Kickstart your entrepreneurial journey with these 5 opportunities

Hey chance catchers 🌟✊

Have you always thought about building a company but didn’t know where to start? No worries, we’ve got you! In this inaugural edition, we've curated 5 incredible opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to kickstart their journey from zero!

1. Entrepreneur First: No startup idea? No worries. This startup incubator pays top talent to find a co-founder and build a startup from scratch

2. Antler Residency: The pre-idea, pre-team startup incubator with a global footprint in 20 countries

3. Buildspace: 6 weeks to build your idea in public

4. Z Fellows: Get $10K to build your idea for a week

5. YC Startup School: Free online course to learn how to build a startup from the world’s top accelerator

1. Entrepreneur First
Entrepreneur First is a 6-month startup incubator, which brings together the world’s highest potential individuals to find their ideal co-founder and build globally successful startups from scratch. This intense program will push your limits with co-founder matching (and often breakups) as well as continuous customer discovery to validate a problem. You don’t need an idea or a co-founder to join, but ambition is a must!

• For: Aspiring entrepreneurs who want to find a cofounder and build a VC-backed startup

• Money details: Get paid a stipend for 3 months and potentially receive a pre-seed investment of £80,000 in London for 10% (stipend amount/terms differ based on location, see FAQs for more details)

• Location: London, Berlin, Paris, Bangalore, New York

• Deadline: Differs by location - June 5th for Paris and London (See here for more details)

• Chance Catcher Insider Tip: Read what EF is looking for thoroughly, and reach out to EF’s talent investor for your program location (find them on LinkedIn) to book a chat before submitting the application. Why? This helps them put a face to the application and you can personally follow up to increase your chances of getting an interview.

• Chance Catcher Insider perk: If you want a referral + advice on the application process, dm Miya. Say hi and share the most ambitious or adventurous thing you’ve done.

2. Antler Residency
Similar to Entrepreneur First, Antler Residency is a pre-idea, pre-team startup incubator that helps ambitious individuals find a co-founder, validate an idea, build a company, and pitch for investment. They have a global presence, with locations in 20 countries. If you already have an early-stage startup, they also offer pre-seed investment funding.

• For: Aspiring entrepreneurs who want to find a cofounder and build a VC-backed startup or pre-seed stage startups looking for investment funding

• Money details: Get paid a stipend and/or potentially receive a pre-seed investment (amount/terms differ based on location)

• Location: In 25 cities across 6 continents, including Austin, New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, and Sydney (see here for all locations)

Not ready to build your startup yet? Check out Antler Academy, a free online platform for new entrepreneurs to learn how to launch a startup online.

3. Buildspace

Have an idea that you’ve always wanted to work on? Make your idea come to life, get users and iterate through a 6-week build-in-public program with a cohort of builders online. PS. Chance Catcher is a part of the current Buildspace Season 3 😄 The next cohort starts on July 1st and we hope to see you there!

• For: Anyone who wants to build an idea and learn to bring it to life by building in public. It can be anything from building an app, writing a comic, to starting a Youtube channel. The world is your oyster!

• Money details: It’s free to participate and you might have a chance at winning $100K and getting invited to Buildspace’s invite-only 6-month builder program in San Francisco

• Location: Online for 6 weeks, then 3-day IRL event in San Francisco and Dubai

• Deadline: Rolling application - next cohort starts July 1st

• Chance Catcher Insider tip: The open secret is that everyone gets in (so just apply!). Getting in is easy but only ~20% continuously build and make it to the end. You’re gonna make it!

4. Z Fellows

Z Fellows is a one-week startup activator that gives you $10K to work on your idea and access to Silicon Valley’s most successful technology founders and mentors.

• For: Aspiring entrepreneurs working on an idea (or has an idea) that want to fast-track into the Silicon Valley network with access to industry-leading mentors

• Money details: Participate without money or receive a $10K investment at a $1B USD valuation cap.

• Location: Online

• Deadline: Rolling application - happens about once every 2 months

• Chance Catcher Insider Tip: Text Cory, the founder of Z Fellows, at 650-505-9984 and introduce yourself!
  

5. YC Startup School

Learn how to build a top startup - from the same people who helped Airbnb, Doordash, Stripe, Reddit, and Coinbase get started. YC Startup School is a free online course by Y Combinator, the world's top startup accelerator. You’ll stay accountable for weekly progress updates, get access to co-founder matching, and discounts on AWS, Strip etc.

• For: Anyone at the early stages of building a startup, turning a side project into a company, or anyone curious to learn about becoming a founder

• Money details: Free

• Location: Virtual

That’s it for this post! Did any of these opportunities wow you? I know I felt this crazy rush of excitement when I first learned about Entrepreneur First through a LinkedIn message and that was the start of my founder journey :)

Remember, you miss 100% of the chances you don't take. Give yourself a chance, and apply for opportunities that excite you today 🙂 

Rooting for you!
Miya from Chance Catcher 🌟✊

^{PS. Be an awesome friend and share this with someone you know that’s thinking about jumping into entrepreneurship.
PPS. You can find more opportunities that we continuously update in our database here.}

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If you know another opportunity that more people should know about, please share it with us here!