Are you interested in receiving an early-stage investment from Jumpstart Foundry? Awesome! We’re glad you’re here. At Jumpstart, we don’t just write checks—we’re strategic partners invested in working together long-term to help your innovative healthcare company be successful.
However, before you can be considered for an investment from Jumpstart, you have to apply.
Over the course of the year, we receive hundreds of applications from hopeful healthcare companies, yet we only invest in 15-20 companies each year. With competition being pretty fierce, you are going to want to be sure you are doing everything you can in order for your application to be noticed. That’s why we thought we’d pull together 7 things we like to see in your application to help you get noticed.
7 Tips To Make Your Jumpstart Application Stand Out
1) Have a passionate, full-time founder (or two).
We are firm believers that in order for your company to be successful, the founder(s) should be dedicated to the company 100%. If you are only working on it part time, it will never get the attention it needs to be a thriving healthcare company. In addition to having a full-time founder, we look for 1-3 other core team members with complimentary skill sets to round out the team’s abilities.
2) Be prepared with numbers.
We need data, data, data. Be ready to present product validation and early traction through proven statistics. We understand that your company is still young, but we also need to feel confident that our investments are headed in the right direction and in a position where we feel our resources will be valuable.
3) Be you!
When you apply to Jumpstart, we encourage you to express yourself, and above all, be authentic. As we mention multiple times, we don’t just invest capital but we also invest time. If you become a Jumpstart Company, that means you’ll spend a lot of time with us in person, over email and more, so we need to be sure we are confident in who we are investing in.
4) Understand your target market.
If you don’t understand your target market, it is going to be really challenging to find product/market fit (duh). Make us feel confident that you understand your market by clearly outlining your plan to approach it and why/how you think this audience would benefit from your product.
5) Take your time.
We can tell when applications are rushed through. This is your opportunity to really showcase how your company differentiates from the hundreds around you. Block out some time on your calendar, be thoughtful with your responses and really think through the application.
6) Don’t lie.
As easily as we can tell applications are rushed through, we can also detect false information. We do our own fair share of research on our applicants in addition to your application, so we will know if you have stretched the truth. We need to be able to trust the companies we invest in, so if we find out something doesn’t quite add up, you most likely won’t be making it to the next round.
7) Make sure we’re a good fit for your company.
An investment is a two way street. It isn’t just about you being a fit for us, but we need to also be a good fit for you. Do your research. Bringing on a new investor is an important step in company growth. We expect to form a long-term partnership with our founders. Given the time commitment, we don’t make investments flippantly and you shouldn’t take an investment without learning as much as possible about the investor.