GFP is a community-powered early-stage company building knowledge hub for founders to crack the product-market fit stage in building modern and valuable enterprises.
"We strongly believe that risk can be mitigated through clarity of mind.
This program is a perpetual commitment from GUIDE to provide world-class knowledge access for aspiring and emerging founders seeking executional clarity in creating and building early-stage startups. For those who invest in themselves first, aiming to strategize their ventures to run leaner and with less risk, you have come to the right place where an ecosystem is backing you with patient guidance, close support, and an ongoing mission to provide new insights and navigate challenging market dynamics in Asia."
Master Company Building Strategies
Grow Your Network
Grow Your Presence
Four Venture Risks Framework
The framework introduces the key threats and risks in operating early-stage enterprises - especially those come with innovative model (product or commercial model). They are Market, Product, Capital, and Operation/Execution. We dive into the mechanics of how typical startups fail, conduct self-evaluation, and showcase ways risks can be mitigated in very tactical way in approaching the process of building startups.
Developing Moat And Differentiator
This lesson deconstructs business components into smaller units and moving parts and guides founders to discover and pinpoint their founder-market fit and problem-product fit in order to create an unique edge around the business.
Creating A Zero-to-One Flywheel
We introduce product-sales cycles, the lifecycle of business in exposing the natural progression of business challenges and natural market forces that challenges the existence and growth of startups. Together, we introduce some law of market dynamics startups required to resolve in each micro-stages plus execution priorities to conserve resources for maximum revenue yield.
Assembling A Cofounding Team
This lesson focus heavily on ways to take advantage social capital, the organic journey of search of co-founders, and tactics in attracting high quality talents to take risks in building career with the idea originator founder. We also deep dive into the motivation and goal alignment process, and preventive measures of founder split.
Key Business Data, Information And Performance Metrics
You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Informed decisions rely on high-quality, contextualized information. We introduce the key numbers, metrics, and qualitative data startup founders need to build a measurement system to monitor and gain clarity on their company’s performance. We also cover how these measurements can be set up, benchmarked, and configured to fit individual business needs.This system can then be used to manage the firm from two perspectives: internally with the team and externally with stakeholders (existing and potential shareholders).
Scalable Unit Economics, Cost Levers, And Setting Price
This pillar specializes in helping founders establish sustainability while balancing the scalability of high-risk firms from both financial and commercial perspectives. We demonstrate how fixed and variable costs can be strategically leveraged to create innovative business models that drive higher margins on a per-unit sales basis, relative to underlying costs. A key takeaway for founders is the ability to use this information to develop various preliminary pricing or business models aligned with their positioning strategy
Conceptualizing A Minimum Viable Software Product (For non-tech founders)
Designed as a “tech product” crash course for business-oriented founders, this pillar aims to upskill participants into product managers capable of effectively communicating product experiences to software engineers and managing their workflow. Starting with an introduction to architectures, frameworks, and modules, we also explore how highly manual or labor-intensive business function/services can be partially or fully conceptualized and transformed into full-fledged software-as-a-service (SaaS) products.
Growing Enterprise Value And Being Investment Worthy
Privately-held innovative companies can be highly valuable to current owners, loyal and capable staff, incoming shareholders, and even strategic clients.We cover essential topics related to generating shareholder value, equity distribution and management, the dynamics and processes involved in seeking venture capital investment, and the nuances of private capital markets from the perspective of a startup founder or early-stage business owner. Whether the goal is to finance growth ambitions or create wealth for all stakeholders, we provide comprehensive insights.
Access Tier
Made for early-stage founder looking for an unfair advantage and tapping into a full-fledged knowledge and venture support ecosystem which you can leverage as a coach/mentor, sounding and advisory board to reduce your venture risks to launch and scale your venture.
INCLUSIONS
✓
With GUIDE cases
✓
Member access
✓
Online with private spaces to connect and network
✓
Regional network
✓
Angel, Pre-seed / Seed stage VC
✓
Member-only huge discount (>70% to FOC)
UPCOMING INTAKE
Mode: Online and in-person, open to Malaysia-based startups
Next intake: Mid-March 2025
Spots: Limited to 5 per cohort
For Nominator
For Founder
APPLICATION NOTE
This tier requires two nominations to complete the application process and candidates will required to go through a selection process to be admitted into the program.
FINANCIAL AID & FINANCING OPTION
We offer an option to waive first year of your membership fee using a 1% Capped SAFE. More details please refer to the FAQ section.
Access Tier
Cater to aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners who want to leverage our operational expertise and apply venture knowledge at their own pace, anytime and anywhere in the world.
INCLUSIONS
✓
With GUIDE cases
✓
Member access
✓
Online with private spaces to connect and network
UPCOMING INTAKE
Mode: Online, open to entire Asia
e-Learning release date: 31st of January 2025
Spots: Limited
For Founders (Nomination Not Required)
APPLICATION NOTE
This tier opens to all members of the public. There'll be no qualifying or selection process. Join Waitlist to secure limited slots to the January 2025 regional intake.
For very selected few startups throughout a year, we take a bet on the founders potential, ability and character by buffering their first year cost in enrolling into the Fellowship tier through a financial instrument called Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE). Our version is called a 1% Capped SAFE. We use this as a form of a scholarship grant.
If your enrolment into GFP Fellowship is accepted via 1% Capped SAFE, you will get:
What are the key terms in our 1% Capped SAFE?
Application Process
We accept any full-time entrepreneurs that fits into the Idea Validation stage of company building. See below for how we define that:
Idea Validation stage of a company is defined by a company which,
May or may not have incorporated a business entity (local or abroad)
Has zero or unstable revenue
Has full-time working and operational founder(s)
May not have a specific product or service yet. Has a business idea or hypothesis
May or may not yet received any investments or grants from any institution and/or friends and family
Solution may or may not be tech product
The Nomination System
To GUIDE, an entrepreneur's success is a collective outcome of an healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem. We require all aspiring and existing entrepreneurs that are interested in our guided tier intensive fellowship program to submit their application along with a strong recommendation from those who have been in the process of encouraging and supportive of their early journey.
The Nomination process is part of a two-step process to complete the Application stage, before we start to review all the materials in the Screening & Shortlisting stage where we the Admission Team will reach out for an interview.
Why do we do this?
The nomination process allows us to recognise those may have been earlier than us in identifying developmental needs and talents while taking an objective view on the potentials we may missed in processing the program application from the Entrepreneurs. That way, we are able to maximize our program's impact on entrepreneurs' businesses and accelerate entrepreneurs' growth as an individual by taking account of their personal needs and differences. Read more about our values here
Parallel Nomination And Application Process
Step 1: Start the application and nomination process
For Nominator: Start nomination process by filling up the Nomination form.
For Founder applicants: Start application process by filling up the Application form.
Step 2: Application stage is done
You have done your part if the Application and Nomination forms are submitted. Please wait for the Admission Team to reach out for a scheduled interview by the GUIDE team.
You can reach out admission@guide.works for any inquiry related to GFP.