Snapshots from over 1,300 Afore Alpha applications
The team at Afore launched the Alpha program in May 2022, and we’re excited to see founders from all kinds of industries, geographies, and backgrounds applying.
Afore Alpha is the best-in-class pre-seed offer available to any founder, anywhere in the world, no matter how early they are. We invest $1m on a $10m post-money SAFE into tech companies just starting (no traction or revenue needed). Alpha is not an accelerator — we like to think that startups in this program are in a cohort of one. Afore works closely with Alpha founders on recruiting team members, getting their first customers, and raising their next round (around 64% of pre-seed founders that Afore backs skip their seed round and go straight to Series A).
We recently looked through the 1,300+ applications we received within the first two months of launching Afore Alpha and wanted to share some highlights. Founders from 40+ industries, 81 countries, and 40 states applied and came from a wide variety of backgrounds (from recent college grads to early professionals to executives that have worked at a range of companies, including Stripe, Uber, Robinhood, Facebook, and more). Read on for more details!
Applications from startups in 40+ industries
Afore invests in companies across industries utilizing technology to solve real problems.
At Afore, we’re a generalist fund — we care more about the problems founders are solving than the strict category they may fall into. We love to see startups that leverage technology, and we invest in both applications and infrastructure, consumer and enterprise, etc. The applications we received reflected this — founders starting companies in over 40 industries applied. The top five most common sectors of companies that applied were enterprise software, fintech, marketplaces, web3, and community, followed closely by healthcare, entertainment, and real estate startups. While we love investing in these sectors at Afore, almost half of all Alpha founder applicants fell outside of these top nine industries. So we encourage founders to apply to Alpha regardless of the industry in which they identify.
Afore Alpha is a global program
We invest globally and are excited to see founders from all over the world applying to the Alpha program.
Afore has made several investments in international founders, and we plan to continue to invest in founders that leverage non-obvious insights to tackle problems in big markets. Often, these big problems and markets are outside the United States, and we recognize that. We were very excited to see founders from 81 countries (representing all continents except for Antarctica) apply to Alpha in the first two months after the program’s launch. Founders outside the United States — we love reading your applications and encourage you to keep applying!
Founders across the United States
Not only did founders across the globe check out Alpha — but we also received founder applications from 80% of states in the US.
We recognized that great founders can come from anywhere, not just in states like California and New York. We’ve invested in founders across the US and are excited that Alpha applications reflect this. So if you’re a founder and don’t see your state represented here, not to worry — we can count the weeks since the Alpha program launched, and we’d love to hear from you.
Alpha sees a mix of new and experienced founders
Founders from varying levels of industry experience applied to Alpha, ranging from current and recently-graduated students to experienced executives.
Afore backs talented founders regardless of age or prior experience; we look for founders solving big, meaningful problems. We saw Alpha applications from founders that were in school or recent college grads (the biggest category of 57%), early-career professionals (36%), and experienced executives (7%). Alpha founders had previously founded other startups 34% of the time, and the remaining chunk of applicants were working on their first startup. We’re excited to see applications from founders of all backgrounds!
Founders had previously worked at a diverse range of companies
We received Alpha applications from founders who had previously worked at companies like Stripe, Uber, Robinhood, Facebook, and more.
Alpha founders had previously worked at (or were still working at) a wide range of organizations including big tech companies, fast-growing startups, government organizations, museums, banks, army divisions, and more. Oftentimes these founders had experienced the problem they were solving firsthand, and that helped them find clarity around their target customers and market. There’s no specific background we’re looking for, and we encourage founders from all backgrounds to apply to Afore Alpha.
Summary
At Afore, we feel lucky to have such a diverse range of founders applying to the Alpha program. We continue to encourage tech founders who are just starting out to apply no matter what industry, geography, or background they may have. We’re excited to keep reading more Alpha applications and learning more about the amazing founders and startups that are applying. The Alpha program is just getting started!
To read more about the Afore Alpha program, please visit our page at https://www.afore.vc/afore-alpha. Here, you can apply and also find answers to frequently-asked questions.
If you have any questions about Afore’s Alpha program, follow us on Twitter to stay updated on our next recurring Alpha Office Hours event, where we’ll give attendees the floor to ask questions. You can also email alpha@afore.vc and we’ll try our best to respond (note that due to the high volume of incoming applications and emails, we may take around a week to get back to you).
Finally, if you’re a pre-seed angel or a pre-seed VC and are interested in collaborating with Alpha in any way including deal flow sharing, please fill out this three-question form with your contact info. We’re working on something here — more details to come soon!
A full summary of the highlights discussed is displayed below.
Full infographic — snapshots from over 1,300 Afore Alpha applications (July 13, 2022)
Thanks for reading!
