Starting a startup can be intimidating.
Am I ready? Is my startup fundable? How do I start and run a company? Does my financial model make sense? How do I manage equity? What am I missing? It’s normal to have a million questions when you’re starting up. Hours of research, navigating conflicting information and piecing together the answers for yourself can be overwhelming. We get that. That’s why we built Mission Control: Launchpad. It’s here to help you save time, streamline and get big ideas off the ground quicker so you can focus on the important part—bringing your idea to life.
We’ve helped thousands of founders get it right.
Gust has been building products and education for founders, startups, accelerators, and investors for over 15 years. David S. Rose, Founder and Chairman of Gust, founded New York Angels, the largest angel group in the United States, and literally wrote the books on starting a startup and angel investing. We know what we’re doing and we’re experts at sharing our comprehensive perspective without requiring you to have previous startup experience or an MBA.
Over 5,000 startups
incorporated with Gust Launch
Hundreds of webinars and office hours attended by more than 10,000 founders
Startups raised more than $100M on Gust in 2022
Batteries-included Education
Curriculum
Content sourced from experts. Digest at your own pace.
Software
Purpose-built software and services to apply what you’re learning.
Support
Expert and peer sessions to work through roadblocks and get feedback.
Program Structure
Mondays
You’ll receive an email introducing the component(s) you’ll be building, the background material, and the tools you’ll use.
Wednesdays
You’ll attend a Get Unstuck Q&A session designed to offer in-depth answers to questions about the material and help you make progress on the components you’re building.
Fridays
You’ll attend a Recap and Review to discuss and review your work and get feedback from experts and your peers.
What you’ll learn
What type of company am I building? Is my company Angel- or VC-backable? What am I getting into? What are typical exit scenarios and timelines?
Who will be my first investors? How will I find them? What terms do early investors typically invest at? How do SAFEs and Convertible Notes work? How much money do I need to raise? Can I raise from friends and family? What’s an accredited investor? Is crowdfunding right for my venture? What is dilution and how does it work?
Who do I need on my founding team? How do founders navigate their current employment? How do I divide equity among co-founders? How do I issue stock to early employees? What are the legal implications that come with expanding my team? How do I work with an advisor? When do I need an option plan? How do ownership and vesting work?
How do I incorporate properly? What are the legal, compliance, and tax obligations after I have incorporated? How do I run the company? How does company ownership work?
How do I build confidence in a business model? What type of financials will investors expect? What should I focus on in my pitch? How can I effectively present my vision and the business opportunity?
What’s the most critical next step for my startup? What if I have even more questions?
What you’ll take away
- A living, software-based venture assessment report
- A fundraising plan with primary sources, valuation, and terms
- A collaborative co-founder agreement and ownership split model
- A fully-formed, fundraising-ready Delaware C-Corporation
- A software-based corporate management solution
- Software to properly onboard founders, advisors, contractors, and other early team members
- A digital cap table with funding round modeling and e-signature
- An investor-ready Gust Company Profile
Expertise, empathy and real support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mission Control: Launchpad is a one-time cost of $2,500 $1,500.
💰 We’re offering a 40% discount to members of the first cohort
The program and its benefits are primarily geared toward founders or prospective founders of US-based startups that have a technology component and some opportunity to achieve scalability. We recognize the existence of unicorns, but we’re equally interested in the abundance of less mythical creatures like zebras, camels, and gazelles!
You’ll likely get the absolute most out of the program if you’re seriously considering taking the leap in the next 12 months.
If you’re currently outside of the US but planning to incorporate and raise money in the US, you might still be a good fit. If you’re outside the US and planning to stay there and raise there this program likely won’t be a good fit. Same if you’re working on any of the following types of ventures:
- A single-location, brick and mortar small business
- A drop-shipping business
- A film, music album, or performance production
- A traditional business designed to quickly generate revenue
- Access to 6 weeks of intensive, participatory programming
- Incorporation of new Delaware C-Corporation via Gust Launch and 1 year of access to Gust Launch Accelerate
- Cap table management and round modeling via Gust Equity Management
- Unlimited access to Gust software tools including Co-founder Equity Split, Startup Evaluation and Feedback Engine, and Pre-money Valuation Tool
- 1 year of Gust Mission Control: ongoing access to regularly scheduled, remote-friendly, deep-dive sessions including office hours, pitch practice, and expert sessions; deep discounts on future intensives; and access to exclusive partner offers.
