The people
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Working at Entrepreneur First
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On the TechTO stage
Building entrepreneurs
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About
Entrepreneur First inverts the usual order of company formation. Rather than backing a team with an idea, it selects individuals — usually technical, usually pre-idea — pays them a stipend for several months, and runs them through co-founder matching before investing pre-seed in the pairs that hold. Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, both ex-McKinsey, founded it in London in 2011; Bentinck took over as CEO in 2023 and Clifford moved to non-executive chair. The programme has run in London, Berlin, Paris, Singapore, Bangalore and Toronto. Rachel Zimmer launched the North American operation and spoke about it twice on TechTO stages, in August 2020 on how EF builds entrepreneurs and in April 2021 on technical recruiting for non-technical founders. Clifford himself came to TechTO's Founders & Funding session in May 2021, in conversation with Benedict Evans, with EF's Toronto cohort about to graduate.
Backers
Venture-backed; EF's own investors are not confirmed on this page.
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Quick answers
What does Entrepreneur First do?
It invests in people before there is a company. Selected individuals get a stipend, spend a few months finding a co-founder inside the cohort, and the pairs that survive receive pre-seed investment.
Who founded it?
Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, in London in 2011. Bentinck became CEO in 2023; Clifford is non-executive chair and also chairs the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency.
What is its connection to Toronto?
EF opened its North American operation in Toronto, launched by Rachel Zimmer, who now runs the venture studio Simple Ventures. Toronto cohorts ran from 2019 and EF spoke on TechTO stages three times between 2020 and 2021.