The Startup Funding Program

We prepare founders. We certify the work. Then we bring them to investors.

A structured program that builds the materials investors actually read, marks every one of them against a standard published before you start, and puts your startup in front of investors who joined specifically to meet startups that have met it. No application. No cohort. No equity. Enroll and start.

  • No Application, No Cohort
  • Keep Your Company · Zero Equity
  • Investors Join Free
Enroll in the Program → Join as an Investor — Free →
For Entrepreneurs

Sandy is an AI. She runs the Startup Funding Program.

What the Program Is For

Investment readiness, built and then verified.

Most startups never raise, and usually not because the idea was weak — because the startup was never investment ready, and no investor had a way to verify otherwise. This program is the answer to both halves of that. It builds the materials an investor evaluates, marks each one against a published standard, cross-checks every figure across all of them, and then makes the result visible to investors as verified work rather than as a claim.

For Entrepreneurs

$250/month for one startup Business School Enrollment $50 per person · Milestone Progress Enrollment $100 per startup · Startup Funding Program Enrollment $100 per startup

A structured path to becoming an SVBS Graduated Startup, built around seven areas of focus — with the required courses, AI guidance, the investor-facing artifacts, and progress your investors can verify for themselves. Meet the standard, and your pitch reaches investors who came looking for it.

See the program's seven areas of focus →

For Investors

Free to join the network

Skip the cold-deck flood. Every founder who reaches you runs a startup that has met the published graduation standard — and with that founder's approval you can watch their live milestones and Momentum Score before you take a meeting, and keep watching long afterward.

See what investors receive →

The Program's Seven Areas of Focus

Where the program focuses

The Startup Funding Program concentrates on seven areas — the things a startup has to get right to earn investor confidence. The program builds each one, and the Milestone Progress system makes it visible. For the founder, these are the seven things to work on. For the investor, they are what a graduate has already worked through.

  • Management

    A team with the skills to deliver

    Investors fund teams. The required courses give the management team what running a funding round actually demands: business planning, finance and accounting, valuation, contracts, corporate structure, and the fundraising process itself — each taught as its own full course, not a survey chapter.

    For investors: every founder you meet holds the SVBS Certified Tech Entrepreneur certificate.

  • Mentoring

    Guidance that does not vary with who you draw

    Sherpa guides the startup across the whole journey — setting the right milestones, closing the gaps, building momentum. Prof tutors across the course catalog. Sandy critiques the artifacts and runs the Mock Investor Pitch. All three are AI. They are available at two in the morning, they remember every previous session, they carry no agenda of their own, and they apply exactly the same published standard to everyone.

  • Markets

    Markets investors want to back

    A strong product in a small or shrinking market does not get funded. Through the program's marketing and planning work, the founder targets markets that are large, growing, and genuinely appealing to investors — and builds the evidence, bottom-up, to prove it.

  • Milestones

    Progress you can point to

    The Milestone Progress system tracks the milestones the startup has achieved and the ones it is targeting next, from seed all the way through to exit or listing — and produces one progress report the founder and their stakeholders both read.

    For investors: a founder can grant you Stakeholder access, free, and you see the same report they do.

  • Momentum

    The number everyone watches

    SVBS has done extensive work on determining and measuring momentum. The result is a single Momentum Score with a full history behind it, so the founder and every stakeholder can track the most important leading indicator a startup has. Reaching the graduation threshold is a requirement, and it does not latch — it has to be held.

    For investors: read the score before you engage; keep reading it after.

  • Monitoring

    Everyone sees the same picture

    The founder monitors the startup through the Milestone Progress system — no gut feel, no spin, one shared view of where things actually stand. The Consistency Audit extends the same discipline to the paperwork: every figure checked against every other document, with nothing left to disagree.

    For investors: founder-granted Stakeholder access keeps you in that picture — through diligence and for as long as you hold the position.

  • Methodology

    A published system underneath it all

    None of this is improvised. The program runs on the Sherpa Methodology developed at SVBS and published in full, so founders and investors alike can read exactly how it works before spending a dollar.

Where This Fits

If you can get into a top accelerator, go.

We mean that. The best programs deliver things this one does not and does not pretend to: capital in the bank, a brand that opens doors on its own, a peer cohort of exceptional founders, and warm introductions to investors who take the call because of who is making it. SVBS does not invest, does not provide capital, and is not an accelerator. What it does is deliver structured funding preparation to any startup, anywhere, self-paced, on a monthly subscription and with no equity — which works alongside an accelerator as readily as without one.

A powerful supplement

Already in an incubator or accelerator? The program adds what most do not have: a full curriculum, always-available AI guidance, artifacts marked against published guides, mock investor pitches, and objective tracking that your existing mentors and investors can follow too.

