Application Process

We've done a lot of research and talked with a lot of entrepreneurs in an effort to design a process that is quick and efficient for everyone. It has three steps.

First step: the short application. Each founder fills out a a Founder Form and all the founders collaborate to fill out one Startup Form. Our goal is that each startup will need to spend no more than one person-hour on this step, far less than it would spend on an initial meeting with a prospective investor. We already have a demo of this step ready for founders to try. We believe the demo shows we could potentially evaluate every seed stage technology startup in the country!

Second step: the long application. Based on the dollar amount we plan to deploy during a given period, we'll then invite select teams to complete long versions of our Founder and Startup Forms. We'll also ask for a business plan, detailed budget, and documents backing up all answers on the forms. While this step will require several person-hours for the team to complete, we believe the effectiveness of our initial screening means that 25% to 50% of teams that respond to our long application invitation will eventually receive a funding offer. So it will still be extremely time-efficient compared to the traditional investing process.

Within two weeks, we will initiate the final step: offer and acceptance. We will email founding teams either a term sheet or rejection letter. Teams that receive term sheets will have two weeks to accept the offer. We will be happy to explain any unclear information to founders but we will not negotiate on terms. With our high volume process, we simply cannot afford to engage in an extended back-and-forth. However, we will carefully monitor the overall seed stage market to make sure that our valuations and terms remain fair.