The Process: Assessing the Founder/Company Fit (Ep. 5)

Michael Gervais (0:10)

All right, welcome to The Process. Alex, how are you?

Alex (0:13)

I'm good, what's up man, how are you?

Michael Gervais (0:16)

Yeah, great to hear your voice.

Alex (0:18)

Likewise, what's been going on for you this summer?

Michael Gervais (0:20)

Oh, there's been a lot. I've been ripping and running as usual.

We're just gearing up right now for the NFL season to start. We're just absolutely head down on the business that Coach and I are building. It's going great. And the gems and pearls of wisdom that you've shared through this mini series, The Process, has been fantastic for us. So, in advance, I want to say thank you for the time you spent on pulling back the curtain and talking shop about entrepreneurship and what it takes to build a company. So, thank you.

Alex (0:54)

Of course, man, we've had a blast. We're entering a really fun, busy time of the year for us. So, I'm excited to tell you about what's ahead because we're going to be able to start applying a lot of the principles we've discussed in real time.

Michael Gervais (1:06)

Good, bring me up to speed. What's good?

Alex (1:09)

Man, I got married in June, so that was a huge life milestone.

And then, since then, it's been a very active summer. We've made a few investments and we're deep in the process of evaluating a few others. And then, if you recall from the first podcast, we run something annually called The Kairos 50, which is our annual showcase of 50 of the most promising up-and-coming pre-seed companies solving interesting problems. And the selection and the big showcase is actually right around the corner. We're at the end of the selection process. The big showcase is November 28th. So it's essentially our version of the scouting combine.

So I'm sure you could relate to that. It's a ton of awesome ideas and people and opportunities. And now we're starting to figure out where we can really double down with our time and money.

Michael Gervais (2:06)

Oh yeah, I definitely, I mean, it's a game changing idea. That concept to me was brand new. I'd never heard about it before. I don't know if it's common practice in your industry, but I love it.

And yeah, that thought has never left for sure.

Alex (2:19)

Yeah, look, I think what's different about the way we do it is there's a lot of programs and accelerators and incubators and they'll charge people to participate, extra equity. For us, it's really just about showcasing the best of the best, so it's free. And we also offer people money just for participating, a 50K investment.

And then, obviously, the goal is to figure out if we can do something much bigger together. So it's a platform for us to just showcase and support the greatest founders who are aligned with our mission of what we call problems worth solving. But also, it's a way for us to find the people we could really build a company together with.

Michael Gervais (3:00)

Very cool. Very cool. So bring me into what phase you're in now. So it's like the final rounds of who's going to be selected into the K50. Is that where you are now?

Alex (3:10)

Exactly. So we select on a rolling basis. We selected about 25 of the 50

So there's still 25 spots left. And in parallel, you also have schools starting up. So all of our university hubs are getting extremely active. So there's just a ton of energy and new ideas and new referrals entering the funnel. So it's a really fun time, but it's also our single busiest time of the year because we're still running the fund, but we're also kicking off all of the programs that we have for younger entrepreneurs.

Michael Gervais (3:41)

So if listeners right now have an idea, they have a product in place, and they're looking to get to that next round of accelerating their business growth, what could they do? What could they do to get on your radar, potentially be one of the 25 left out of the K50?

Yeah.

Alex (3:59)

I mean, we could honestly put referrals directly in the tribe community group. The criteria for the Kairos 50, you have to have a product or prototype. You have to have some proof of outside capital raised, whether it's a grant, an award you won, friends and family, but some sort of proof that others have started to put their money where their mouth is.

It needs to be addressing what we consider a problem worth solving, which by our definition means something that makes life easier, more accessible, and more affordable for the everyday consumer.