Friends & Family: Same Name, New Game

Slauson & Co. is excited to announce the relaunch of the Friends & Family accelerator; the program comes with significant upgrades.

In 2021 we piloted Friends & Family in partnership with Grid110, a 12-week accelerator that supported 20 companies nationwide with $25,000 in non-dilutive capital. Participating companies had the opportunity to learn from some of the country's most successful entrepreneurs and investors. Since then, we have successfully run two Friends & Family cohorts, supporting 40 innovative startups from 26 cities across the nation. The founders from these cohorts collectively received $1 million in grants from our accelerator and went on to raise over $7 million post-accelerator.

As we evaluated the evolution of our efforts, we knew we had to level up, both in the dollars we were contributing as well as the talent needed to run a world class accelerator.

Why Friends & Family?

In 2022, 1% and 1.5% of total US venture capital funding were given to Black and Latino founders respectively, while women-founded startups received 1.9%. The most underrepresented group was Black and Latino women founders who received a mere 0.1% of VC funding.

Historically, entrepreneurial success and funding have been closely tied to the net worth of a founder’s immediate network. In a world where 40% of startups receive initial funding from friends and family, with an average individual investment of $23,000, it becomes evident that many aspiring entrepreneurs, from all types of backgrounds, lack access to such affluent networks.

The Opportunity

In addition to investing from the earliest stage from our core fund, we are constantly looking for ways to create additional opportunities for innovative founders to access capital. Through Friends & Family, we get to help more founders move their businesses forward operationally, while guiding them in understanding everything from unit economics and keeping their focus on solving real problems for their customers.

For the upcoming Friends & Family 2024 cohort, we are introducing some major updates:

• We will select up to 20 companies, with each participating company receiving a $150,000 investment for 5% equity via SAFE.
• The 12-week program will encompass weekly virtual sessions focusing on various aspects of company building, founder wellness and leadership.
• Founders will receive hands-on operational support to advance their business and learn from amazing mentors and speakers. Past programs featured renowned figures such as Jeff Wilke, Jonathan Mildenhall, will.i.am, and Stacy Brown-Philpot.
• The program will commence with an in-person kickoff in LA.
• Selected companies will continue to have access to a supportive peer cohort of founders and ongoing support and community access post-program.

Slauson & Co. is also delighted to announce that this next Friends & Family program will be spearheaded by Miki Reynolds,

“A central tenant for the team at Slauson is “the only thing we hold sacred is progress.” This career opportunity, this program, this firm are the embodiment of progress. That we believe things can be done differently. And so we’re doing them differently. The ability to invest catalytic capital on founder friendly terms to founders across the US at the earliest stages of their journeys is the opportunity of a lifetime for me.”

Who We’re Looking For:

For this third Friends & Family cohort, we’re looking for founders who are uniquely positioned to build something new. Your lived experience as a founder is truly your competitive advantage, and we seek individuals who combine visionary thinking with practical execution. We want founders with big ambitions yet grounded in the pursuit of building scalable and profitable enterprises. While we’re open to nearly every sector, here are some industries and verticals that currently pique our interest:

• Elder Care, Personalized Healthcare, and Insurance
• Travel, Leisure, and Wellness Products targeting Mid-Aged Women
• Immigration, Translation, Community, and Relocation Services
• Ready to Move-In, Pet-Friendly, Long-term Rentals, Real Estate Innovation
• Mass Transportation and Public Infrastructure
• Employment, Tech Development/Adoption, and Re-skilling Services
• Financial and Legal Services for Wealth Transfers and Debt Management
• Pet Services, Food, and Care
• Changing family structure

Additional details

Applications for this Friends & Family accelerator are open now, with an early deadline of October 24th, and the application window will close on November 5th.

There will be a limited number of interviews scheduled — we highly encourage folks to get their application in early. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We invite you to sign up for an info session to learn more.

You can apply here.

We are grateful to the Grid110 team for their collaborative partnership over the last two years and to Ron Conway of SV Angel, the Annenberg Foundation, the Schultz Family Foundation, and Jim Goetz of Sequoia for their financial support of the grants.