Entrepreneur First’s Post

Last month, startups in our portfolio have been making waves, shipping products and securing deals to ramp up their growth. Check out what they’ve been up to below 👇 Congratulations to Feather, Syntetica, Polari Group, altrove, Lodestar Space, Recurse ML, toby and Telescope.

This month we hosted Alumni Summer parties in London and Paris. Founders from our global community joined us, including those from our very first programs in Europe to our most recent program in San Francisco. Check out some of the photos here 👇

Imagine what you could build surrounded by a carefully selected group of ambitious peers. The deadline for our upcoming London program is August 1. Last spring, our founders pitched to >100 of Silicon Valley’s top Partner-level investors at our first Demo Day in San Francisco. If you think this could be you, apply now: https://lnkd.in/ejqvApQB

Apps are closing for our upcoming Core and Grad programs in London and Paris.  Paris 👉 apply by Wednesday, 31 July London 👉 apply by Thursday, 1 August Application link in comments ⬇

We recently hosted cofounders of Theremia, Iris Maréchal and Chloé Geoffroy, at STATION F. Last year, Iris and Chloé met at Find in Paris.  Then, they joined our Paris program and built Theremia. Check out the key takeaways from their fireside chat here: 1/ The foundation of a cofounding team is a joint, core belief to explore together. Early on, you need to dig into the details, and look for signs of misalignment. Iris and Chloé identified their joint belief to make healthcare more inclusive and used this as their starting point for ideation. 2/ Startups with the strongest founder-idea fit are most likely to succeed. Discovering your Edge is key - your specific, personal, competitive advantage. Iris’ Edge is her experience working at the intersection of health and business, having worked with some of the world’s leading pharma companies at BCG. Meanwhile, Chloé’s Edge is her background as a Pharmacist and Chemical Engineer with a postdoc in Neuropharmacology. 3/ Using their joint belief and complementary Edges, Iris and Chloé built Theremia, an AI-driven platform to design drug derivatives with improved efficacy across diverse demographics. By leveraging extensive multi-scale data, Theremia optimizes drug development, enhances clinical trial processes, and supports pharmaceutical companies in delivering safer, more effective therapies. 4/ Chloé and Iris’ top tip for future founders is to get started, now. Chloé wrapped up her postdoc and Iris quit her job at BGC to start a company at EF. The real risk isn’t starting a company - it’s the opportunity cost of delaying your founding journey. Apps for our upcoming programs in London and Paris close soon: https://apply.joinef.com/

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Meet cofounders of Clarity Care AI, Hermine T. and Alexandru Andrei, as they move to San Francisco and continue building their startup on our SF Launch program. Check out their journey here: https://lnkd.in/ejaSSxYs

We recently introduced Stripe cofounder John Collison to a room of future founders in Paris. Our cofounder Matt Clifford caught up with John on his experience founding Stripe — from the early days to scaling the company to thousands of employees and billions in revenue.

We recently brought together 25 talented and ambitious women for Find in Paris. Over a single day, they tested cofounder partnerships, identified their unique advantages as a founder, and pitched their ideas to a jury of Talent Investors. Solutions ranged from cost-effective simulated materials for rapid testing to a mobile app that uses computer vision to offer real-time physiotherapy assistance. We wrapped up the day with a fireside chat on founding with EF alumni and CEO of EndoGene.Bio, María Teresa Pérez Zaballos. María built EndoGene.Bio at EF in 2022 to tackle undiagnosed endometriosis using a prescription diagnostic test that can be taken at home. If you’re curious about building a startup, keep an eye out for our future events.

Last month, our Summer '24 San Francisco cohort met for the first time at Kick Off Summit in Santa Cruz. They tested out cofounder relationships, began ideating, and heard from EF Alumni Joseph Melkonian, Cristian Ponce, Théo Schäfer, and Eric Sun about their founding experiences building Womp Labs and Tetsuwan Scientific. Register interest for our US Winter cohort, starting in January 2025, here: https://apply.joinef.com