Day One Ventures, a venture firm launched in 2018 that aims to combine venture capital acumen with marketing and communications support, has launched a program aimed specifically at those affected by this year’s tech layoffs.
The “Funded Not Fired” program will write $100,000 checks to 20 startup teams by the end of the year. The top businesses in the group will then receive follow-on funding from Day One Ventures’ pledge to lead their seed round with a $1 million check. In total, the company will allocate at least $5 million of its $52.5 million fund to support founders exiting troubled startups.
Founder and GP Masha Butcher He left his former life in Russia as a politician and TV reporter to become a tycoon. The condition? At least 0.1% to 1% of the thousands of employees affected by this year’s tech layoffs could become incredible founders.
The app is basically an official double-click investment obsession with Mafia founders, people who left high-profile gigs at top-tier companies to start their own businesses. An added layer of complexity, however, is the recession that has somewhat characterized 2022 technology. For example, if I were to be fired from my job, I don’t know if my first thought would be to bet on myself and start a risky business that will most likely fail. However, according to Butcher, this mindset is exactly what keeps me (and probably many fired tech workers) out of the entrepreneurial world anyway.
“I think you’re not going to be a great founder if you’re afraid of risk,” Butcher said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard to start a company at this time when so much has changed in the last three years,” he added, adding that it certainly makes sense if people want to get a job or work with founders. Other examples of programs designed to help activate the next generation of entrepreneurs include former Z Fellows and Cleo Capital’s grant for unemployed workers instead of one.
He made sure to emphasize that the program is “not a charity” and that people from Stripe and Twitter won’t get preferential treatment when the program runs on day one (even if they were the inspiration behind the program).
Aspiring founders do not need a registered company or even a complete startup idea to apply for this program. This form asks for the founders’ background, top ideas, criteria, and why they are on their entrepreneurial journey. To be eligible for the accelerator, at least one of the founders must have been recently fired, they must be involved full-time in the startup, and they must be able to show three references.
The application deadline is November 25, 2022, and final decisions will be made by December 20, 2022.
“Compared to other VCs who take the next year off, we’ll be working until December 31st — which is perfectly fine,” Butcher said. I feel like times like this are just a great opportunity for us to work a little harder, go the extra mile, take no time off and just hopefully support some of the companies that are going to be like Coinbase, Airbnb in the future. and Stripe.”
