Introducing EF Berlin

We’re delighted to announce this week that we’re opening a Berlin office and will be kicking off our first programme in April. You can apply here.

As I’ve said before, Entrepreneur First’s mission is a global one: the world is missing out on some of its best founders. We want to EF to be accessible to every ambitious individual in the world — and we can’t think of anywhere better than Berlin to bring this closer to reality.

Berlin is a thriving startup ecosystem — with multiple unicorns and great investors. It’s a magnet for people who want to build things that change the world. Why? The magical combination of creative energy, a growing technical talent base and cheap rent. This makes it a natural place for the most curious and ambitious people to come together to create extraordinary things. Wherever there are people like that, EF wants to be.

I’m particularly excited that Zefi Hennessy Holland has agreed to lead our office in Berlin. He’s an EF veteran — a member of the very first EF cohort in London. He took the company he built to Y Combinator and Silicon Valley before returning to EF to join the team in 2016. He’s one of the sharpest startup advisors I know and is passionate about helping founders scale their ambitions.

This is big news for EF, not only because we’ll see great companies built in Berlin, but because for what it means for the future of EF. In Berlin we’re running a new model that we see as the prototype for how EF scales globally. Our Berlin programme will last up to four months and will be dedicated to supporting exceptional individuals to form a co-founding team and flesh out a viable, scaleable idea. We call this programme EF Form (you can read more here). We’ll pay a stipend of €2,000 per person during this period. At the end successful teams will be eligible for investment from our existing fund and to take part in our London demo day — which from now on will be our European demo day.

As Reid Hoffman said when he announced his investment in EF, you can imagine a world where there’s an EF Form in dozens of cities, which give participants access to our funds and scaling expertise around the world. With EF Berlin, we’re one step closer. If you want to be part of it, let us know.