Join our Pre-Incubator Program:
Founding to Give
Launch a high-growth company to donate to high-impact charities
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.
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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.
TEAM BEHIND THIS PROGRAM
JACINTHA BAAS
Program Director
Jacintha leads our AIM Founding to Give Program. ​She is an entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in founding & scaling organisations.
In her role as co-founder of a sustainable tech scale-up, she grew the company to 30+ staff. Her achievements were awarded with various prizes and recognitions, such as the Next Women To Watch, the Inspiring Fifty: Women in Tech, and the Forbes 30 under 30. She holds a degree in Sociology from the London School of Economics.
TRISH KENNELLY
Program Manager
Trish is the Program Manager for the Founding to Give program. She has spent her career connecting people and possibilities, and she's excited to continue doing just that at AIM.
Previously, Trish was COO at On Deck, where she helped to grow the company from pre-funding through Series B and launch the On Deck accelerator for founders at the earliest stages. Prior to that, Trish ran programs for impact founders at Unreasonable Group, was the first employee at Remote Year where she helped to scale the company through Series A and acquisition, and worked in a boutique consulting firm focused on real estate and development.
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In her spare time, Trish loves to surf, hike, travel, and do anything that feels like a "concentrated dose of life".
AIM Founding to Give Program is a project of Ambitious Impact run by:
Co-Founder and
CEO
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CPO
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COO
and the AIM Team.
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