The core of your program

Run an incubator or accelerator? Build your cohort on this program. The curriculum, the published standard, and the Milestone Progress system give every startup you back a shared framework — and give you one view across the whole portfolio. Talk to us.

A path of your own

Ready in March, and your target program opens in September? Not relocating? Not giving up a share of the company at the earliest and cheapest moment in its life? There is no application here and no quota. Enroll and start.

The Mechanics

How the program works, start to graduation

To enroll you need an active Business School Enrollment and an active Milestone Progress Enrollment for the startup you are entering. You do not need the certificate first — certification is a graduation requirement, not an entry requirement, so you can begin artifact work on day one with no course yet completed.

  1. 1

    Enroll and set your startup up

    Add your startup under the My Startups tab and log where you actually stand. Sherpa reads your milestones and your Momentum Score, then maps the gap between where the startup is and where an investor needs it to be. A founder running two startups runs the program twice, separately — the record belongs to the company, not the person.

  2. 2

    Build the artifacts investors read

    Work through the program's units and build the investor-facing artifacts, each with a template, a worked example, and its full marking guide published before you start. Sandy critiques what you submit and grades it against that guide, with the Gradeometer visible while you talk. Revise and resubmit as many times as you need — no deadlines, no attempt limits.

  3. 3

    Earn your certification

    Pass the required courses, with a passing score and a certificate of completion in each, and you become an SVBS Certified Tech Entrepreneur — permanent, held for life, and carried with you between companies. Prof tutors you throughout. Certification is what lets your startup graduate.

  4. 4

    Prove it all holds together

    The Consistency Audit cross-references every figure across every artifact and returns a discrepancy report; you clear it by correcting or defending each one. Then the Mock Investor Pitch: you pitch, and Sandy runs live Q&A the way a partner would — including the question you were hoping to avoid. Re-pitch as many times as you need.

  5. 5

    Graduate — and reach investors

    Meet the published standard and your startup becomes an SVBS Graduated Startup, with a graduation certificate. If you choose to publish it, your video pitch joins the Graduate Pitch Panel, where investors browse by sector, stage and round size — and the VR Conference Center puts you in the room with them.

Management — Built on Real Courses

Silicon Valley Business School Certified Tech Entrepreneur

This program is not built on a weekend webinar. It is built on the SVBS course catalog, and its certification is a defined path through it: a named set of required courses, each passed with a score and a certificate of completion, each written for the tech sector so nothing has to be translated. Where a general business program offers one survey course in business law, SVBS teaches business organizations, contracts, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, and securities regulation separately — because those are the subjects a founder collides with in diligence.

The certificate is user-level and permanent. It is held for life, it moves with you between companies, and it is not revoked if a subscription lapses. It is also the load-bearing claim of this whole program: every SVBS Graduated Startup is run by an SVBS Certified Tech Entrepreneur.

The Standard, In Public

What it takes to graduate

Everything below is published before you enroll, and it is the same standard every investor in the network reads. Nothing in the grading is a surprise, and there is no discretionary judgment behind a closed door.

A startup becomes an SVBS Graduated Startup when all of the following hold

  • The founder is an SVBS Certified Tech Entrepreneur — the required courses passed, with a certificate earned in each.
  • The program's course material is completed.
  • The required milestones are achieved in the Milestone Progress system.
  • The Momentum Score is at or above the graduation threshold of 45, and sustained — with the most recent momentum update no more than 60 days old.
  • Every artifact assignment is passed against its published marking guide.
  • The Consistency Audit is clear — zero unresolved discrepancies across all the material.
  • The Mock Investor Pitch is passed, with live question and answer.

Founders may revise and resubmit as many times as they need. There are no deadlines and no attempt limits — the standard is fixed, the number of attempts at it is not.

What's Included

Three enrollments, and what each one carries

A founder taking one startup through the Startup Funding Program holds all three. They are billed together and they are always quoted together — the total for one startup is $250/month, with no equity attached to any of it.

Business School Enrollment — $50/month

Per person. One enrollment covers you no matter how many startups you run.

Milestone Progress Enrollment — $100/month

Per startup. A founder running two startups carries two.

  • Sherpa, your AI startup guide, across the whole journey — seed, early, expansion, and on to exit or listing
  • Milestones and the Momentum Score for that startup, with its full history
  • Stakeholder access to grant — free, and only to the investors, advisors and board members you choose to give it to

Startup Funding Program Enrollment — $100/month

Per startup. Requires the two above.

