Entrepreneur First vs Foundinity: which route to a cofounder fits your life?

Side by side

The rest of this page goes through each row, then covers what participants have written about the program, how to combine the two, and which one fits your situation.

What Entrepreneurs First is

Entrepreneurs First, usually called EF (and often searched as "Entrepreneur First"), is a program that takes individuals before they have a cofounder or an idea, puts them in a cohort, and invests in the teams that form. Its FAQ says you need neither a cofounder nor an idea to apply, and that it assesses every applicant as an individual.

The program is full-time and in person. EF's FAQ says it expects you to "commit full-time to the program, and move to one of our hub cities to take part in person." In London and Bangalore, the first phase, called FORM, runs in the local office. Teams that EF's Investment Committee funds then move to San Francisco for the second phase, called LAUNCH. EF's homepage says the program is for people with "the ambition to build a company in the U.S."

What Foundinity is

Foundinity is a cofounder matching platform that starts with fit. You state what you need in a cofounder, take an assessment about how you work, and see people ranked by compatibility. Every match comes with a breakdown of where you align and where you differ, and a 10-day clock so the conversation actually happens. There's no application, no cohort date and no move. You can start tonight, from the job and the city you're in.

How each one works, step by step

On Foundinity

1. Sign up and say what you need in a cofounder. 2. Take the assessment. It covers commitment, working style, ambition, personality, goals and values, alongside your skills and interests. 3. Set your status to exploring if you're still employed. 4. Open the app to people ranked by compatibility, and like the people you want to meet. A mutual like is a match. 5. Read the compatibility breakdown and book the intro call in the app before the 10-day clock runs out.

On Entrepreneurs First

1. Pick one program in one city. EF asks you to apply to only one at a time: London or its Bridge Residency in San Francisco if you're in Europe, its funding and fellowships if you're in the US, Bangalore if you're in India. 2. Apply as an individual. EF reviews applications on a rolling basis and, if it thinks you might fit, invites you to meet its Talent Investing team. The US listing says it can't give individual feedback. 3. If you're accepted, arrange a visa if you need one, and move. EF doesn't provide visas, but its FAQ says it can often help with the application. 4. Join the cohort at a residential Kick Off Summit weekend, then work full-time in the office: meet other members, pair up, test ideas. 5. Pitch as a team to EF's Investment Committee. In London and Bangalore, funded teams then move to San Francisco for the final phase.

Getting in

EF is selective, and it says what it selects for. Its FAQ describes the people it wants as "outliers": people early in their careers who "can demonstrate that they've achieved exceptional outcomes relative to their peers." Its homepage adds that they have built products, organisations or startups before. On background, the FAQ says most people who join have a technical background, and that EF takes "a small number" of non-technical people who show solid technical understanding. People with seven or more years of experience are pointed to a separate program, XF2, in London.

Dylan Castillo, who joined EF's Berlin cohort in 2022, wrote that his process was an application form followed by interviews, and that other participants did between one and three.

Foundinity has no application. You sign up, say what you need in a cofounder and take the assessment. It doesn't ask you to prove you're an outlier first, and the people you meet are there for the same reason you are.

Full-time, and in a hub city

This is the biggest difference. EF's London and Bangalore FAQs both answer "Do I need to relocate?" with "Yes". The first 12 weeks run in the local office, and funded teams relocate to San Francisco for the final phase. EF's application hub lists start dates per program: London from April 2027, and Bangalore from February 2027, with applications by 1 December 2026 for that program's third selection round (checked 8 November 2026).

For most people that means leaving a job before they've met anyone they want to build with. Castillo wrote that in his cohort, most participants had recently quit their jobs or finished their studies before joining.

Foundinity fits around the life you have now. You can keep your job and set your status to exploring. Your profile is visible only to members who are compatible with you, so it isn't on the open internet for your employer to find. If the person you match with lives in another city, our guide to finding a remote cofounder covers how to make that work.

How you meet people

At EF, you meet the people in your cohort. Alexander Smirnov, who joined the London cohort in 2024, counted about 60. Castillo described ideation sessions as "a sort of speed-dating event for entrepreneurs": you talk through ideas, team up if there's a fit, and go back to the pool if it doesn't work. He tried three teams.

The process puts pressure on pairs. Dan MacDonald, who took part in EF's Toronto cohort in 2022, wrote that the program required one commercial and one technical cofounder per team, and that the pressure to find the right person and idea quickly often ended in a breakup and a fresh start. Smirnov described teams being scored from 1 to 4 in the second month on how likely they were to get through the Investment Committee.

On Foundinity, you state what you need in a cofounder, and answer an assessment about how you work: commitment, working style, ambition, personality, goals, values, alongside your skills and interests. A multi-trait algorithm built on established psychological compatibility models ranks the people you see. You aren't limited to one room of people who happened to start in the same month.

