Startup Founders in the Jewish Community now have a Tech accelerator program created just for them.
Introducing Crown Ventures, a new 3-month accelerator program catering to Orthodox Tech entrepreneurs around the country.
Pioneered by Rabbi Yehoshua Werde of CHYE, and facilitated by Mark Gold (veteran facilitator of accelerator programs), Crown Ventures is the first startup accelerator and fund of its kind in the USA, specially designed for Tech founders from the Yeshiva world.
The Crown Ventures mentors team includes a “who’s who” of experts, founders and investors from across the community. Crown Ventures empowers entrepreneurs to take their ventures to the next level, providing resources such as funding, access to an exclusive network of investors and mentors, and a 3-month hands-on education program to boost startup founders’ chances of success.
If accepted, Crown Ventures grants every member up to $50,000 in funding upon joining the accelerator.
The accelerator is a founder-focused program that gives participants a firm understanding of how to match their technology startup with market needs in order to create commercially viable products/services and organizational processes that rapidly scale.
The educational component of the accelerator program will include modules covering a wide range of topics, and will culminate in a “Demo Day“ pitch.
“For the first time ever, we built a world class accelerator to support orthodox people in our community, giving them the tools they need to succeed in tech startups,” said Yehoshua Werde.
“After years of meeting aspiring founders and watching them struggle with navigating the startup scene, I believe this program will be a game-changer for our community,” says Clark Valberg, CEO & co-founder of InVision and one of the fund’s backers.
“I have been waiting for years to see something like this come to the Jewish community,” said Asher Weinberger COO & co-founder of Swimply and a Crown Ventures Mentor.
“Encouraging entrepreneurship is essential to the frum world. I’m particularly excited about our community succeeding in tech, where it’s less about which school you went to, and more about talent and drive. Yeshiva-world founders are smart and driven, and with Seyata DeShmaya we’ll see some amazing successes come out of this accelerator,” said Daniel Cotlar, former CMO Blinds.com (Home Depot) and a Crown Ventures Mentor.
Application to the program is open to men and women from the frum community with early-stage tech startups. The first class of five founders will be selected by a panel that will assess elements such as tech skills, identification of a real and solvable problem, a working demo, a cohesive team, passion, resilience, ability to learn from feedback and handle criticism, familiarity with their industry, and market potential.
“The accelerator is a founder-focused program that gives members a birds-eye-view of the technology market. Participants gain a firm understanding of how to match their technology startup with market needs in order to create commercially viable products/services and organizational processes that rapidly scale,“ said Mark Gold, Crown Ventures Program Facilitator.
“With this program, the time has come for the next Tech Unicorn to come out of the Frum community,” Rabbi Werde said.
To learn more about Crown Ventures, visit https://www.crownventures.nyc/.
Crown Ventures is accepting applications for Fall Cohort 2022 from now until July 30.
Spots fill up fast so if you think your business has what it takes, hurry up and apply now!
Rabbi Werde and Daniel Cotlar have helped me So much to get my business off the ground.
I have only praise for those helping others to gain a parnosa.
Along those lines, please encourage those start up founders as they scale up, to hire other yeshiva grads and train them to run and work in their businesses. This way you have a much bigger trickle effect on the entire community’s ability to be financially independent.
Tizku l’mitzvos.