Camelback tends to support “early-stage” ventures with goals to create widespread change. This definition can vary depending on the type of organization, and the below are not hard and fast rules. A good rule of thumb is if you fit 3 - 4 of the 🟢 qualities and none of the 🔴 qualities, then you’re likely in our sweet spot. If you’re still trying to understand whether your venture stage is within our criteria, refer to our additional help resources.

<aside> 📣 Ready to apply? Learn how to draft and submit your application here.

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• KEY

You may be at the right stage for the Fellowship if…

🟢 Your product or service has been tested with customers or beneficiaries through a pilot, beta, or minimum viable product

🟢 Your product or service is market ready

🟢 You have successfully secured your first customers or beneficiaries

🟢 You have completed the ideation stage of preliminary visioning of mission and key activities

🟢 You have at least a rough draft of a pitch deck or business model canvas

🟢 You have begun tracking key costs and revenue that inform a preliminary budget

🟢 You understand what revenue sources will keep your venture financially sustainable

🟢 You have identified and begun tracking your key measurements and outcomes that define success

You may not be at the right stage for the Fellowship if…

🟡 You work less than 20 hours per week on your venture OR spend less than 50% of your time on your venture

🔴 You have not formally collected any customer or beneficiary feedback (e.g. focus groups, empathy interviews, surveying)

🔴 You have not conducted any research about your target market or beneficiaries

🔴 You have not identified any potential customers or funders

🟡 You have more than 5 full time employees

🟡 You have raised more than $1 million dollars

🟡 You have been in operation for >5 years without expectations for major product, program, or service pivots

In summary, we use the following benchmarks to define the venture stage. Take note of 🔴🟡🟢 alignment criteria for what stages we primarily accept into the Fellowship:

🔴 Idea: Your venture mainly exists in the heads of founders or co-founders

🔴 Entity: You are solidifying ideas on the building blocks of your venture, while getting feedback on your venture

🟡 Drafted Prototype: Your venture currently has a rough finished product, program model, and/or school model

🟢 Piloted Prototype: Your venture is implementing your prototype with the users you intend to target and/or serve

🟢 Proving the Pilot: You’ve run your pilot and are now trying to secure the resources to implement the pilot as a going-concern

🟡 Ready for Scale: You’ve had success running your venture and are ready to grow or scale

🔢 By the numbers:

• At the time of applying, our recent alumni identified with the following stages:
  • 51% Proving the Pilot
  • 26% Piloted Prototype
  • 16% Ready for Scale
  • 7% Drafted Prototype
• At the time of applying, our recent alumni identified with the following work status:
  • 60% only work full-time on their venture
  • 16% work full-time on their venture and part-time elsewhere
  • 12% work full-time on their venture and full-time elsewhere
  • 9% work part-time on their venture and full-time elsewhere
  • 3% work part-time on their venture and part-time elsewhere
• At the time of applying, our recent alumni ventures had an average of 1.25 full time employees and 2.14 part time employees
• At the time of applying, our recent alumni with the following venture legal structures had raised or earned these amounts:
  • An average of $181,344 for for-profits ranging from $6,500 - $585,000
  • An average of $313,822 for nonprofits ranging from $1,000 - $915,000*
    • We sometimes see our accepted school Fellows raised >$500,000 due to the expenses and monies pertaining to operating a school building.

📹 Watch our former Senior Lead of Network, Dr. Charles Corprew, share his experience working with early-stage founders and the characteristics that prime them for scaling after the Fellowship.

💰A Note about Capital

The Camelback Fellowship includes an investment of $40,000 in each venture. We believe in empowering Fellows to use their investments in whatever way they find most effective; we invest unrestricted funds. The lack of access to capital for BIPOC, women, and non-binary founders is well documented and critical to address. In fact, it’s at the core of Camelback’s mission to disrupt this status quo. We take this into account during our selection process and understand that not everyone will have found fundraising traction.

For some Fellows, the Fellowship is the first significant investment in their venture. Fellows have used this money for a variety of things, such as running a pilot program, hiring an app developer, going full-time on their venture, traveling to high profile industry conferences, buying new equipment, and funding the development of new community spaces.

Fellows must complete surveys and assessments prior, during, and after the program to demonstrate growth, report on usage, and share wins and losses. This data is critical to Camelback’s ability to serve Fellows most effectively and to show progress to our own external supporters.

<aside> 👂🏾 Do you have feedback, comments, or insights on the information we've shared here? As we strive for authentic relationship and alignment with our applicants, we welcome anything you'd like to share to get us there. Email Michaela at [email protected] with subject line "Alignment Feedback."

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