  • The program units, templates and worked examples for every investor-facing artifact
  • Marking guides published before you submit — and unlimited resubmission against them
  • Sandy's critique and grading, with the Gradeometer live while you talk
  • The Consistency Audit — every figure checked against every other document
  • The Mock Investor Pitch, with live question and answer, re-pitched as many times as you need
  • The Graduate Pitch Panel and the SVBS Startup Investor Network on graduation, plus the VR Conference Center

Momentum

The number everyone watches

Momentum — the pace at which a startup is actually advancing — is the strongest leading indicator a startup has, and SVBS has done extensive work on how to determine and measure it. The Milestone Progress system posts a single Momentum Score on a speedometer running from −20 to 100 MPH, with the full history behind it. Founders steer by it. Investors read it — before they engage, and for as long as they stay involved.

  • Financial PerformanceRevenue, acquisition and retention, margins, cash flow
  • Milestone ProgressWhat the startup has actually completed, and what is next
  • Market Growth & BuzzDigital presence, community, media coverage and recognition

Graduation requires a Momentum Score of at least 45, sustained, with the most recent momentum update no more than 60 days old. It does not latch: reaching it once is not the same as holding it, and an investor looking at the dashboard can tell the difference.

The Momentum Score speedometer, running from minus 20 to 100 MPH
The Momentum Score — updated as milestones land.

How Graduates Reach Investors

Meet the standard, and get in front of investors.

When your startup graduates, you can choose to publish your video pitch to the Graduate Pitch Panel, where investors browse by sector, stage and round size. It is your call and your initiative — nothing is published automatically, and every submission is reviewed by a person before it goes live. From there, investors can request your materials directly, or ask you for Stakeholder access to your live milestones and Momentum Score. The VR Conference Center runs webinars, investor question-and-answer sessions and networking on top of that.

AI grades everything inside the program; a person controls everything that leaves it. SVBS prepares founders and provides a shared progress framework. It does not broker securities, give investment advice, endorse any startup, or guarantee any outcome — investors evaluate and decide for themselves.

Methodology

Built on a published methodology

Behind the seven areas sits the Sherpa Methodology developed at Silicon Valley Business School — a complete system for guiding a startup from founding to a destination it chose deliberately, whether that is an IPO, an acquisition, or sustainable profitability. Different destinations need different preparation, and naming yours first is what makes every decision after it coherent. Unlike the black-box formulas of most programs, ours is published in full on this site — including how milestones and momentum are defined, tracked and scored — so founders can see exactly how they will be guided, and investors can see exactly what a graduate has been measured against, before anyone spends a dollar. It also does not stop at the funding round: the round is a waypoint, not the destination.

For Investors

Deal flow that did its homework

You see only founders who have done the work — and you can watch them keep doing it. Provide your contact details and evidence that you are an active investor, tell us the kind of investor you are and what you are looking for, and once our staff have reviewed it you are enrolled in the Investor Hub. Free, and no obligation.

  • The Graduate Pitch Panel. Video pitches from SVBS Graduated Startups, browsable by sector, stage and round size. Every startup shown has met the published standard and is run by an SVBS Certified Tech Entrepreneur.
  • Readiness you can check, not take on trust. Every artifact was marked against a guide you can read yourself, and every figure was cross-checked against every other document before you saw any of it.
  • See before you engage. Request Stakeholder access from a founder and, if they grant it, watch that startup's live milestones and Momentum Score with its full history — free.
  • Keep watching after you invest. Stakeholder access continues for as long as the founder keeps it open and the startup stays enrolled — through diligence, and for as long as you hold the position.
  • VR Conference Center events. Webinars, investor question-and-answer sessions, and networking. Join from any browser.

SVBS educates founders and provides a shared progress framework. It does not broker securities, give investment advice, or endorse any startup. Readiness is verified against a published standard; investment quality is your call.

Join the Startup Investor Network — Free →
For Investors

Sandy is an AI. She grades the work behind every startup you will see here.

Simple Pricing

The whole program, month to month.

Startup Funding Program

$250/month

for a founder taking one startup through the program

  • Business School Enrollmentper person$50
  • Milestone Progress Enrollmentper startup$100
  • Startup Funding Program Enrollmentper startup$100
  • Total, one startup$250/month
  • The course catalog, the Knowledgebase and Prof — carried by your Business School Enrollment however many startups you run
  • Milestones, the Momentum Score and Sherpa for that startup — plus Stakeholder access that is yours to grant, free
  • Every artifact built, critiqued by Sandy and graded against a guide published before you submit — resubmit as often as you need
  • The Consistency Audit and the Mock Investor Pitch, with live question and answer
  • The Graduate Pitch Panel, the SVBS Startup Investor Network and the VR Conference Center on graduation
  • Zero equity. Keep your company.
Enroll in the Program →

The two startup-scoped enrollments multiply by startup: a founder taking two startups through the full program pays $450/month. Investors: joining the SVBS Startup Investor Network is free — request access here.

Questions, Answered

Frequently asked questions

Is funding guaranteed?

