Entrepreneurs First (EF)

About Entrepreneurs First (EF)

Entrepreneurs First (EF) is a talent-investing platform founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck in London. It pioneered the idea of talent investing, backing exceptional individuals before they have a co-founder or even a startup idea, and runs cohorts in London, Paris, Bangalore, New York, and San Francisco, helping participants find co-founders, shape ideas, and build companies from scratch.

Its distinctiveness lies in starting at the earliest possible point, before a company exists. Where traditional accelerators need at least an idea or a team, EF begins with the individual, using a mix of machine-learning pattern recognition and intensive interviews to spot founder potential, which widens the pipeline of high-quality startups. The Bangalore programme is intensive and in-person: selected individuals get an equity-free grant during ideation, a dedicated advisor, nine months of Bangalore office space, co-founder matching, and access to EF's global alumni network. On forming a company, EF invests up to $250,000, with potential for up to $5 million in follow-on through Series B, and participants unlock more than $600,000 in partner credits, including $350,000 in Microsoft Azure and over $250,000 from OpenAI, Anthropic, GitHub, PostHog, Datadog, and ElevenLabs, culminating in a San Francisco Demo Day before 200-plus VC partners, with typical raises of $1 million to $7 million within weeks.

Globally, EF has helped create more than 600 companies worth a combined $11 billion as of 2025, with alumni raising from Sequoia, Lightspeed, and Andreessen Horowitz across AI, deep tech, fintech, and enterprise software. Exceptional individuals with technical or domain expertise who want to start a company but lack a co-founder or idea benefit most, since no prior startup experience, co-founder, or existing idea is required. It is online at joinef.com.

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