The NYCEDC’s Founder Fellowship program assists startups grow through mentorship, networking and access to capital.
Roughly two-thirds of startups don’t survive 10 years, Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals. The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) hopes to alter that by leveraging the power of collaboration.
The Founder Fellowship program is a collaboration between the NYCEDC, a non-profit that serves as the official economic development organization for New York City, and five program partners that each operate a cohort of start-up founders. Collectively they have assisted more than 390 founders since the program’s launch in 2022.
I had the chance recently to interview the NYCEDC, Company Ventures (one of the program partners) and startup founders about the program to learn more about how the collaboration is assisting Big Apple startups obtain an early boost.
Addressing Key Needs
Startup culture emphasizes the importance of failing rapid and relocating forward. Or, as Harvard Business School Professor Christina Wallace put it, “The name of the game is to fail quickly and continue to ideate until you find something that works.”
Unfortunately, founders don’t always know what they don’t know. And if founders don’t quickly uncover gaps and build the necessary alters, it could be too late. Great concepts are often undone by tiny problems or blind spots that aren’t so straightforward to spot.
The Founder Fellowship is a signature program of NYCEDC’s Venture Access NYC initiative, which is designed to improve access to capital and networks for underrepresented founders across all tech-enabled sectors. Jonathan Schulhof, executive vice president for NYCEDC, shared how the Founder Fellowship can be especially assistful for startups facing early challenges of access to capital.
“The program assists highly talented founders who are struggling in terms of their awareness of how to reach out to capital and close that gap, but nonetheless identify very exciting, venture-backable businesses and put money to work. And that’s what’s starting to happen as a result of this program,” Schulhof shared in a video interview.
The results are impressive.
2024 Founder Fellows raised over $36M in investment and were valued at nearly $350M by the finish of the program. One company that participated in the Founder Fellowship is Krida, a startup which aims to streamline commercial lfinishing workflows for community and regional banks utilizing AI agents. By relying on AI agents for data processing and compliance, loan officers will be more empowered to focus on innovative, higher-level work.
The fellowship program, states Krida co-founder, Shivangi Khanna, “… came at a pivotal moment, right after our pre-seed fundraise, as we were navigating everything from sales and hiring to product and culture.”
Layers Of Collaboration
Founder Fellowship includes layers of collaboration — both public and private, startups and established companies. In 2025, NYCEDC’s program included five program partners: Chloe Capital, Company Ventures, Gold Houtilize Ventures, Newlab and Visible Hands. Each of the partners leads a cohort of the program that lasts between three and four months.
Company Ventures’ cohort is called Boost. Matthew Harrigan, co-founder and CEO of Company Ventures, is proud of the guidance that participants have received. “Some of these companies necessary to be advised on how to believe about capital-raising and what their pitch materials should view like, and some of them are more sophisticated than that and they want a clean read from my firm where we properly fit for an investment,” he shared in an interview.
One such initiative is called “Demo Day,” which involves founders pitching their company and sharing their vision. Participants pull from a range of backgrounds, including leaders of established businesses who share their guidance and input. There is no one-size-fits-all path to startup success, and the program is meant to assist founders discover a way forward for their company.
“Each of the mentors talks through their lived experience, how to approach the next couple of years of their journey,” Harrigan stated. “One of the issues I have with tech entrepreneurship is that so much of the advice is written by venture firms, and that’s all well and good, so it’s assistful for these companies to not just be hearing from us, but also other mentors. I believe that’s an important perspective.”
The Power Of Networking
A major element of startup success is networking. Accordingly, Founder Fellowship is focutilized on connection. Moving forward, NYCEDC intfinishs to build out networking opportunities further with a new program to support founder alumni program to assist maintain momentum across the years.
“Increasingly, we are hearing from founders that part of the benefit is being part of this class of a cohort, having the opportunity to network with other founders who are going through similar experiences, and pattern matching on the kinds of challenges they face,” Schulhof stated.
Khanna was grateful for the mentorship and guidance opportunities that emerged through the fellowship program. “The mentorship grounded us, and the founder community was a rare kind of support in a journey that can often feel isolating,” noted Khanna.
Beat The Odds With Your Startup
The Founder Fellowship program is a great example of how a city’s economic development efforts can obtain a boost by collaborating with local businesses. But in the case of the Founder Fellowship program, the win-win is a triple win which extfinishs to startup founders by assisting them beat the odds.
Startup founders who are viewing to beat the odds can apply for a spot in the Founder Fellowship program. Applications for the next cohort open on November 12, 2025, but startup founders can sign up to obtain notified with announcements and updates.
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