Online lending platform SoFi recently announced the launch of its Entrepreneur Program 2.0. The company reported that original program was launched four years ago and since then has helped four classes of 70 companies founded by the lender’s members to get off the ground with its coaching and resources.
“We’ve been excited by what these alumni companies have gone on to do: for instance, four out of the five FinTech companies that have participated have had significant liquidity (Standard Treasury, Good April) events or markups (Funding Circle, Axio). Further, companies like Augmedix, CancerIQ, Metrix, Stasis, and others are working on solving huge problems through innovation and technology.”
SoFi then revealed some improvements, which would benefit the future classes. This will include:
- More Eligibility: The program is now open to all members working as a founder or co-founder either full or part-time on an innovative and scalable tech-enabled business.
- SoFi Offers Investment: The lender will give equity capital to each of the members of the Class. For this coming Class, this amount will be $25,000 per company. We want to align ourselves further with our members, provide a meaningful company-level benefit (vs. solely individual support as offered in the past), and be credible advocates for customers and investors. SoFi will also invest further in the Demo Day winner — for this coming Class, it will be $50,000.
- New Curriculum. We will run a robust nine month accelerator program that will include the following components:
- 1Q – Phase 1 – Resources. Materials and coaching dedicated to key aspects of building a company. Initial video call(s) hosted with each company in the class.
- 2Q – Phase 2 – Q&A/Iteration. Office hours with SoFi Ventures and other SoFi team members (e.g. engineering, product, marketing, etc.) to help iterate and refine products. Q&A sessions and events held with SoFi team members and other outside experts
- 3Q – Phase 3 – Pitch and Growth Training. Focus on investor presentation development, pitch training, term sheet components and negotiation, growth hacking, and other more advanced skills.
- 4Q – October – Demo Day. Companies will present to a room full of investors, including SoFi investors, accredited SoFi members, and a panel of VC judges, with the opportunity to garner growth funding alongside SoFi’s additional contribution in the winner.
- Alumni engagement: SoFi will bring back the 70 alumni companies together with this year’s Class to learn from and share with one another throughout each others’ entrepreneurial journeys.
- Community engagement: SoFi will engage our 380,000-plus members in the accelerator process and share the incredible companies their fellow members are working on.
- Dedicated resources: The SoFi Ventures team, led by Logan Allin, will support the day-to-day of the accelerator and work hands-on with each Class.
Applications for the SoFi Entrepreneur Program 2.0 will be accepted through November 17th for ten open slots.
