before they have converted potential into evidence.

If you are still refining your problem space, testing demand, or deciding what to build, the right preparation can materially improve both your application and your experience inside EF.

Ellenox Venture Studio works with founders who are intentionally building leverage before entering high-pressure programs.

Ellenox partners with early-stage teams to:

• Validate ideas with real users

• Design and build investor-ready MVPs

• Develop the execution signals programs like EF consistently select for
  

If your goal is to apply to Entrepreneur First from a position of strength rather than optionality, Ellenox can help you close that gap deliberately.

Talk to us Today.