What you know before you commit

EF's answer is to work together. You pair with someone, test an idea for days or weeks, and find out how they handle it. That's a good test, and EF builds the program around it. The cost is that you test one person at a time, full-time, on a deadline.

Foundinity gives you a head start before the first call. Every match shows a compatibility breakdown: where the two of you align and where you differ. If you differ on commitment or ambition, you'll know before you meet and can ask about it first. Skills tell you who can do the job. The rest tells you who you can actually build with for years. Once a match looks right, a short trial project together is still the best next step, and you can do it in the evenings.

What happens if you don't find a cofounder

At EF, the search has a deadline. Castillo wrote that in his cohort, anyone not on a team after the first eight weeks had to leave the program. He counted 49 teams formed during the program and 13 that presented to the Investment Committee, and roughly half of participants weren't in a team when that phase ended. Smirnov wrote that you can bring in a cofounder from outside the cohort, who then goes through the same interviews; in his case, EF decided not to continue with them.

On Foundinity, the 10-day clock applies to each match, not to your search. If a match doesn't work out, you keep going with the next compatible person, and nobody asks you to leave.

What the program is built to produce

EF invests in the teams that form, so the program is shaped around companies it would back. MacDonald put it plainly: he knew EF "was not optimizing for my individual success as an entrepreneur", and said the push to find an idea that fit EF's criteria led him away from his own edge. EF's own homepage says it's for people who want to build a company in the US.

That suits some founders well. If you want to raise venture money for a US tech company and you're early in your career, it's built for you. If you want something else, such as a business you fund yourself or a company in your home market, you'll be working against the program's shape.

On Foundinity, you and your match decide what to build. Ambition and goals are part of the assessment, so if one of you wants to raise and the other wants to stay small, the breakdown shows the difference before your first call.

What participants say

Write-ups from people who went through EF are mixed, and most praise the people while questioning parts of the process:

• Dylan Castillo, Berlin, 2022. He liked the people, and the push to talk to customers. He disliked the meeting overhead, a sense that the program was "kind of a game", and being graded after check-ins. His team wasn't funded, and he said he would still do it again.
• Dan MacDonald, Toronto, 2022. He called EF possibly the best place to find a cofounder "if you want to start a venture-backed deep tech startup." He found advice on specifics inconsistent: one partner encouraged him to drop an idea and his cofounder, and another later said she'd thought he was onto something.
• Alexander Smirnov, London, 2024. He valued being surrounded by people his age doing the same thing. He found little hands-on founder experience among the staff, described the team-building phase as a "love island", and said EF went quiet before declining to continue with him and the cofounder he brought in.

These are personal accounts from single cohorts, and EF has changed its cities since: Berlin and Toronto aren't on its application hub today.

Using both: match first, then apply as a team

You don't have to choose once and for all. EF's FAQ says that if you already have a cofounder, you should mention it on your application and ask them to apply too. So one route is to find your cofounder on Foundinity while you're still employed, work on something small together, and apply to a program as a pair when you're both ready to go full-time.

That way you arrive with a person you've already tested, and you skip the part of the program Castillo and MacDonald found hardest: pairing up and splitting under time pressure. Our questions to ask a potential cofounder are a good start for those first calls.

Cost

Foundinity is free to get started, with 5 likes a week, up to 3 active matches and up to 3 profile saves. Plus costs $5 a week or $15 a month (₹300 or ₹1,000 in India) and adds 15 likes a week, unlimited active matches, a list of everyone who liked you and up to 5 profile saves.

EF's real cost to you is time and place: full-time for the program, a move to a hub city, and for most participants a job left behind.

Which one fits your situation

You're employed and can't quit yet. Foundinity. Set your status to exploring, meet compatible people in the evenings, and decide about quitting once you've found someone.

You can't move to London, Bangalore or San Francisco. Foundinity works from anywhere. EF's FAQ is clear that taking part means moving to a hub city.

You're non-technical. EF says most of its participants are technical and it takes a small number of non-technical people. Foundinity is open to anyone looking for a cofounder, and the developers you see are ranked by compatibility. Our guide on how to find a technical cofounder covers the rest of the search.

You've been in your career for years. EF's main programs look for people early in their careers, and it points people with seven or more years of experience to a separate program. Foundinity doesn't sort people by career stage.

You're early in your career, technical, free to move, and want to build a venture-backed company in the US. That is who EF is built for. Consider finding your cofounder first and applying as a team.

You keep losing conversations after one or two calls. The 10-day clock on every Foundinity match pushes it to a call or a clear no, and the breakdown gives that call an agenda.

Which should you use?

If you want a cofounder without first quitting, moving and being selected, use Foundinity. You start with people ranked by compatibility, know where you align and differ before the first call, and keep your job while you look.

If you're set on EF, Foundinity is still a sensible first step: find someone you work well with, test it on a small project, and apply together.

For a similar program, see Antler vs Foundinity. For Y Combinator's free platform, see YC cofounder matching vs Foundinity.