GSF Founders Academy

Build Your Startup in 90 Days

Application Deadline

15 Nov 2024

Start Date

15 Dec 2024

Rajesh Sawhney

Founder, GSF India
GSF Founders Academy is a founders-for-founders platform that helps budding entrepreneurs validate their business idea, and take their startup to the next level by facilitating access to high quality coaching, seasoned founder mentors & investors, and peer learning cohorts. 
startups from previous cohorts

Learn how to Ideate, Validate, and Scale  your Startup with GSF Founder’s Academy.

Phase 1

Learn From Accomplished Founders

From Seed to Scale, here’s everything our Mentors cover

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

Founder’s Panel

MEET OUR

FOUNDER MENTORS

Rajesh Sawhney

Rajesh Sawhney

Founder

GSF Accelerator

Khadim Batti

Khadim Batti

Co-Founder

Whatfix

Murugavel Janakiraman

Murugavel Janakiraman

Founder & CEO

Matrimony.com

Nittish Mittersain

Nittish Mittersain

CEO And Jt MD

Nazara Technologies

Hitesh Chawla

Hitesh Chawla

CEO

Silver Push

Navdeep Manaktala

Navdeep Manaktala

Co-Founder

Snow Bit

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma

COO and Board Member

AnyMind Group

Sumit Jain

Sumit Jain

CTO

Zalora Group

Phase 2

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

investor’s Panel

MEET OUR

INVESTOR MENTORS

Pratik Poddar

Pratik Poddar

Partner

Nexus Venture

Dinesh Agarwal

Dinesh Agarwal

Founder and CEO

IndiaMART

Dinesh Gulati

Dinesh Gulati

Chief Operating Officer

IndiaMART

Rajan Anandan

Rajan Anandan

Managing Director

Peak XV Partners

Kshitij Golwalkar

Kshitij Golwalkar

General Partner

Powerhouse Ventures

Alok Goyal

Alok Goyal

Partner

Stellaris Venture Partners

Amarjit Singh Batra

Amarjit Singh Batra

General Manager - South Asia and MEA

Spotify

Apurva Chamaria

Apurva Chamaria

Head of Startups and Venture Capital

Google India

Phase 3

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

01

Get access to one on one guidance sessions with our leadership team

02

A dedicated coordinator to guide you throughout your journey.

03

Particpate in Mock Pitch Sessions to prepare for Demo Day.

04

Support for participating in offline and online demo day.

Our TEAM

MEET OUR

GSF TEAM

Rajesh Sawhney

Rajesh Sawhney

Founder & General Partner

Nirmal Shah

Nirmal Shah

Venture Partner

Abhijeet Singh Aulakh

Abhijeet Singh Aulakh

Analyst

Jasmeet Kaur Bhatia

Jasmeet Kaur Bhatia

Analyst

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

Nikhil Goyal

Co-Founder

SalaryBox

"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

Ritesh Singh

Founder & CEO

Arivihan

“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

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 ​P​MF. 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

Khadim Batti

Co Founder & CEO

Whattfix

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

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.