7 concrete examples of the “Founders Program Effect” (Applications open!)
In the Founders Program, we are obsessed by one thing: how do we help startups thrive?
How do we create the conditions to prevent startup failure? And, how do we make sure that the early-stage startups joining us will leave us “healthier” and more advanced? These are the most common risks for startups according to CB Insights:
With these insights in mind for the Founders Program, STATION F has developed exclusive resources and a unique environment so that you, as a Founder, can avoid these obstacles.
And you know what? A *ton* of our members have already benefited from what we call the “Founders Program Effect”. Here are 7 concrete examples from the past few months. You want to experience it too? Our startup applications are open until September 30th!
1. Reaching your North Star goal: your product market fit
You have an addressable market but how can you test the need? STATION F is the biggest startup campus in the world and the Founders Program is the biggest one in the community, representing 200 startups out of the 1,000 at STATION F. On a daily basis, you are surrounded by 3,000 entrepreneurs (and more with the newly born Alumni community) who are all potential beta-testers, partners, recommenders, if not direct customers.
Our internal Slack has a dedicated channel called #beta-users-needed, where startups meet with potential users.
2. Sell your product to 1,000 companies
STATION F has negotiated 200 exclusive special offers or discounts on all major software and services that startups would need, such as Airbnb credits, free cloud hosting, etc. We call these deals “Perks”.
Some startups in the Founders Program have been featured as Perks for our community, which has allowed them to gain hundreds of new users. Examples include Mobibam, a “design your own furniture” platform, and Namatata, a meditation app.
In addition to these cool opportunities, keep in mind that, at STATION F, we always try to use our members’ products to run our campus! For instance, we use Cloudimage to propulse our pictures on our Intranet.
3. Find technical help in the community
Focused on the education sector, Klassroom builds a parent-teacher connection platform. One of the most important days of the year for them is Back-To-School and, of course on that day this year, their servers crashed due to too many users launching the app at the same time. However, one help message in the STATION F Slack and 46 replies later, the problem was solved within 1h.
4. Get visibility from international media
In addition to naturally being exposed to thousands of people, our role is to put our entrepreneurs forward when they feel ready. Many Founders such as the “delicious” Meet My Mama team were for example showcased in Foundation, our first startup documentary series, featured on BFM Business and TechCrunch — the documentary reached *millions* of viewers all across the world!
5. Get advice from the best of mentors in the world
Being in the Founders Program pushes you to face reality: compete with another startup within the program if not across the campus and present your solution to top experts from across the world who will not hesitate a second to give you their toughest and most sincere feedback. We want these meetings to be real game changers.
Advenworks, our “Videogames Buffer”, and video game contest app BeatMe got to meet and demo to Clash of Clans’ dad and Supercell founder Illka Paananen.
Forward Labs PADAM Wifi speaker was tested by the one and only Nobuyuki Idei, former CEO of Sony (who lead products like the Walkman and the Playstation).
The list of once-in-a-lifetime meetings goes on forever with: Microsoft CEO, Tetsuya Mizugushi, video game and VR artist, Pebble and Citymapper founders etc…
6. Increase your talent pipe and create your All-Star team
One of the criteria in the Founders Program’s selection process is to have a founding team with complementary skill sets capable of getting their MVP right. Once that’s taken care of, we can help you grow and that includes finding the right talent to support the initial team.
Most recruiting efforts (recruitment process, knowledge of the job market etc.) will remain your responsibility but being selected in the Founders Program will help you to attract talent.
You will have access to unique resources to make sure your HR pipe explodes:
- HR workshops and office hours,
- HR Perks on Talent.io, Yborder and more
- Access to an official STATION F job board.
Sobus, an easy-to-buy bus tickets startup and Eurotrip enabler, multiplied their applications pipe by 10. Here is their story: “When we started the Founders Program, we posted a job offer: in one month, we received over 500 applications” tells Matthieu, SoBus founder.
“Animate your own colour book” Wakatoon recruited their new talent at the desk next to them: “We met Marie because she was part of the same program, she was leaving her startup and was really passionate about our project” recalls Pierrick, Wakatoon founder.
7. Access 40+ top VCs, and raise funds, right on campus
When asked about our top challenges, our entrepreneurs replied this:
We got the message. Being a member of the Founders Program will give you a unique access to the Station F VC community, with 40+ funds from all around the world, including French funds (Alven Capital, Ventech, Daphni, Partech Ventures…) and international ones (Balderton Capital, Index Ventures, Accel Partners, Future Shape…).
To name just a few, nutrition and intelligence startup Dear Muesli and Bug Bounty hunter Yogosha raised funds with these partners.
Being a Founder also gives you credibility among the investor community such as Advenworks: “We just closed our first fundraising of 700K within a month of being in the Program. The fact that we had been selected gave us great credibility towards investors” says Nicolas, Advenworks founder.
Now, ready to apply?
Like our Founders, you want to have crazy, unexpected boosters? Face milestones you did not expect for years and months? Well, it’s time to apply :)
Applications to the Founders Program must be done before September 30th
