OneRise

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Immigrant founders in NY are facing significantly lower access to capital and networks.

TARGET GROUP

Pre-seed/seed stage immigrant founders in New York, with a focus on ClimateTech, EdTech, and HealthTech.

PROPOSED SOLUTION

We de-constructed the main challenges into three key steps and have an actionable plan for each: connectivity, 1-1 Support & Skill Training, and Demo Day.

ACTIVITIES

• Connectivity
  
  
  
  • Challenge: limited knowledge and opportunities for network building in NY.
  
  
  • Solution: monthly networking events, including immigrant founder/funder mixer, ClimateTech/EdTech/HealthTech founders mixer, co-founders matching event, and domain-specific panels. 
  
  
  
  


• 1-1 Support & Skill Training
  
  
  • Challenge: different funding vehicles require tailored business plans and pitches; immigrant founders have limited knowledge in building a sustainable business plan and communicating business goals.
  
  
  • Solution: we operate 1-1 mentor-mentee relationships and training sessions focusing on product-market fit, pitching strategy, fundraising, hiring, pricing plan, and exit strategy. We will partner with NY-based venture capital firms, law firms, and operators to recruit 10 mentors with diverse backgrounds. Each mentor will have a monthly 1:1 with the founder. We will collect monthly feedback from both mentors and founders. We will also have a check-in every 3 months with each mentor-founder pair to track progress.
  
  
  
  


• Demo Day
  
  • At the end of the 6-month program, we organize a Demo Day for founders to pitch their ideas.
  
  

SHORT & LONG-TERM GOALS / RESULTS

• Build NY-based immigrant founders community. 


• Amplify OneRise's impact on the New York startup ecosystem.


• Recruit and operate OneRise's cohorts with 10 pre-seed/seed immigrant founders. 


• Build partnerships with venture capital firms, and tech startup accelerators in New York.

AVAILABLE METRICS

• External
  
  
  
  • Speed of fundraising (how many months after they start fundraising that they close it – ideally within 3 months)
  
  
  • ability to fundraise (at least 60% of the cohort) and amount of fundraising (at least $200K)
  
  
  • 6 events over 2024 H1, and at least 6 mentor-mentee conversations over 12 months
  
  
  
  


• Internal
  
  
  
  • Number of founders recruited and retained over 12 months (at least 85%)
  
  
  • Number of events attendance 
  
  
  • Number of members join our immigrant founders community
  
  
  • Level of engagement (average founders’ satisfaction level to be +70% in mid-point and end-of-cohort surveys)
  
  
  
  


• History metrics (2022-2023)
  
  
  
  • 2 cohorts including 29 startups since 2022.
  
  
  • 15 mentors with backgrounds in Venture Capital, Product Marketing, FinTech, SaaS, etc.
  
  
  • 11 events including Demo Day, Fundraising 101 training, Founder/Funder mixer, etc.
  
  
  • 70% of our cohort startups successfully raised the fund over the year. 
  
  
  
  

COLLABORATORS

Other immigrant-focused non-profits in NY, executive coaching firms, VCs, startup accelerators, and NY-based law firms.

For more information: https://www.onerise.nyc/