Gust Mission Control: Launchpad

Mission Control is Gust's premium support program for dedicated founders. It's a comprehensive toolkit combining expert-led sessions, peer learning, essential software, and startup resources. You'll gain practical skills in fundraising, develop a solid funding strategy, and refine your pitch, all while avoiding common early-stage pitfalls. Connect with top startup experts and save valuable time and resources as you transform your startup into a successful business.

👋 Hi there!

Applications for the Launchpad program are no longer open. We've taken the feedback from the first cohort and packaged the best parts of the Launchpad program into a lower-cost, self-paced subscription offering called Mission Control. We hope you'll check it out!

Check out Mission Control

Everything below 👇 is a description of the original cohort-based intensive program. We might run another one in the future but, in the meantime, we're focusing on the new Mission Control offering.

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🚀 Prepare for liftoff with Gust at your back

A 6 week intensive education program designed to help you turn your big idea into a fundraising-ready company. Understand the startup funding landscape, develop a funding plan, properly incorporate and set up your company, onboard your founding team, avoid common mistakes, and reduce potential blindspots with guidance from David S. Rose, the Gust team and the best experts from our extensive network. Learn more.


💲 Cost

A one-time cost of $1,500 covers access to the 6 week intensive; incorporation of your startup as a Delaware C-Corporation; ongoing access to software tools; and 1 year of support from Gust Mission Control including bi-weekly office hours, monthly expert sessions, and access to exclusive partner offers.


🗓️ Curriculum Schedule

- Week 1: Startup Trajectories - 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?

- Week 2: Startup Teams, Equity, and IP - Who do I need on my founding team? 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?

- Week 3: Belief in your Business - 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?

- Week 4: Funding your Venture - 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?

- Week 5: Incorporating and Running your Startup - 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?

- Week 6: Wrap up and What’s Next?


🛠️ Program Takeaways

During the intensive, you’ll combine what you’re learning with Gust’s industry-leading software to assemble functional components of your startup launchpad—all costs baked in. Here are some of the things 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

Some components may not be a good fit for your startup during the program. But don’t sweat it, you’ll retain access to tools and support after the intensive is over so you can leverage them when you’re ready.


🤝 Program Structure

- Mondays: receive an email introducing the component(s) you’ll be building, the background material, and the tools you’ll use.
- Wednesdays: 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: attend a Recap & Review session to discuss and review your work and get feedback from experts and your peers.

All sessions are hosted remotely by David S. Rose, the Gust team, and curated experts from our network.

Sessions will be hosted at 3pm Eastern time. Recordings of all sessions will be distributed to cohort members within 24 hours.