But First, Entrepreneurs is a blog about going through Entrepreneur First’s (aka EF’s) 3rd Toronto cohort.

EF is a super innovative VC / talent management concept started by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, two ex-McKinsey London people who looked at everyone around them and wondered why the heck the world’s most intelligent, hardworking, ambitious people were spending their time redlining slide decks instead of, I dunno, doing actual things.

Think of it as Love Island meets Shark Tank.

Imagine approximately 50 smart, ambitious, somewhat narcissistic, oddly good-looking people thrown into a pressure cooker where they are expected to find someone to start a billion dollar company with in 8 weeks. Knowing the somewhat delusional and grandiose personality types that tend to believe such a thing is possible in the first place, you’re not only trying to find a co-founder; you’re looking for someone who will define your financial future, self-esteem, most of your waking day, and sense of identity and purpose in life for the next 5 to 10 years, if not forever.

So it’s a Big. Effing. Deal.

People keep telling me, “Casey, there’s no need to take this so seriously - you’re not here to look for a boyfriend”.

My response?

“Damn right I’m not - I’m here to find something way more important. You can walk away from a bad Tinder date. Bad cap table? Tech debt? Zero product market fit and running out of runway? You’re F**KED. You are stuck with that sh*t.”

If you want to follow along on this beautiful disaster, smash that subscribe button below. You can find more personal writing at casey.li, or @sometimescasey on Twitter.

Subscribe now

But First, Entrepreneurs

But first, entrepreneurs