Our Philosophy

It matters not only which companies get started, but who starts them. As a founder you have the opportunity to shape mankind’s future in profound ways.

We identify and invest in exceptional individuals. People with enormous potential, insatiable curiosity, and an impatience for impact. We amplify the exceptional.

Our programs liberate you from artificial limits, backing you to become the founder of a company no one else could build.

Simply put, we back you first.

Noor Shaker
EF Alum and Investor

“Without EF, it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for me to transition from academia to the entrepreneurial world. ”

CHOOSE YOUR FUTURE

The world is losing talented future founders to the status quo. Caught in mimetic traps, your ambition is constrained by the current social currencies for success. Defined by high status jobs, citation counts, and promotion cycles.

We exist to liberate you from these artificial limits. We reframe what’s possible. You don’t need decades of experience to build a technology startup.

Your skill as a founder is developed simply by the act of getting started.

That’s why our programs bring you together with exceptional peers, and back you to build a globally important company. So that you can make impact now, not later.

Alex Dalyac
Cofounder and CEO, Tractable

“We've gotten to a place in our careers that could have taken us 30 years in just 5, by simply deciding that we didn’t want to wait. EF gives you that opportunity to accelerate your life and do what you really want to.”

A peer group of the exceptional

Building a globally important company is hard. At EF, we believe a cofounder has the potential to exponentially accelerate your trajectory. Our best cofounding teams more than double each other’s productivity.

Our programs introduce you to a new peer group of exceptionally talented and ambitious individuals. Each dedicated to building a company, where everyone has given up something valuable to be there. Earning more money, publishing more papers, impressing their peers. Instead, they’ve chosen to join our program because they want to find a cofounder and start a company. It’s this shared identity that makes our programs so powerful.

Our programs allow you to see what could be possible when you’re surrounded by a curated group of ambitious peers. To be immersed in co-creating beliefs about the future, and introduced to a selection of potential cofounders so you can make it happen.

Fast track to funding

When you join EF, we put you on the path to becoming funded by leading investors, faster. You join a network of some of the world’s best founders, investors, and operators. That’s why the businesses founded on our programs raise from some of the most impressive investors in Silicon Valley and the world.

In April 2022, cofounders Ed and Chris founded Worldover. Six months later, they closed their £3 million seed round co-led by Index and Chalfen Ventures.

In early 2023 Gensyn closed a $43 million Series A round led by a16z. Only three years earlier, cofounders Harry and Ben were strangers. They founded Gensyn after meeting on our program in 2020.

To see what you could achieve on our program, apply now.

Apply Now

Backed by the World's Best

Reid Hoffman

Cofounder, LinkedIn & Inflection AI

Reid is the cofounder of LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, and continues to lead the company as Executive Chairman. In 2022, he cofounded Inflection AI and serves as a Board Member.

Reid is a partner at Greylock, who work with entrepreneurs to build market-transforming companies. Their portfolio includes Facebook, AirBnB, Dropbox and Entrepreneur First. Reid currently serves on the Entrepreneur First board. He also hosts the Masters of Scale podcast and is the co-author of four best-selling books - Blitzscaling, The StartUp of You, The Alliance, and Masters of Scale.

John Collison

Cofounder & President, Stripe

John is cofounder and president of Stripe, building financial infrastructure for the internet. Today, Stripe powers millions of online businesses around the world.

Prior to Stripe, John cofounded Auctomatic, which was acquired by Live Current Media for $5 million in March 2008. Originally from Limerick, Ireland, John splits his time between San Francisco and Dublin, Ireland.

Sara Clemens

COO, Whatnot

Sara is COO at Whatnot, Senior Advisor to Blackstone Growth, and sits on the Boards of Duolingo, Thorn, and Karat. From 2018 to 2022 she was COO at Twitch, leading the commercial, operations and go-to-market teams globally.

Prior to Twitch, Sara was COO at Pandora. Her efforts in the music industry placed Sara on Billboard’s coveted list of Most Powerful Women in Music in 2015 and 2016. She holds an MA with honors from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Patrick Collison

Cofounder & CEO, Stripe

Patrick is cofounder and chief executive officer of Stripe, building financial infrastructure for the internet. Today, Stripe powers millions of online businesses around the world.

Prior to Stripe, Patrick cofounded Auctomatic, which was acquired by Live Current Media for $5 million in March 2008. In 2016, he was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship by President Obama. Originally from Limerick, Ireland, Patrick now lives in San Francisco.

Noor Shaker

Cofounder, Glamorous AI

Noor is the cofounder of Glamorous AI, acquired by X-Chem. She was awarded the MIT Innovators Under 35, the Cogx Rising Star Award by the former British Prime Minister and named as one of the top leaders in AI healthcare by Forbes.

She holds a PhD from the IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) in Machine Learning and is the winner of multiple best papers and grants during her academic career.

Claire Hughes Johnson

Corporate Officer & Advisor, Stripe

Claire serves as a corporate officer and advisor for Stripe. Claire previously served as Stripe’s COO from 2014 to 2021, where she helped the company grow from fewer than 200 employees to more than 6,000.

Prior to Stripe, Claire spent ten years at Google, where she led various business teams including overseeing aspects of Gmail, Google Apps, and consumer operations. She also served as a vice president for Adwords online sales and operations, Google Offers, and Google's self-driving car project.

Claire has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and an MBA from Yale. Claire currently serves on the boards of Ameresco, The Atlantic, Aurora Innovation, and HubSpot.

Zehan Wang

Cofounder & CTO, Magic Pony Technology (acq. Twitter)

Zehan is the cofounder and CTO of Magic Pony Technology, a video processing startup that was acquired by Twitter. He cofounded Magic Pony Technology with Rob Bishop at Entrepreneur First in 2014.

Zehan holds a PhD in Computer Vision and Biomedical Image Analysis from Imperial University in London.

Tom Blomfield

Group Partner, Y Combinator

Tom is the cofounder of two billion-dollar fintech companies in the last decade. In 2011, he cofounded GoCardless, an online payments processor for the Direct Debit system. He then went on to found Monzo, one of the first app-based challenger banks in the UK, in 2015.

He is now a group partner at Y Combinator.

Demis Hassabis

Cofounder & CEO, Deepmind

Demis Hassabis is the cofounder and CEO of Deepmind, who are developing neuroscience-inspired general-purpose learning algorithms and were acquired by Google in 2014.

Prior to Deepmind, Demis completed his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge, was the founder and CEO of Elixir Studios, and completed a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from University College London. His research on memory and imagination was listed in the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of 2007.

Zoe Jervier Hewitt

Talent Director, Sequoia Capital

Zoe is Talent Director for Sequoia Capital. The team she leads partners with and advises founders, future founders, and outlier talent in Europe as they build enduring businesses. She previously led Talent at EQT Ventures and worked with hundreds of early stage founders at Entrepreneur First, where she was the first employee.

Zoe studied History of Art at the University of Oxford, is a qualified coach, and is passionate about developing and diversifying the tech leadership landscape.

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Our Team

Careers at EF