We’re now accepting applications for
“I ONLY HAVE AN IDEA. CAN I APPLY TO ITERATIVE?”
Founders often think they need to have considerable traction to be considered “ready” to apply to Iterative. This is a misconception. At Iterative, we’ve invested in companies that were just 2 week old concepts, without any traction.
If you're building something that solves an important problem and you're unsure about your readiness, you should apply. Here’s why:
We Can Tell You If You’re Ready: Determining your readiness can be tough. Instead of wasting time in doubt, let us help. We provide detailed feedback to everyone who interviews. We’ll give you a clear picture of whether you’re ready, and if not, we’ll guide you on the steps to take to get there.
Make Us Part of Your Progress: We appreciate founders who learn from mistakes, iterate quickly, and show continuous improvement. By involving us in your journey, you demonstrate your ability to grow and adapt, significantly boosting your chances of acceptance. Historically, reapplying startups have a 2x higher acceptance rate.
“WHAT TYPE OF STARTUPS DOES ITERATIVE INVEST IN?”
We invest in all startups at all stages, from those that began just weeks before our investment with a simple idea to those generating millions in revenue. Our program is tailored to address your startup's most significant challenges.
When evaluating startups, we look for 3 things :
Market - Does the problem your startup is solving, affect many people acutely?
Evidence - Proof that what you’re working on an important problem.
Founder - Are the founder(s) able to solve that problem?
"WHAT REALLY HAPPENS AT ITERATIVE?"
Only founders can come to interviews or attend batch events.
We invest between US $150,000 and US $500,000 for roughly 10%. When we invest, we invest the full amount immediately. We don’t wait for the program to start, there are no milestones to meet, no clawbacks, and absolutely no program fees.
Each batch kicks off with a 4-day in-person orientation, bringing our founders together. This orientation is crucial for founders to connect, meet their lead partners, and engage with the Iterative team. The rest of the program is remote, allowing founders to get better advice and fundraising help from experts from anywhere including our network in San Francisco. All of that and you get to stay focused on your home market.
During the 3 month cycle we invite speakers every week to talk about their startup and what they learned. Previous speakers include Emmett Nicholas (Co-Founder of Airtable), Ryan Hoover (Founder of Product Hunt), Moses Lo (Co-Founder of Xendit) and many more.
At Iterative, office hours are weekly, hour-long 1:1 sessions between you, the founder, and your Lead Partner. All our Lead Partners have previously built and scaled successful startups. You can think of office hours as one-week sprints for your company's growth.
Every week or two, you’ll have group office hours, where you’ll talk with 5-8 companies and your Iterative partners for an hour. These group office hours are a chance to get to know companies in your batch that are going through similar things and to help each other.
The last four weeks of the program are focused on helping companies prepare for Demo Day, where they pitch their startup to hundreds of investors. We help with pitch practices, friendly investor pitches, and much more!
During and after the batch, we introduce startups individually to people who could help them. About 12 weeks in, we organize an event called Demo Day where startups present to a carefully selected, invite-only audience. Our last Demo Day was attended by over 400+ investors.
During and after the batch, all Iterative founders have access to our founder concierge, where they can request introductions. We connect them to investors, experts, and partners through the warmest connections in our network.
Every Iterative company gets access to discounts on essential tools and software needed to grow and run their business. We also have a dedicated job board to help you hire top talent, from first employees to leadership roles.
Iterative doesn’t really end after 3 months. We continue to give advice and make introductions as long as our startups need—and so does the community of 200+ Iterative founders. We think of our batch program as just orientation into the larger community.
"HOW DO I APPLY TO ITERATIVE SUCCESSFULLY?"
We created a guide to help you learn about our admission process, how to apply, and what we look for in startups. We also provide tips for crafting a compelling application, share valuable insights from Iterative founders, and outline what to expect after you apply.
Read the Guide
Founders supporting founders
Breaking down startups, growth, fundraising, and anything else that stresses you out as a founder in Southeast Asia.
