Hi everyone,
I hope you are doing great and having a lovely summer. I am writing this post to request feedback for my exceptional promise application. Could you please let me know your opinions on the same? It would be super helpful to get your feedback before submitting! I am applying as a CEO of my startup (and as a business applicant, but I also actively make technical contributions since we are building in a research intensive domain).
Education: B.E. Computer Science, M. Sc. Analytics, currently enrolled in PhD so applying as M.Sc graduate
Recommendation Letters
- Professor of Computer Science, UT Austin; founded 3 companies, 2 acquired, and raised >$40M
- Partner at Top-Tier UK-based AI fund + Artificial Intelligence Advisor to the Government Office for Science
- Managing Partner, Venture Fund ($300M AuM); Consultant to the United Nations - Managing Partner of first venture fund invested in my startup
Mandatory Criteria
- Letter with Press Clippings of my contributions to the startup as Founder and CEO: I wrote a letter showcasing my startup’s contributions to the industry, the media attention we have garnered (Snippets from Yahoo Finance, links to Benzinga and Binance), the financial milestones we hit, and details of the metrics that we hit through my efforts (Fundraising, User growth, Sales Traction, Operations, and my Technical Contributions.
- Letter with proof showcasing my contributions to the startup as Founder and CEO: As CEO, I led the fundraising process. We raised $1.175M in venture funding from top-tier investors. The combined valuation for our pre-seed round was >$8M. The last cheques valued us at $15M. This letter showcases screenshots of SAFEs (first page for valuation cap and last page for signatures). I also attached a one-pager showcasing the balances in our bank account.
- Certificate of Incorporation: A copy of the incorporation certificate with excerpts from the pages that showcase the amount of shares I hold.
- Evidence of Fundraising: The first page and the signing page with proof of signatures on a SAFE that values us at $10M valuation from a very well known and respected person’s fund.
Optional Criteria 2
- Talk at ETHCC: I provide evidence including YT link to talk, photographs, and explain why the topic that I presented was crucial and important to the industry as a whole. Additionally, I showcased that there were >200 attendees during the talk.
- Mentoring at Top University: I provide evidence that I initiated a partnership with a top-tier UK-based university for Computer Science. I act as a mentor to two students from the Masters in Computer Science programme. The structured programme contract contains evidence that it is not commercial in nature, there is no compensation involved, and I enclose a letter from an Associate Professor who is co-supervising students with me. This document is the signed structured contract + LOR from Professor + their CV merged into one.
- Guest Speaker at UCL: I provide evidence through a Letter of Reference from a Professor who invited me to speak about Decentralised Finance. In the same document, I also include a letter with link showcasing evidence of my talk and screenshots from students of the attention it garnered.
Optional Criteria 3
- Employment Contract: I include my employment agreement with my startup showcasing my responsibilities, the equity I hold, and my compensation.
- Letter from my Employer: I include a letter from my co-founder (also recipient of GTV with screenshot showcasing her receipt of endorsement from Tech Nation) showcasing my personal contributions to our startup (User Growth through waitlist screenshot and Similarweb, Strategic Partnerships I initiated, Fundraising, Talent I am nurturing, Testimonials about the startup, how I wrote the technical whitepaper, how I designed the sales pipeline with screenshot of pilot programme signed, operational achievements, technical design and implementations I did, and people I hired). This is all somehow contained in 3 pages.
- Entrepreneurial Contributions to Startup: I include a letter I write to showcase how I led our efforts to go through two top accelerators, further evidence of strategic partnerships, and further considerations for picking investors. This document also contains a one-page letter from one of the accelerator programmes stating my performance and how our startup was one of the 25 businesses selected from a pool of over 700.
I plan to submit my application before the end of the month. Please let me know your feedback as soon as possible - thank you so much in advance!
Cc’ing @Francisca_Chiedu @afolabi @alexnk @ask4jubad @007 and everyone who takes the time to help others in this forum (thank you all so much for your great work in this forum!).
Best Regards,
Leo