In order to get the most out of the program we expect you’ll need to dedicate approximately 6 hours a week: 2 hours consuming materials, 2 hours in sessions, and 2 hours building.
Regular weekly sessions will be held on Wednesday and Friday at 3pm Eastern US. The program will run from October 2nd, 2023 through the week of November 6th, 2023.
Heck yeah they can! The cost of the program covers up to 2 cofounders. You can add additional cofounders (no more than 4 total!) for $200 each.
Of course. If you don’t feel like the program was 100% worth it, let us know and we’ll refund the full program cost minus any filing fees we paid to incorporate your company.
We believe interacting with the peers in your cohort and the Gust team directly are a huge value-add to the program, so please try to attend whenever possible. That said, we know scheduling is hard, so we’ll record all sessions, including Q&A, and distribute them within 24 hours.
No, this is not an accelerator in the traditional sense: we charge up front, we don’t take equity, we don’t invest, and we do not have a geographic or industry-specific thesis. This program as an in-depth, general purpose compliment to an accelerator—in fact, portions of it have been embedded in other accelerators.
If you’re already in an accelerator, this program will provide deeper insight and support on core concepts. For example, you’ll have multiple sessions that cover early legal concerns, plus supporting software rather than an hour presentation with 15 minutes of Q&A from a sponsoring law firm.
Many founders also find Gust helps them more effectively utilize the resources they already have access to. If you’re already in an accelerator, this program will help you better leverage their resources for strategic concerns, rather than educational. If you’re not already in an accelerator, this program will help you understand their value proposition and determine whether there might be one in your future.
Incorporation, formation, and early legal support is provided via Gust Launch. Program costs cover 1 year of Gust Launch Accelerate including Delaware fees associated with incorporating a new C-Corporation and the cost of maintaining a registered agent in the state of Delaware.
Program costs do not cover LLC to C-Corporation conversion, foreign qualification/registration, any taxes incurred by the resulting corporation, or any other post-incorporation business costs associated with the corporation.
Participating founders may choose not to incorporate with Gust Launch. Some participating founders may not qualify to use Gust Launch.
Nope! Not at all! We’ll give you all the information you need to decide if the time is right. If it’s not, you’ll retain the right to incorporate a new startup via Gust Launch for 12 months after the program end date.
No problem. If your structure and progress allow it and you’re interested, we’ll do our best to onboard you onto Gust Launch. If you can’t or don’t want to onboard on to Gust Launch, you’ll still get plenty of benefit from the education and additional tools and support you’ll have access to.
We know the price point will be out of reach for some founders so we have a limited amount of need-based financial assistance available. We know all founders are cost-conscious but the assistance is intended specifically to help systemically under-resourced founders access a program that would otherwise be out-of-reach.
Here are some potentially disqualifying criteria:
- You have a history of a six-figure salary or the potential to command a six-figure salary
- You have access to personal, generational, or network wealth that has allowed you or would allow you to finance your startup within the range of $30k to $50k
- You have a network of angel investors and/or vcs that you have previously pitched or raised from
- You are operating within a well-established startup ecosystem (i.e. your location is pretty blue on this map)
- Your startup is generating meaningful revenue
- You do not belong to a group that is statistically less likely to receive funding from angels and/or vcs
If you’d like to apply for assistance, drop us a line at mission-control-launchpad+financial-assistance@gust.com after you submit your application.
We think that’s a great idea! Drop us a line at partnerships@gust.com.
If you’re interested in a first look at the companies coming through this program drop us a line at dealflow@gust.com.
We’re here for you. If you’re interested, apply. There’s no obligation to attend and you’ll have the ability to sign up for an information session during the application process. You can chat us up on Intercom, too. 👉