No — and be wary of anyone who says otherwise. SVBS prepares you and puts your graduate pitch in front of investors who joined specifically to see startups like yours, but it never guarantees funding, does not give investment advice, and does not broker deals. What happens with an investor is between you and them. Our job is to make sure the work is done and that the people looking at it already know the standard it was measured against.

Do I need to be admitted?

No. There is no application, no admissions test, no interview, no cohort and no waiting list. Create an account, enroll, and start. The only filter anywhere in this program is the graduation standard, and it is published in full above before you spend anything.

What does the program cost?

$250/month for a founder taking one startup through it: $50/month Business School Enrollment (per person, covering the course catalog, the Knowledgebase and Prof), $100/month Milestone Progress Enrollment (per startup), and $100/month Startup Funding Program Enrollment (per startup). They are billed together. The two startup-scoped enrollments multiply if you run more than one startup. No equity, at any point.

What does it take to graduate?

Seven things, all published above and all applied identically to everyone: you hold the SVBS Certified Tech Entrepreneur certificate; the program's course material is complete; the required milestones are achieved; your Momentum Score is at or above 45 and sustained, with an update no more than 60 days old; every artifact has passed against its published marking guide; the Consistency Audit is clear; and the Mock Investor Pitch is passed with live question and answer. Meet all seven and your startup becomes an SVBS Graduated Startup.

Do I need the certificate before I enroll?

No. Certification is a graduation requirement, not an entry requirement. You can begin artifact work on day one with no course yet completed, and take the required courses alongside it. Note the vocabulary, because it matters: people are certified, startups graduate. Your certificate is yours for life and comes with you to whatever you build next; graduation belongs to the one company that earned it.

Who is Sandy?

Sandy is an AI, and she runs the Startup Funding Program. She has deep knowledge of the startup funding process. She critiques the artifacts you submit and grades them against the same published marking guides you read before submitting, and she runs the Mock Investor Pitch — silent while you pitch, then driving the question-and-answer the way a partner would. Sherpa guides your milestones and momentum, and Prof tutors the courses. All three are AI, and none of them has a bad day or plays favorites.

Is this an accredited degree?

SVBS is not an accredited institution and does not grant degrees. It runs certificate programs — for people who complete a defined program of courses, and for startups that meet the published graduation standard. What those certify is that specific, published work has been completed to a published standard. That is the credential investors in our network use, and it is a different thing from a degree. A degree's value comes from an institution vouching for a person in general; ours comes from a standard anyone can read, applied to work anyone can inspect.

How is this different from an incubator or accelerator?

If you can get into a top accelerator, go — the best of them give you capital, a brand, a cohort and warm introductions, and we do none of that. What this program gives you instead is a full curriculum, guidance that does not vary with which mentor you happen to draw, artifacts marked against a published standard, mock investor pitches, and tracking that continues long past a demo day. It is open enrollment, self-paced, and takes no equity. It also works perfectly well alongside an accelerator, and accelerator operators can build their own cohorts on it.

How long does it take?

It depends entirely on your starting point. Sherpa reads where your startup actually is and maps the gap; some are weeks away and some have real work to do. The program is self-paced with no deadlines and no attempt limits — but self-paced means flexible, not effortless.

Who are the investors in the network?

Angels, venture funds and corporate investors who applied to join, provided evidence that they are active investors, told us what they are looking for, and were reviewed by our staff before being enrolled. Every one of them joined specifically to see graduates of this program.

What does it cost investors?

Nothing. Investors join free, and Stakeholder access to a startup's milestones and Momentum Score is free as well. Stakeholder access is granted by the founder, never sold and never granted by SVBS — an investor can ask, and the founder decides.

Can my existing investors and advisors follow my progress?

Yes. Stakeholder access is yours to hand out, free, to any investor, advisor or board member you choose, and they see your milestones and Momentum Score as they update. Worth knowing before you invite anyone: on program milestones they see the verification status and the score, not just a checked box.

What happens if a subscription lapses?

Business School Enrollment is a requirement to enroll, not a condition of continued service — if it lapses, Milestone Progress and the Startup Funding Program keep running and keep billing, and what you lose is access to the courses and the Knowledgebase until you resubscribe. Your certificate is permanent and is not revoked. Graduate Pitch Panel listing does require the startup-scoped enrollments to stay active: on lapse, Stakeholder access ends entirely and there is no frozen view, because investors need to see live progress rather than a snapshot. Your data is retained and restored when you resubscribe.

Ready When You Are

Investment readiness isn't a feeling. It's a standard.

Founders: the standard is published, the marking guides are published, and there is no application between you and starting. Meet it, graduate, and reach investors who came looking for exactly that. Investors: join free, and meet founders at their very best.

Enroll in the Program → Join as an Investor — Free →

Self-paced · AI guidance around the clock · $250/month for one startup · zero equity

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