Behind the Scenes at EFSG3 Investor Day
On 17th July 2018, Entrepreneur First held its third Investor Day in Singapore, featuring 23 remarkable companies.
But the founders of these companies didn’t join EF pre-formed.
They joined as individuals, found their co-founders and built their businesses from scratch over the last six months.
That’s why EF Investor Day is so special.
It’s the culmination of months of hard work from the extraordinary individuals on the cohort and the EF Team.
It’s the first time our founders get to show their newly formed companies to the world.
And it’s a critical turning point on the long and winding road of building a startup.
Here’s a look behind the scenes at some of the best moments from the day.
Preparation, Preparation, Preparation
A lot of work goes on behind the scenes at Investor Day.
From last minute pitch tweaking, to finalising logistics and making sure the microphones are working, the EF team are on hand to make sure everything runs smoothly.
(From top left to bottom right — Tanuja Rajah & Swarnima Korde; Joe Ros & Sanjana Tadepalli; Monisha Jain, Felicia Tan & Allister Furey; Oleg Kurochka & PohKam Chan)
Can We See the Companies Yet?
Investors from all over the world attend our investor days, eager to see the next batch of globally ambitious companies coming out of EF.
This year we had more than 200 people packed into the auditorium at Google’s offices in Mapletree Business City in Singapore.
Get Ready for Lift Off
EF Co-Founder Matt Clifford Opens EFSG3 Investor Day in typically eloquent style as Asia MD Alex Crompton gets ready to introduce the first company.
It’s Game Time
Archanan Co-Founder Alex Nodeland captures the feeling behind the scenes with his best game face.
And We’re Off!
Julian Lai-Hung of Blockpunk opens the show with a brilliantly executed pitch and leaves the stage to a huge round of applause.
Pitch Perfect
The EFSG3 Founders all nailed their pitches, but even that’s a team game —
you’d be surprised how long it takes to get that slide coordination working smoothly in practice!
(Top — Stéphane Mangeon & Iqbal Haider, It’s Next Technologies;
Left to Right — Will Hanschell, Pencil; Surbhi Krishna Singh, Firevisor; Sahil Tapiawala, Atomionics)
Unsurprisingly, the crowd were on the edge of their seats — some a little more than others…
Meanwhile, backstage…
(From top left to bottom right — Huai En Constance Tan & Gopalakrishna Hegde, AIMLedge & Will Hanschell & Sumukh Avadhani, Pencil; Amiya Patanaik & Kishan, Neurobit; Stéphane Mangeon & Iqbal Haider, It’s Next Technologies; Siddhartha Gunti & Deepti Chopra, Adaface)
And That’s A Wrap
Entropica Labs Co-Founder Tommaso DeMarie closes the session with the final pitch, giving the audience a peek into the future of quantum computing.
Now the hard work begins…
The build-up to Investor Day is huge, but the founders know that the hard work begins now.
Right after the pitches, investors had the chance to chat with the founders that caught their eye.
(From top left to bottom right — Liang Zan Wong, Propine Capital; Hazel Savage, Musiio; Abhilash Murthy, Bus Uncle Company; Julian Lai-Hung, Blockpunk)
Here’s to EFSG3!
23 remarkable companies, 45 remarkable founders, 1 remarkable cohort.
Thanks for the memories EFSG3 — and here’s to many more in the months and years to come!
