THE FUNDING
BREAKTHROUGH LAB
Startup Funding Pre-Accelerator

COHORT BETA

Program Dates

Starts August 23, 2025
Ends October 26, 2025
Weekends on
Saturday and Sundays 9am-1pm

Early Applications July 31, 2025
$1297
$797
if you apply by July 31

Program Value

70+ hrs mentorship = $1297
2 In-Person Retreats with Founders, Investors, Mentors = $500
1-on-1 Founder Mindset Coaching = $1000
Find Your Board Members: The Fourth Effect = $147
Mentorship = $1000
Mastermind = $300
Access to Next Year's Cohort = $500
1-Year Access to Video Content
(All Cohorts) = $500
No-equity Taken = $5,000 (priceless)

Equivalent Value $12,244

Join our next events & info sessions

Jumpstart Your Fundraising,
Build a Network of Investors,
Be Mentored by Successful Founders

Can't make our next cohort?
Be informed when the next one opens

Program Details

Designed for transformation of your mindset,
inspiring breakthrough business ideas, and setting you on a successful path to launch your business.

The Funding Breakthrough Lab fall cohort will start and end with a camping retreat at robotics founder's lab, Rancho San Gregorio, on Saturday, August 23 and end Saturday, Oct 26.


Funding Strategy

Opening Retreat
Bond with fellow cohort members & speakers at Rancho San Gregorio. Create a time capsule, set your intentions for this cohort and where you want to be by the end. Overnight camping optional.

How To Fund Your startup and achieve Product Market Fit before Taking VC (2hrs, Daniel Theobald)

Breen Sullivan will give you access to learning about advisory boards from The Fourth Effect, so you can secure fundraising going forward

Product Market Fit Before Taking VC
Find Your Team (Anthony Rose)

Angel & Angel Syndicates Investors (Jason Nyeh)

Capital School - Founder Fundraising and Capital Strategy (Alison Paz)

Getting a Business Loan (Alexa Baranov)

Start to perfect your storytelling with Renee Lynn Frojo

Preparing Your Exit Strategy: Top Down Funding Strategies (Rayna Sparkes & Marc Ernaga)

SPVs, Crowdfunding and P2P (Charletta Jean-Louis)

Pitch Practice
(Shawn Flynn)

Term Sheets & Data Rooms
Investor Relations

Corporate Structures and Tax Considerations (45min, Crysta Tyus)

R&D & Startup Tax Credits and Savings (45min, Anh Quynh Nguyen & Paige Burbank)

Group Mentoring with 2x founder Neelam Chakrabarty

Deciphering Term Sheets (Carol Nguyen)
Panel: Term Sheets, Valuations and Cap Tables (Tyler Crown Karl Eshwer)

Market Research Mastery: Tools and Techniques (Nuné Zadoyan)

The Legal Side of Branding: Protecting Your Creative Assets (Whitney Miner)

Group Mentoring with Sajjad Musad, Co-Founder & Co-President of Harvard Business School Alumni Angels Global

Being sold or being acquired? A M&A sto
ry (Klaus-M. Schremser)

How to Talk To Investors at Different Funding Stages (Annija Eizenarma)

Investor Hunt: How to Find the Right One (Kate Bunina)

Deal Flow Dashboard:Tracking Your VCs (Vera Maslova)


Deal Champion 101: Speaking Their Language (Sarah Romanko)

Group Mentoring with Keith Lam

13 Ways to Scam Founders Raising Funds (Stephane Nasser)
Panel: Closing the Deal & Getting Your Money

Demo Day Pitch Competition

O
ct 25-26, 2025

Closing Retreat

Come full circle and celebrate your achievements. Open your time capsules and reflect on the growth and transformation you’ve experienced.

Who Should Join?

  • ​​​If you’re a B2B AI based startup consider joining Cohort Beta. Our VC speakers & judges will be actively investing in that vertical

  • You’re ideating, bootstrapping, or a pre-seed, seed based startup and you want to understand the funding landscape

  • You've been mulling on an idea and want to understand what it takes to raise funds

  • You want to grow your network, our experts have worked for TechCrunch, Berkeley SkyDeck, Stanford, MassRobotics & Harvard

  • ​You’re considering to fundraise in the next 6 months

  • You want polish your pitch & get lots of practice

man walking in street while wearing red backpack
man walking in street while wearing red backpack
man standing near to tree
man standing near to tree

THIS FUNDRAISING PRE-ACCELERATOR IS ABOUT:

  • Know your funding options

  • Build a supportive network of investors, founders and tech communities in the bay area

  • Build meaningful relationships through coaching, mentorship, socials and retreats

  • Be inspired by your peers, top founders and mentors in the industry

  • Get one-on-one coaching from mentors and accredited coach

  • Experience breakthrough moments

  • Clarify your story and vision and prepare an investor ready deck, validated by investors, mentors, peers and coach

IT'S ABOUT THE STORIES AND THE NETWORK.

A 10-week program designed for early-stage founders to master fundraising. Learn from diverse industry experts, receive group mentoring, and join a mastermind group.

You won't find another program that connects you the stories and experiences of this many Silicon Valley experts while teaching you about fundraising. We also take no equity.

man in white crew neck t-shirt wearing blue cap and black sunglasses
man in white crew neck t-shirt wearing blue cap and black sunglasses
Take Aways
  • Practical actionable advice from speakers who have real world experience (VC's, founders, lawyers, tax strategist, business bankers)

  • Live Q&As to help answer questions specific to your startup

  • Mentors with various expertise to guide you in shaping your product and pitch

  • Group accountability to push you further

  • Weekly pitching feedback to help you refine and perfect

  • Understand sources of funding so you can optimize your strategy (Grants, Angels, VC's, Crowdfunding, Syndicates, R&D Credits)

  • Gain access to a network

  • Understand the in's and our of early stage fundraising

  • We take no-equity

  • The Fourth Effect: 3 month access (Value $147)

  • Synexis platform: Investor Connector

  • Find business partners (our previous members have found co-founders and business partners)

FEEL CONFIDENT WHILE RAISING STARTUP FUNDS

FUNDRAISING DOESN'T HAVE TO BE OVERWHELMING

You develop new skills by learning through experience, exposure and education. Designed to help you practice, build your network, and conceptualize key concepts. Learning to fundraise has been made dynamic, interactive and fun.

When you join our cohort, you will save time. Instead of piecing information to learn about fundraising, find it all in one place. Learn live each week from industry experts. Ask questions and get insider insights. Rewatch the recording to catch anything you missed.

Join a community, be part of a mastermind, and practice your pitch weekly for feedback.

Testimonials

Hear from our previous cohort

Speakers

Bringing you the top Advisors, Founders, Investors, VCs, Lawyers, Tax Strategists & CPAs

Mentors

Bringing you people who love to support founders

Panelists

Hear from experience. Their stories help you understand the reality of the concepts.

Judges

Monthly Pitch Competitions to perfect your story!

Join Our Community

Get the latest on our program and learn about mindfulness

JOIN COHORT BETA COMMUNITY

August 23rd to October 26th
Weekends
ONLINE (Zoom)

Be Informed Of Our Next Cohort

Spring 2026
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