Venture Fellowship

Description

What is The Bridge?

The Bridge is the fastest way for Europeans to build massive companies in San Francisco from scratch.

At Entrepreneurs First, we've spent over a decade refining how to identify the most talented potential founders around the globe, help them build teams, ideate and raise funds from the world's best VCs. The portfolio we've built this way is now worth over $15bn.

San Francisco is the most competitive startup ecosystem in the world - if you can win there, you can win globally. It has forged the most valuable companies to ever exist; for those that want to build something generational, there's no better place to found.

That has led us to The Bridge: combining the best European talent with a decade of company-building knowledge, and bringing it to the SF ecosystem. Cohorts of 40-50 founders, living, working and building companies together from scratch, in a house in San Francisco.

8 weeks to go from nothing, to a funded startup.

This will be the place the next $100bn company gets created.

Why this Fellowship?

At The Bridge (and Entrepreneurs First) we back early career talent; this extends to our team as well as founders.

Every year we back up to three people who are at the earliest stages of their careers to spend two years with us learning the ropes of building out their startup network, venture capital, and getting an inside view on what world class company building looks like. 

At the end of the two years, we back the fellows to take their next step by actively helping them secure roles as either a full time investor, a startup operator or a founder. 

Previous fellows have gone on to become Partners at EF (Elspeth Lawson), work in Tier 1 VC (Zefi Hennessy Holland), become startup operators (Mahmoud Serewel, Rishabh Chaudhary), run government agencies (Pippy James) or founded their own companies (Lisa Wehden, Eden Banon-Lagrange, Sahil Tapiawala).

What you'll do

Find the world's next greatest founders: develop and execute theses on where extraordinary talent emerges (the next "Homebrew Computer Club")

Sharpen your judgment: learn what exceptional founders and world-changing companies look like

Be a trusted partner to exceptional people: advise on career moves, company creation, and fundraising

Influence investment decisions: contribute to EF's selection of founders and teams for the portfolio. 

What does that look like

Sourcing talent in Europe: you will spend approximately eight months of the year working intensely on finding great people that we want to invest in. You will source them through doing deep work in both online and in person communities, all across Europe. 

Shaping talent and companies in San Francisco: you will spend approximately two to three months of the year in San Francisco, supporting the people we've invested in, to build their founding teams and figure out the ideas they want to work on. You'll also help the founders as they raise their first round of investment with the best investors in the world.

What you'll learn

Talent spotting: how to assess raw potential before it's obvious

Company building: team dynamics, idea validation, customer development, fundraising

Technical literacy: applied tech fluency across multiple fields

Investment thinking: pattern recognition, conviction building, and portfolio construction

Outcomes you can aim for

VC: Graduate into an associate role either at EF or externally, after building a rare edge in pre-seed sourcing and founder assessment.

Operator: Join a fast growing startup in a high-leverage role with a deep network of technical founders.

Founder: Use EF as your launchpad to start your own company with exceptional co-founders. We will invest in the company that a Venture Fellow builds if they complete their fellowship with us

Who you are

Early in your career (graduated within the last two years), hungry to learn by doing, and ambitious. You likely recognise yourself in most of the below:

Intellectually curious: you dig for first principles, self-teach, and range across domains

Driven: you find creative ways through walls; you own your outcomes

Network builder: you build meaningful relationships with exceptional people, peers and seniors alike

Discerning judge of talent: high standards; optimistic yet realistic about people's potential

Tech-impact oriented: fascinated by how technology, especially via startups, changes the world

Who this role is not for 

You want a structured 9-5pm job: Venture Fellows are network builders. This means they will need to attend and host events in order to meet the most exceptional people, and travel both nationally, and potentially internationally, to immerse themselves in talent clusters. Founders are always-on, and so are we.

You want a clear career path: The diversity and malleability of the role creates an unusual level of optionality. Some Talent Investors progress at EF to running their own sites. Some move onto traditional VCs such as Sequoia, Balderton, or EQT, whilst others go on to be founders or founding members of early stage startups.

You want to be managed closely: You will be given an incredible degree of autonomy and creative control from a very early stage. The freedom allows you to explore various technologies and industries at will, and to build a network with smart and interesting people however you see fit. You will receive apprenticeship from experienced investors and senior TIs with years of exposure working with many founders.

What success looks like in by the end of your fellowship

You've built a repeatable sourcing engine for exceptional early-career talent.

Founders trust your judgment; you've shaped multiple successful EF teams.

You contribute confidently to selection and investment debates with clear, evidence-based views.

You've mapped your next step (VC, operator, or founder) and have credible options

How we'll back you

You will directly influence capital deployment decisions within the first 12 months of your fellowship

You will receive direct mentorship from seasoned investors and advisors

You will get direct access to the EF alumni and investor network

We will find you your next step and back you with capital to take it

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