Crypto Startup School: relaunched and expanded

We’re thrilled to announce that we are relaunching Crypto Startup School and expanding it into a full accelerator program.

We launched Crypto Startup School in February 2020 with the goal of helping builders get started on new web3 projects. Over seven weeks, we coached teams on the fundamentals of building a web3 startup from the ground up, including the underlying infrastructure, applications & business strategy, operational best practices, and more. 

The 40 founders in that cohort went on to build some of the industry’s leading companies, including Phantom, Flashbots, Goldfinch, Notional Finance, Teller, Afriex, and FanCraze. They have raised over $300M in venture funding and built products that users love. The lecture series from the program has been viewed over 1M times by people interested in building web3 projects.

The industry has grown rapidly since then, even by technology standards, and yet the tools necessary to build an enduring web3 product are still poorly defined and distributed. This is particularly true for new founders entering the space from other fields who are compelled by the promise of web3 – a more open internet – but aren’t sure how to navigate the terrain. We’ve seen accelerator programs provide this type of launchpad successfully in other tech categories for many years. However, none are tailored to the specific needs of web3 founders, who require a novel set of tools and resources as they scale. 

That’s what we’ll provide with Crypto Startup School.

With the newly relaunched cohort, in addition to the educational and mentorship components, participants will now receive $500k in seed funding to build their company. The program will begin on March 6, 2023 and last for 12 weeks, with teams participating in-person in Los Angeles, CA.   

Applications are now open until November 30, 2022.  You can apply here.    

In addition to funding, participants will once again receive hands-on mentorship from successful founders as they navigate the early startup maze. Participants will also work with domain experts on the topics that matter most, including protocol design, go-to-market, legal & regulatory, and more. And finally, participants will have the opportunity to build their product alongside a select group of fellow founders, as well as the broader a16z network, providing a built-in community to help their product take off. 

The program will culminate with a Demo Day for teams to present and gain greater visibility among the broader web3 community. As with the previous cohort, all of the content will be publicly available for anyone to watch following the program. 

Stay tuned for more information, including the full list of participating Advisors & Founders.

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