Meet great founders. Build great things.
Working on a startup already? Apply to ODX →
Join 2,500+ founders who are helping each other grow faster
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On Deck helped us hire our first employee, raise $900k in pre-seed, and accelerate our GTM motion within the network. Our Series B wouldn’t have happened without On Deck.
On Deck helped me recruit our team, find our first beta customers, and build a community of support to get through the challenges of the founder to CEO transition.
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The On Deck Community helped me make 5+ key early hires, and raise a $12 million seed round from great investors.
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Start or build a company
The process
Start or build a company and leverage the On Deck community to go from "curious" to "co-founder".
If you decide not to start a company, let us know and we'll help you figure out your next step.
Apply to the program
We review applications on a rolling basis. The next kickoff is in early Spring 2023.
Get onboard
In your first month at On Deck, you’ll meet your cohort over IRL and virtual events, and find your crew of supporters within the community.
Pursue your goals
Whether you’re validating an idea, seeking a co-founder, raising money, or just looking for people to build with — you’ll find bootcamps, workshops, and events to help you along the way.
Build with community
Build your company faster, surrounded by peers. Find answers, intros, advisors, angels, and beta-testers 10x more easily than on your own.
Give back
The Spirit of Service is at the core of what we do. Whether your startup fails or you IPO, On Deck Founders pay it forward by advising and investing in the community.
Draw up to $25,000 to cover living expenses
If you need to cover living expenses while you explore, you can draw up to $25,000 from our Access Initiative via ODF Advance. If you build conviction to start a company, the $25,000 converts to 1.4% equity, and we'll invest another $125,000 via ODX. If you don't, we only ask you to pay it forward to the next founder by contributing back to the Access Initiative.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Meet your community
Build relationships with other founders who share a strong spirit of service through IRL and virtual talks, co-working days and socials.
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FIND AN IDEA worth building
Find and validate ideas
Get inspired with Request for Startups sessions and industry-focused Slack channels. Navigate the idea maze with structure and accountability through Ideation Bootcamp.
Stress-test your idea and get feedback from the community at Memo Day, our idea-stage pitch day.
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Shared interests:
Metabolic Health
Sleep
Wearables
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Shared interests:
Creator Economy
Tools
Culture
Shared interests:
Sustainable Fashion
Community
Shared interests:
Remote work
Marketplaces
Freelancers
FIND the right partners
Find a co-founder or a team
Find the right partner through Co-founder Sprint. Meet founding team members and collaborators through the community, curated 1:1 introductions, and virtual and IRL social and networking events.
Read about how 50+ co-founders met and started venture-backed companies HERE.
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BUILD YOUR MVP and raise
Get ready to raise
Craft your narrative, build your deck, and assemble your investor CRM with Fundraising Bootcamp.
Kick off your fundraise in front on an audience of angels during First Look week.
Once you’re actively fundraising, join a mastermind group to share real-time learnings and tactics with a group of your peers.
I was like ‘wow’ this is the tribe I belong to. These are the kind of people I want to be surrounded with. This is where I belong. I was talking with a lot of like-minded people and fueling that burning desire. It inspired me to go and quit my high paying-job at Facebook.
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Potential customer interviews and customer development interviews – I did a lot of that with my On Deck cohort. I used the ODF community as a source of oxygen in the early days.
The whole experience was transformational, and a great opportunity to build genuine connection and support for anyone’s hero’s quest.
The benefit of starting early, going really hard, and meeting as many people as possible is that, as the cohort goes on, whenever other people are talking your name comes up more and more often, and you increase your chances of serendipity.
If you’re ready to build, we’re ready to back you
We believe in you and your ideas. When you join ODF, we commit to this handshake deal: if you start a company within the next year, you'll join ODX, and we'll invest on our standard terms of $125,000 for 7%.
Access our playbooks right now
We invested hundreds of hours to co-develop On Deck playbooks with industry experts.
Problem validation
Validate ideas & markets with Asher King Abramson
Build a founding team
Hire your early team with Keith Rabois
Apply to ODF
FAQ
Your On Deck membership lasts for 12 months. At the end of this time, you will have the option to renew your membership.
How much time you invest in ODF is largely up to you. For your first month, we recommend spending at least 4 hours per week attending onboarding sessions and getting to know your cohort. After that, ODF is flexible. Some weeks you may want to spend 20 hours taking calls with fellows or attending sessions. Other weeks you may choose not to do anything. Many ODF fellows are working around families and jobs, and we fully support and respect these commitments.
Yearly membership for ODF is $2,990.
You can participate in ODF fully virtually. However, we have thriving alumni communities in many major metros, and host regular IRL events in startup-centric metros like San Francisco, New York, and London.
Yes, with caveats. The community is comprised mainly of founders whose companies are selling to US/EU/LATAM-based customers. Our programming is also mostly geared towards US-based startups, and happens mostly on US-friendly hours. If you are not planning to sell to US/EU/LATAM customers, you may find less utility from On Deck Founders.
Absolutely. ODF is for all early-stage founders, anywhere from pre-idea through seed stage. (Note: if you’re a seed-stage company with meaningful traction, On Deck Scale may be a better fit for you)
Participation is held in strict confidence. Even if you’re happy to share, you are requested to respect the privacy of other members who aren’t ready to make their plans public.
Rolling admissions means that you can apply to ODF anytime. There is no cutoff date, and if accepted, you will join the upcoming cohort. New cohorts kick off roughly every 2 months.
On Deck lives by four core guiding values, crucial to the culture we strive to foster in the community: Service, Confidentiality, Gratitude, Family.