Mythbuster: 7 things you need to know before applying to Antler in Nairobi
As a global, early-stage VC firm, Antler enables and invests in exceptional people with a passion and ambition to build the defining companies of tomorrow.
In Nairobi, Antler has invested in portfolio companies such as Aifluence, Digiduka, Uncover, Cooked, Anyi Health and Chapchap Go, and continues to provide mentorship and coaching to these companies as a long-term investor and supporter.
Building a business with Antler means more than just securing investment. The Antler platform supports portfolio companies by leveraging our global network of more than 500 experts in technology, entrepreneurship, business, and academia, and our community of founders — one of the fastest growing in the world with more than 500 new members every year. Along with that, Antler’s global footprint provides a unique ability for businesses to reference other ecosystems for quicker scaling, due diligence, and problem-solving as they grow.
Building a business with Antler is a full-time commitment, and will set you on a trajectory to make a big impact. Before applying, however, there are some key points you need to know. Here they are:
- Antler enables you to find a complementary co-founder
Contrary to popular belief, Antler does not pick your co-founders for you. Antler helps to bring exceptional people together, but following this, encourages individuals within the cohort to work within as many team combinations as possible to find the most suited co-founder(s) with complementary skills experience. Antler hosts a number of design sprints, group activities, and social events to enable you to do this.
According to Alistair Gould, co-founder of Tulix, a payments business built with Antler in Nairobi, “All work and no play makes everyone dull, be social, make connections and just make the most of the experience.”
2. Be open and willing to work with a variety of people to find your ideal co-founding team
Although, having a rough idea of the kind of person you would want to start a company with is great, however, if you don’t, the program is designed to enable maximum interactions. You could potentially come in thinking of teaming up with a founder with a similar background to yours but find that it’s better to have a team with complementary skills and a vast set of skills. A major takeaway, don’t rule anyone out before you have interacted with them.
3. Finding the right team is the key to success at Antler
Antler invests in people not ideas, and therefore we give a strong emphasis on having the right team. Antler supplements this by leveraging the founder-market fit, providing coaching, hosting sprints and activities for co-founders to engage with each other. A great team at Antler consists of passionate, ambitious, avid problem solvers with complementary skills, determined to build the defining companies of tomorrow.
4. Building a business with Antler is a full-time commitment
The Antler program is intense, as is building a startup. Antler highly discourages the mindset of being a “part-time CEO.” During the interview process, this is one of the prominent questions asked, Antler makes sure that potential founders are committed to the program and give their all to the venture they aspire to build.
5. A fully working Minimum Viable Product is not needed by the Investment Committee Pitch day.
By the time teams pitch their ideas to the Antler investment committee, they don’t need to have an MVP. The IC mainly makes the investment decision based on team strength, team-idea fit, validation of the market size, and the solution’s potential to scale.
In most cases, demo day is this first opportunity for teams to pitch for their seed round and acts as the first external validation to Antler’s initial investment. While a fully built-out product is not needed at this point, validation that the business idea is feasible is required. For instance, at our most recent demo day, our portfolio Uncover Skincare showcased their pilot phase traction of selling 3000 face masks in their launch month proving market demand and feedback from customers on pricing, product-market fit, and pricing.
6. When applying to Antler Nairobi, your business must be based in Africa
When applying to Antler Nairobi, you have to be prepared to build your business within the African continent, however, you’re not restricted to launch the product in Kenya.
There have been numerous instances where founders have secured funding for a product or app that works outside of Kenya but within Africa. As long as the business is not set up in Kenya, founders can continue to work from their launch market after receiving Antler’s investment.
It’s also worth noting that Antler has a presence in 14 locations worldwide, so we suggest you think strategically about the market you would want to set up a business in and apply to that Antler location.
7. You can apply to Antler from anywhere in the world!
People interested in the Antler Nairobi program can apply from anywhere in the world, provided the business idea is based in Africa. The diversity at the Antler Nairobi program is something the Antler East Africa team is extremely excited about having brought 24 Nationalities from 4 continents so far in the past 3 cohorts!
The next cohort begins on April 6, so be sure to apply via www.antler.co/apply by March 20 if you are interested to be considered. You can also find out more about the founder roles here > Tech founder & Business founder.
More — Read about our work featured in the recent TechCrunch article
