Join our Pre-Incubator Program:
Founding to Give
Launch a high-growth company to donate to high-impact charities
Apply now: The first application stage only takes 30 min. Deadline: 15th September.
Program dates: January 6th - March/April 2025, with four in-person weeks in London from January 6th to February 3rd.
Our pre-incubator will help you…
Find a co-founder from a pre-vetted pool. Align on values, skillsets, and personality.
Identify and test exceptional business ideas. Build and hone your pitch.
Craft your plan. Determine your best next steps, such as applying for an incubator.
So that you can build a successful company and make the world better.
WE PROVIDE
People:
A highly selective cohort of exceptionally talented and value-aligned potential co-founders to complement your skills and experience.
Training:
A 3 month intensive, full-time, cost-covered program from January 6th to March/April to build your skills, knowledge, and confidence as you zero in on the best ideas and build concrete plans.
Time:
An additional month of funding to cover living and office costs so you can work with your new co-founder and experts to iterate on your pitch, apply to incubators, do further research and/or raise seed capital.
Community:
A strong community of mentors, entrepreneurs and others who want to make the most difference with their careers and can support you and your project through the early years.
What kind of companies would we be particularly excited about?
Companies that can compete and scale in traditional entrepreneurship pathways (such as getting into YC) and combine this with positive flow-through effects, e.g., in the areas of: :
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Health Tech
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HR tech, and specifically technological solutions that aim at increasing the flow of people and money between countries (see also our report on platforms facilitating Labor Migration for inspiration)
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Fintech and Supply Chain tech in LMIC countries, see also some suggestions by Ben Kuhn here.
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Food tech or Agri Tech companies
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Biotech companies
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Companies in the areas recommended by YCombinator.
IN THE PROGRAM
During the program, you will be surrounded by high-potential and altruistic aspiring entrepreneurs.
In Part 1, you will be immersed in best practices, explore potential new business ideas and, through our structured matching process, gradually pair into co-founding teams. You’ll develop your pitches and plans while we challenge you to think big, move quickly and demonstrate value. You will spend this time in-person in London between January 6th and February 3rd.
In Part 2, you’ll work in your newfound teams to move your business ideas forward and prepare for your next steps, like applying to incubators (e.g., Y-Combinator) or pitching your company directly to investors.
IS THIS A GOOD FIT FOR YOU?
The program is designed for people who are considering for-profit entrepreneurship as a path to make a massive difference, but who have not settled on a co-founder and/or an idea yet.
We’re looking for outliers and talent that goes beyond the normal job requirements: independent thinkers, willing to learn and ready to work hard.
We are particularly excited about those with a technical or entrepreneurial background.
Our candidates ideally have some altruistic track record (e.g. have taken the Giving What We Can pledge) and upon a major exit, would plan to donate a significant % of their personal profits (e.g. 50% or more, in line with the Giving Pledge).
For more details on founders' profiles, see our REPORT.
YOU'LL LEARN HOW TO
Assess, compare, select and improve highly scalable and impactful business ideas.
Build and test co-founder relationships, based on shared values, that leverage your strengths and experience.
Develop a pitch and plan that will get you accepted to the world’s best business incubators and into the world of value aligned seed investors.
We ask
We don’t care about making money for ourselves. We care about making the biggest difference in the world.
That is why we do not take any equity, ask for board seats, or hamstring your company's growth in any other way.
Instead we ask that participants commit to donating a minimum of 50% of their personal exit earnings above $1m to effective charities upon exit.
In a manner akin to the commitments made by signatories of the Founders Pledge or The Giving Pledge.
See our report for more details on this.
WHY AIM
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At Ambitious Impact we help people use their careers to do as much good as possible. We help them start charities, foundations and now altruistic businesses.
We know that entrepreneurship as a career path can be highly impactful. (Founders Pledge has already moved over $1Bn in donations to the world’s most pressing problems!) But breaking into the world of VCs and high-growth entrepreneurship is challenging. This pre-incubator is designed to remove the initial barriers to entry. 5 years ago, we launched a charity incubator which has already generated over 30 successful start-ups.
Download our Founding to Give report that explains our reasoning, theory of change, potential impact, and more.
APPLICATION PROCESS
The application process consists of five stages. We encourage everyone to apply to Stage 1, as it’s the best way to test their fit. If you are interested in multiple programs AIM offers, you can apply for this program via our joint application form, which also enables you to apply for our Charity Entrepreneurship program simultaneously.
Stage 1: CV, multiple-choice and short written questions. (Approximately 30 minutes)
Stage 3: Interview
(Up to 1 hour)
Stage 5: Interview
(Up to 1 hour)
Stage 2: Test task 1 (Approximately 3 hours)
Stage 4: Test task 2
(Approximately 4 hours)
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The deadline to apply is September 15th, 2024.
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The entire application process (from start to being accepted) takes at most 10 hours of your time, and approximately two months from application submission to an acceptance offer.
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Your time is valuable. We will only invite you to the next stage if you have a good chance of success. While we are sadly unable to give individualized feedback to rejected candidates, we build our test tasks to be useful to you as a candidate as well as for us in vetting applicants.
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Our application process is subject to continuous improvement. As such, this information may not perfectly represent the process you are asked to complete.
Commitment to diversity and equal opportunities
We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and encourage individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply. We especially encourage applications from people of color, women, non-binary, and neurodivergent individuals who are excited about contributing to our mission. Our application process is blinded wherever possible to reduce biases. Charity Entrepreneurship is an equal opportunity organization. If you need assistance or accommodations due to a disability or have any other related questions about applying, please contact us at ben@charityentrepreneurship.com
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Can I apply both to this program and to the regular incubation program/research training program/other programs?Yes. We actually recommend applying to several programs you might be interested in, and use the application process to find out which of these is a better fit.
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Do you provide seed funding?No, AIM itself won’t provide seed funding. We also do not take any equity. We expect most founders to get their seed funding from the incubators they apply to after the program. We might connect you with seed funders and angel investors in our network.
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Do I need to have business ideas to apply?No. We’ll spend some time on ideation in the program.
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Can I apply with my own idea?Yes - though we do expect founders will adapt their idea (a lot) based on feedback from users, investors, and so on.
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Can I join if I’ve already raised funding?This program focuses on co-founder matching, ideation and early-stage validation. It is best suited to people earlier on in their journey.
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I’ve already started a business, can I still take the pledge?Yes, we’re happy to share the pledge agreement. You can contact jacintha@charityentrepreneurship.com
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I don’t have technical skills, should I apply?Yes, apart from people with technical experts, we’re also interested in ‘domain experts’ with deep knowledge in particular fields, and ‘catalysts’, who have experience in building enterprises or taking products to market. You can find more info on this in the report. The best way to find out if you’re a good fit is by filling out the application form here - it only takes 30 minutes.
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Do you support social enterprises as well?Yes and no. We are looking to maximize impact, both through donations as well as through direct impact of the companies. We currently believe, however, that this is best achieved through companies that have the ability to scale. This means this program does not aim to produce companies that cannot compete in a regular market or companies that need grants to be able to survive. You can find a more elaborate analysis of the kind of companies we’d like to see started in the report.
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Do you have any tips for the application procedure?We recommend reading our report. Our section on founder profiles includes some suggestions for things you might want to highlight in your application. In terms of reading, we recommend ‘How to be a founder’, Lean Startup, The Mom Test as well as checking application resources for YCombinator (which is a good general indicator for the kind of businesses and people we’re looking for with this program)
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Are there any costs associated with the program?No. The program is free. We provide a stipend to founders who require this.