START UP Founderships
An intensive, six-month business pre-accelerator for ambitious new business founders.
START UP Founderships
Adapted to the needs of you and your business, Founderships includes:
- one-to-one coaching and mentoring
- skills development
- access to influential partnerships
- a £7,500 living stipend
- up to £10,000 in equity-free grant funding
- co-working space in Newcastle city centre
If you are not already working with a START UP Adviser, please book an appointment to discuss Founderships.
You can read more about Founderships by reading our Founderships Guidance or by following the links on the page below.
START UP Founderships Guidance 2024-25 (PDF: 3.4MB)
START UP Founderships 2024 Accessible Guidance (PDF: 332KB)
What is a business accelerator?
Business pre-accelerators and accelerators are intensive packages of support. They involve coaching and mentorship, skills development and financial support.
A pre-accelerator is for business opportunities that are in development or recently launched. They help you to establish your business. An accelerator is for established businesses, known as 'seed-stage'. They help you raise investment and scale up your business venture.
How can Founderships help me?
We bring in experienced entrepreneurs to deliver Founderships. They will help you to:
- strengthen and advance your business opportunity
- become a resilient leader who thinks big
- solve big problems for big markets
Our Founderships alumni have progressed onto competitive business accelerators. One also appeared on the TV show Dragon’s Den.
Am I eligible for Founderships?
START UP Founderships is open to new and recent graduates. Final-year students approaching graduation can make an application to Founderships, but we can only award a Foundership to graduates on a pass list. Graduates from the past two years can also apply.
- you must own the intellectual property for your business
- your business opportunity must be in the UK
- you must be willing to stay or move to the North East and work on your business full-time
- if you're not from the UK, you must have the right visa permission to register a business