First Round Fast Track FAQs

Not at all. We believe in creating the most diverse community and are excited to open up our mentorship program to those outside our existing network.

Becoming a First Round Mentor or Mentee is by application or nomination only. To nominate someone, please email julia@firstround.com sharing a few sentences about why they'd be a great addition.

You should have significant experience as an operating leader, founder, or executive. We are seeking folks across a diverse range of industries and roles — design, engineering, customer success, sales, HR, product marketing, etc. Most of our Mentors have 8+ years of experience — but we make exceptions for people with an uncanny ability to coach and wisdom beyond their years.

We're seeking the best founders and operators at both early- and late-stage tech companies looking to work side-by-side and share their experiences with their Mentee. We're specifically seeking women, underrepresented minorities, and people who have had unconventional paths to tech.

Given the high demand for this program, we reserve Mentee spots in Fast Track for team members at First Round-backed companies, as well as Black, Indigenous, and Latinx startup employees outside of the First Round portfolio. Mentees can come from any functional background, whether it’s marketing, sales, engineering, product, design, people ops, and more. The common thread is that we're seeking people who are looking to learn and level up in their careers, either as individual contributors or as team leaders.

This program requires mentorship pairs to meet six times over the course of three months. You are also required to attend a 1-hour training session before the program beginnings. We will release the exact dates of the next cohort during the summer. Stay tuned!