How we help founders put their purpose into practice
From Square One
Grand Central Tech (GCT) launched seven years ago as an “anti-accelerator” of sorts, with the objective to gather a diverse community of high-potential, early-stage founders, give them physical space to build at no cost or equity fee, and generally support their ambitions via the power of collective, proximate brilliance and light, super-targeted programming.
Since inception, GCT has invited 220 founders across 131 companies to share space in their “everyone fits at one desk” stage including Common, Knock, Otis, Maven Health, Timescale, and Lolli. From square one and beyond, GCT companies have gone on to collectively raise $1.9B in capital. The GCT journey as an “anti-accelerator” has given us a front row seat to the evolution of venture, startups and entrepreneurship. And in that time Company Ventures has evolved and earned a track record for curating exceptional talent and focusing on the things early stage companies actually need and delivering them.
With the launch of GCT 2021, we are sharing our approach in more detail, and the Modern Founder Ethos we abide by, to elevate and empower founders.
A Purpose-Built Place for Builders
“Starting a business is hard and sometimes you don’t know what questions to ask. Having a community of people you can, without judgement, turn to and get help or guidance from is a really rare and powerful accelerant to moving through the growth curve.”
— Mustafa Shabib, CTO & Co-Founder of Season (GCT ‘20)
To this day, GCT’s free rent, no equity promise is the best value for early-stage teams in NYC. But we don’t just “give away” free space — we invite like-minded, supremely capable founders to share amazing space with zero time pressure and targeted programming. And this dynamic actually accelerates progress.
Community Grounded in Shared Values
“Folks have been incredibly generous with their time, help and introductions. And likewise, I want to see them succeed and will make time and effort to be helpful in any way that I can be. It’s by far the most valuable aspect of the program.”
— Janinne Versi, COO & Co-Founder of Elektra Health (GCT ‘20)
In every interview for GCT, we ask founders to answer what they could contribute to the rest of the community. Everyone who ultimately becomes a member of the GCT community not only has incredible answers to this question, but is also enthusiastic about supporting and learning from their peers. In this spirit, our founder community is bound by three core values:
Intentionality: Engage with purpose
Generosity: Win and help win.
Pace: Move faster together
Early-Days, Big Decisions
“As a mission-driven company, it’s critical that our values drive our decision-making process for every new hire, product decision, sale, etc. GCT has been instrumental in crafting, challenging, and crystallizing Onaroll’s purpose.”
— Peter Ginsberg, CEO & Founder of Onaroll (GCT ‘20)
There are some decisions that only a founder can address, that get at the very soul of a company and its purpose. We believe that it’s never too early to be intentional about the big questions behind how and why you’re building your business. That’s why GCT creates space for founders to address the deeper questions only they can answer, taking the existential — why am I building this company, what about the world will change as a result of its success? How should my team conduct itself on a daily basis? — down to the actionable by first codifying their vision, mission and values. Through bespoke consultation with our team and founder-to-founder collaboration, GCT companies are guided to define their company’s vision, mission and values through our North Star Process. The result is a powerful source of alignment that creates lasting impact on a company’s actions and stakeholder relationships. For founders who have already done some of this work, we’ve found this process can reinforce and enable them to revisit these fundamentals as they ebb and flow throughout their company’s lifecycle.
Putting Purpose into Practice
“GCT is the perfect place to grow and establish your company. The emphasis on long term strategy, while also providing resources for immediate growth is unmatched and crucial to any start-up’s success.”
— Coryandar Gilvary, Chief Data Scientist & Co-Founder at OneThree Biotech (GCT ‘20)
As much as founders need to contemplate the why and how, they are accountable for the what. With an aproach that appreciates both near term business outcomes and long term impact, we have turned best practices into actionable coaching around the key questions that emerge in the actual operating of the business.Through four learning tracks, we marry outside expertise and best practices with collaboration amongst founders facing similar challenges to help each team tackle their most pressing questions.
Expression | How do we express our purpose?
Brand and go to market strategy are the natural extension of expressing vision and actually accomplishing a company’s mission. We help founders devise a holistic strategy to earn mindshare in a crowded landscape where the terrain is constantly shifting.
Execution | How do we know if we’re successful?
Recognizing what stakeholders expect and being able to map outcomes to objectives via a process like OKRs is crucial for leading towards the company’s vision. We review a range of mechanisms for creating baseline infrastructure for tracking and maintaining progress.
Product | How do we meet the needs of our customer now and into the future?
From early validation research to ethical and inclusive product design to solving for clear jobs to be done we support founders in the product market fit journey to establish key frameworks for ongoing iteration, measurement, and communication.
People | How do we attract and inspire a winning team?
We help founders implement equitable hiring practices and foster inclusive and compelling cultures required to build a diverse, capable, aligned team that can defy the odds.
Advisors First, then Investors
Each founder’s journey while in GCT is bolstered by individualized attention from the Company Ventures investment team through bi-monthly check-ins. Acting as advisors first, we help founders chart a course that aligns their purpose & practice against a clear story of success and a proactive view of fundraising strategy. Tactically, we help GCT companies run excellent fundraising processes to secure the best possible lead investors and, when appropriate, we are proud to join these rounds as investors.
Maximizing Time, Upside and Purpose
Throughout the year, the journey described here creates a clear path through some of the fundamental questions all founders face ongoing as their companies evolve. When a founder needs more, they are part of the rich Company Ventures ecosystem which includes access to valuable perks and resources, operator-led programming, expert and investor office hours, and facilitated connection to relevant founders across our portfolio and the GCT alumni network. In all, we have optimized GCT to deliver a high impact experience that returns sharp tactical wisdom, strong connections and inner clarity for the precious investment of time each founder makes in the experience.
If this is the kind of environment you want as you build your company, we would love to hear from you! To learn more and apply, head to companyventures.co/grand-central-tech. Applications are open until June 13, 2021 and programming will start in early September 2021.
