In this panel discussion, the speakers outline Entrepreneur First’s (EF) core mission to discover and back the world’s most ambitious and talented individuals, emphasizing a people‑first investment model that backs founders rather than pre‑existing companies. They explain how EF’s Kickoff Week brings together outlier technologists and potential CEOs to help them find co‑founders, assess ideas, and build startups from scratch. The conversation delves into the traits EF looks for in a co‑founder—deep commitment, high intelligence, domain insight, and a unique edge—while warning that friendship alone is a poor predictor of success. Participants share personal reflections on the intensity of the program, the importance of honest self‑assessment, the need to hustle and sell oneself, and the broader mindset of bravery and ambition required to launch impactful ventures. The panel also stresses avoiding “solution‑looking‑for‑problem” thinking and focusing on real, scalable problems.
Chapters
EF was founded on the idea that it matters what the most ambitious people do with their lives. It matters that the most ambitious and the most talented individuals become founders. At Entrepreneur First, we make it our mission to find and seek out those talented and ambitious individuals. We believe the world is missing out on some of its best founders, and it's our mission to make sure that doesn't happen. So at EF, we bring outliers together. We bring talented technologists, talented potential CEOs together to help them build a startup from scratch. We're not an accelerator, we're not an early-stage VC. Both of those models invest in companies rather than people. We invest in people.
We'll invest in you to find that co-founder. We'll invest in you to accelerate that program. We'll invest in you to raise from the best seed fund. We'll help you tap into the global pool of capital as well.
What you really care about in a co-founder is not, are you best friends? In fact, that's a very unreliable predictor. of success in a startup. What you really care about is what are the characteristics of the person that you're going to enter into this long-term partnership with. And, you know, we believe at EF that you want that person to be highly, highly committed to starting a company. You want them to be extremely smart. You want them to be really insightful about the area that you're going to work in. And you want them to have some edge. You want them to have some kind of reason why, in retrospect, when you look back, you're like, yeah, well, they were obviously the right person to start this company.
The EF team is really helpful. They force you to think about the impact of your project, the scale of ambition, make sure that there is a problem. They always say, don't be a solution looking for a problem.
The big things are done by people who are brave enough to do so. I thought, if I'm brave enough, then I am halfway there.
You've been chosen to join the Entrepreneur First community because we believe that you could be a globally important founder. You are some of the smartest, most skilled, most talented, and most ambitious individuals that we've met, having screened thousands of applications to get to this point. And Kickoff Week is just the start of that journey.
So Kickoff Week was a great experience. You get to meet all these fascinating people coming from various backgrounds, and at the same time, you have this anxiety and pressure and excitement to find the right co-founder.
I guess it's really important to know that if you have an idea, to be really open about what that idea could be.
The key part is look at yourself critically and really try to assess where you're at and where you can add the most value.
Form as fast as you can, go through as many teams as you can.
You have to hustle, you have to sell yourself. Have a strong plan of action, but be ready for it to fail.
We're delighted to have you as part of our community and cannot wait to see what you build.
