GSF Founders Academy
Build Your Startup in 90 Days
Program Sponsor
State Partners
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1 July 2025
15 Aug 2025
Rajesh Sawhney
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Learn how to Ideate, Validate, and Scale your Startup with GSF Founder’s Academy.
MODULES Covered
Survival Toolkit
Surviving Fundraising Winter
Building resiliant team
Acquiring sticky customers
Achieving Product Market Fit
Achieving Product/Market Fit in consumer vs enterprise companies
Understanding customer feedback
Validation and Value proposition hypothesis
How to design your startup for growth
Visualising Growth Systems
Post PMF Growth
Managing Growth with Retention
Understanding Termsheets & SHA
Deal terms and investment structuring
Negotiating founder and investor rights
Managing investment process
Onboarding your first 10 team members + cofounders
Making the first key hires/Co Founder
ESOPs
Building Company Culture
Learning from successful founders
Rasing seed and series A rounds
Managing for attaining PMF and Growth
Building a robust bussiness model
MEET OUR
FOUNDER MENTORS
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Pitch Perfect Investor Sessions
Learn directly from top Indian investors what they look for in early stage startups.
MODULES COVERED
Understanding Angel investors and Networks
Understanding Angel syndicates
Raising from angels and syndicates
Selecting metrics for success
North Star metrics
Tracking retention
Understanding VCs
The need for VCs
Finding the right VC
Pitching to Investors
Planning your fundraise
Executing your fundraise
AMAs
Validate your ideas with our investor panels
Contexualise your questions in depth
Storytelling
Why is the story important?
Learn to tell your story
MEET OUR
INVESTOR MENTORS
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Demo Day
Pitch to 150+ investors and kickstart your entrepreneurial journey.
Online Demo Day
This pan India event provides a platform to pitch to the top VCs in the country irrespective of your geographic location
Offline Demo Day
Hosted in Bangalore, this is the perfect opportunity to pitch to and network with investors and fellow cohort members in person
Make The Most Of The Founders Academy With the GSF Team
Get access to one on one guidance sessions with our leadership team
A dedicated coordinator to guide you throughout your journey.
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Particpate in Mock Pitch Sessions to prepare for Demo Day.
Support for participating in offline and online demo day.
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Our Success Stories
"GSF Accelerator connected us with mentors and a network that accelerated our growth and helped shape our startup's vision and strategy."
Nikhil Goyal
Co-Founder
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"GSF Investors have been a huge support from Day 1. Rajesh Sawhney is the best mentor on the planet, helping me make the right decisions in tough times. He connected me to various investors, which led to our next round of funding."
Ritesh Singh
Founder & CEO
Arivihan
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“GSF Academy consistently brings together an incredible group of mentors each year and supports diverse groups of entrepreneurs, including women to take their first shot at entrepreneurship. It is an initiative I look forward to contributing to every year."
Vivek Prakash
Co Founder & CEO
Codingal
"Being part of GSF was a game-changer for us. The mentorship we received was invaluable, providing critical insights and guidance that accelerated our PMF. The networking opportunities connected us with key industry players and potential partners resulting in strong traction from early customers and interest from multiple investors for seed funding. We wouldn’t be where we are today without their expertise and support."
Khadim Batti
Co Founder & CEO
Whattfix
Frequently Asked Questions
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What are the dates and the duration of the program?
GSF Founders Academy Winter 2024 will take place from December to mid March 2025. The duration of the program is 3 months.
What is GSF Founders Academy?
GSF Founders Academy is a 90-day program for entrepreneurs building from India and South East Asia. We bring together leaders (founders, VCs, and CxOs) from across the startup ecosystem to give sessions on company-building fundamentals, past startup experiences, and sector-specific learnings. Along with this, community learning is an integral part of the Academy where we will facilitate weekly interactions and group activities among peer founders. This is not an accelerator program – there is no equity stake, no terms and conditions.
How is the program structured? What is the time commitment?
This is a 10 week program. Every week we will have two mentoring sessions on weekdays and one internal session on Saturdays. Sessions are 60 minutes long and take place in the evenings between 5-7pm.
When do I apply? When can I expect a response?
Applications are now open. We are carefully reviewing applications from founding teams across India and South East Asia. Startups invited to participate will be announced on a rolling basis.
How do I apply?
Please apply here --> Click Here
What is the program fee?
Indian Founders: INR 20,000 for upto 3 co founders
South East Asian Founders: $250 per founder
All fees are due before the start of the Academy. There is no equity stake and no terms and conditions.
Will we be engaging with the other entrepreneurs in the Academy?
Absolutely, community interactions and peer learning are the cornerstone of the Academy. We will have weekly sessions where you will be collaborating with other entrepreneurs on various business-building exercises. These sessions will take place in groups of eight called ‘Circle 8’, and founders will tackle various company specific challenges like GTM, market research, pricing, fundraising, hiring, etc.
Why is GSF doing an Academy program?
We feel amazing founders sometimes don’t have access to equally exceptional talent and mentorship. GSF aims to democratize this and create a more supportive environment that enables others to succeed. The Academy also gives us a chance to work with founders early in their entrepreneurial path and potentially invest in the company later.
Will I need to travel?
No, the GSF Founders Academy is an online program.
Will there be a demo day?
Yes. Towards the end of the program, we hold one offline and one online demo day where we have 500+ investors across the board - prominent angels, VCs, and corporates.