We started Flatirons Fund in response to the important changes happening around us. With more people working from home than ever before, high unemployment rates, and entire markets disrupted, we witnessed the birth of a new generation of founders. At the same time, we were all called upon to examine our inherent biases. In 2019, only 11.5% of VC funding went to mixed-gender teams with that number dropping to 2.8% for female-only led companies. Currently, Latino founders receive less than 2% of VC funding and Black founders only 1%. Women of color get less than 1%. And over 55% of startups that receive VC funding are located in Silicon Valley or New York. While we launched during a time of unrest and uncertainty, Flatirons Fund is designed to encourage innovation for years to come. We are focused on advancing the large group of underserved founders who are often underestimated and passed over.

We invest in U.S. based founders from all backgrounds who are developing disruptive software-based technology. We are particularly interested in working with companies led by women and people of color who are located outside of the global centers of technology and venture capital like Silicon Valley and New York City. We work with early-stage founders on who can demonstrate that they are committed to their idea. This can be shown through personal funds invested or through time dedicated to the project. Beyond dedication, the team’s background will be very important to us. Knowledge of the industry, go-to-market plan, and experience with sales and/or marketing are traits that we pay attention to.

*Before we invest, you must incorporate as a United States C-Corporation. We encourage founders to do this before applying to us. We can help ease this process through our partnership with Gust Launch.

The exact resources your team will receive will depend on the scope of your project. A typical managed project squad for us might consist of 1-2 full-time developers, a designer, project manager, and QA.

While our team members specialize in many different areas of software, we are currently limiting our focus to web applications and hybrid mobile applications. We are a startup-focused company and love working on new innovations and technologies. We primarily use technologies like Ruby on Rails, Node.js, React.js, and React Native.

Absolutely. In fact, many of our founders have transitioned into clients at the end of the initial investment. To understand our rates, please send us an email at info@flatirons.com

We offer two types of investment in exchange for our services. The first is a full ~$125,000 convertible note or SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) in your company in exchange for providing our services for no payment. Convertible notes and SAFEs are an extremely common form of investment for early-stage companies. The exact amount will depend on the scope of the project, and the terms of the deal will depend on how far along you are and any previous funding rounds. If you are in the midst of raising a priced round of financing and have professional investors committed to your funding round, we will consider taking the investment on pre-existing terms.

The second investment type we offer is a Part Note, Part Paid engagement. The average convertible note or SAFE size for this investment option is around $50,000 (but again, will vary by project scope). This is a great option for founders who have received investment previously or are generating revenue and would like to obtain our services for a highly discounted rate, while adding less debt to their cap table.

Not being selected is no indication of your potential for long-term success or the validity of your idea. While we wish we could provide direct feedback to everyone who applies, the majority of the applications we don’t accept are generally due to one of the following reasons: (1) it is not an area we specialize in (i.e. medical devices), (2) we don’t feel the total addressable market is large enough, (3) it is not a product we think can be easily monetized, (4) we don’t see that the founder has enough “skin in the game” at this point to warrant an investment of this sort, (5) the fund resources needed to get your company from point A to point B are beyond what we can provide. If your startup isn’t selected but you are still interested in working with us, please send us an email at info@flatirons.com.

If you have a question that isn’t answered here, please send us an email at info@flatirons.com.