USA FAQs

You may need a visa to relocate to the US.

In many circumstances, we can offer support to help you apply for a visa, if required. However it is dependent on your circumstance and background.

Yes, people we select relocate to join us from all over the world. The first 12 weeks of our program, Form, are run from our office in New York or San Francisco. Teams that receive funding from our Investment Committee then relocate to San Francisco for Launch, the final 12 weeks of our program.

Upon signing your offer to join the program*, you will receive a $12,000 Talent Investment. 

You can use this money towards your living costs or any company costs during Form. If you later don’t form a company or we choose not to invest further, we don’t take any equity and you don’t owe us anything.

*Subject to you completing all required KYC screenings and, if applicable, having obtained the appropriate visa to attend the full program.

Our program has supported hundreds of founders to build globally significant companies from scratch, faster. We do this by curating batches of exceptional talent for each program, providing individuals with an opportunity to meet their cofounder whilst supporting and challenging them within an environment of equally ambitious peers, advisors, and thought leaders. You can read more about our offer here.

As part of our offer, we invest up to $250,000 on common founder friendly terms. This is in addition to the equity free financial support (Talent Investment grant) all founders receive as outlined above.

This decision is made by an Investment Committee at the end of our Form program (first 12 weeks) and consists of the following:

• $125,000 investment from EF via a post-money SAFE* (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) for 8% of your company. This will immediately convert prior to closing a priced round where preferred shares are issued and will be diluted by that round but not by any warrants, employee share option pools or other convertible investments.
• A further $125,000 investment from our partner Transpose Platform via an uncapped MFN (Most Favoured Nation) SAFE. This is optional for you and is available if your team relocates to San Francisco as part of our Launch program (second 12 weeks) and incorporates as a Delaware C-corp. An MFN SAFE converts in the same priced round as the EF SAFE at the price of that round unless your company has entered into another SAFE which has agreed a discount or cap to the price, in which case the MFN SAFE inherits the terms of the SAFE which give it the best outcome.

The advantage of using a post-money convertible note such as the EF SAFE is that the amount of equity sold is immediately transparent and calculable for both founders and investors. As such, post-money SAFEs are common across the early stage investing market. 

For an illustrative example of an EF founder(s) cap table post EF’s Investment Committee and then after a subsequent SAFE and equity financing round, see here.

Further details as to how and when these investments are made, as well as EF’s standard investor rights, and a cap table calculator will be communicated to all founders upon receiving an offer to join the program. Our team is also happy to offer additional guidance at this stage so that founders fully understand their legal commitments before joining the program.

*Note that if you incorporate your company in France, UK or India and EF decides to invest, you will receive a local investment instrument on equivalent terms (i.e. rather than a SAFE, you’ll receive a BSA Air in France, a Convertible Loan Note in the UK or Compulsory Convertible Preference Shares in India).

Entrepreneur First pays out the Talent Investment gross of tax, meaning the full amount will hit your bank account. This is part of our potential investment in your company and is not to be treated as salary or employment income. We cannot give you tax advice, but it is your duty to make any relevant disclosures in your personal tax return (if required).