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BUILD WITH US

We partner with entrepreneurs to create the great AI companies of tomorrow.

Building a startup is hard. From startup veterans and seasoned investors, to machine learning experts and talent leaders, our team is ready to fill in the gaps around your expertise. We are here to support you so your company succeeds.

LET’S BUILD TOGETHER

A PROVEN PROCESS FOR BUILDING COMPANIES

Business Idea Validation

Our team of startup builders performs market and technical validation on the idea.

Recruit future CEO ( Founder in Residence) and board member (Venture Advisor)

Next, we bring on a seasoned entrepreneur with domain expertise as a Founder in Residence (they will be the CEO upon launch) and pair them with an AI Fund Builder and Venture Advisor (who will be a future board member after launch). 

Build with Founder in Residence

Founders in Residence spend three months with us developing the idea and iterating rapidly to de-risk the new business through deep customer and technical validation. The Founder in Residence collaborates very closely on this with our in-house builders, the Venture Advisor, and our ML engineering team to structure a go-to-market strategy and product proof of concept.

Pre-Seed Launch

If the Build stage is successful, we stand the company up with a pre-seed investment of up to $1 million. 

Our recruiting team will help assemble your core team (including co-founder matchmaking if needed) and the building team will support you in getting early customer traction, building the product, and preparing for seed financing.

Seed, Growth, and Scale

As a good co-founder, we will be working alongside you, supporting you as you grow.

WHY PARTNER WITH AI FUND

We’ve been there. We’ve founded and scaled successful companies ourselves, and we know that creating meaningful startups is really hard. Instead of spending years plodding away on an idea, validate it quickly in our Founder-in-Residence program. 

We shorten a process that can take years down to months. We make sure you are going after the right market, are fully validated, and are surrounded by great teammates. Lastly, we make sure you see the world through the lens of a data scientist and machine learning expert, which is the perspective any meaningful AI company in the future must have. But, we also know that the process is not about us. It’s about great founders and empowering them to do impactful things.

Partnering with a venture studio to launch your company is a force multiplier. A study by the Global Startup Studio Network (GSSN) found startups founded with a studio have a 30% higher success rate. They also grow bigger faster: almost every company launched from a studio received seed funding and 72% of those received Series A funding.

Founders in our studio program leverage lower barriers to entry, financial support, and higher levels of operational involvement to springboard great companies.

LET’S BUILD A COMPANY TOGETHER

Have an idea? Or just want to be a part of something big? Let’s talk.

FAQ

What is a venture studio?
A venture studio differs from a typical venture capital firm, in that it focuses on building companies from the ground up, rather than investing in already growing companies.

At AI Fund, we source ideas from within our organization, our network of industry and academic partners, and entrepreneurs like yourself. We will validate your idea together through our Founder in Residence program and support you in turning your idea into a venture-backable business—including recruiting your team, developing the product proof of concept, and acquiring first customers.

We are more than simply investors. As a venture studio, we are co-founders with you.

Is there a deadline for applications?
We want to partner with entrepreneurs who want to make a difference in the world using AI. If you have an idea, but haven’t built the product yet, then it’s the perfect time to reach out to us. If you want to build something but don’t have a company idea yet, check our careers page for open Founder-in-Residence roles.

How much capital does AI Fund invest in pre-seed companies?
We prefer to be the first institutional money in a company and we invest up to $1 million in a convertible note to found the company.

What is the difference between a Founder in Residence and a Venture Advisor?
A Founder in Residence is a full time, paid role that transitions into CEO of the new company when it launches as a funded pre-seed company. Venture Advisors are part-time equity-based roles, typically played by successful entrepreneurs, to counsel the Founder in Residence. When the company launches, the Venture Advisor holds AI Fund’s board seat.

What kind of support does AI Fund offer Founders-in-Residence?
We surround each new startup with a team of specialists with expertise around ML engineering and data science, talent and recruiting, fundraising, product development, corporate partnerships, and more.

 

 

LET’S WORK TOGETHER

Ready to build something great?