We love entrepreneurs because we are entrepreneurs. The Greenhouse Ventures management team, advisory board, and mentor community seeks to work with entrepreneurs who are coachable, resilient, domain experts. There are four ways entrepreneurs can engage with us.
Early-Stage Accelerator
Greenhouse Ventures has been hosting hybrid physical-virtual, mentor-led, curriculum-driven, cohort-based accelerator programs for early-stage startups in the cannabis and industrial hemp industries since 2015. Unlike traditional physical accelerators, Greenhouse Ventures (based in Philadelphia) does not require founders to relocate from their home market in order to participate in our accelerator.
One to two times per year, in the Fall and Spring, GHV hosts a 10-week, 30-class, 90-hour program for pre and early-revenue ventures in the cannabis and hemp industries. We seek founders qualified to solve a unique problem or exploit an unseen opportunity, who can achieve (through growth or acquisition) a top three market position within their sector within 12-36 months after Demo Day (the culmination of the accelerator).
Examples of problems we’re interested in solving and opportunities we want to exploit include
- Solutions for multi-state operators (MSOs) and Licensed Producers (LPs)
- Ventures with an ESG (Environmental, Social, Government) impact focus
- The intersection of medical research and technology commercialization
- Workforce development and mass-market education
- Branded products and licensing deals with micro-influencers
- Industrial hemp supply chain inefficiencies
- Ancillary technologies with solutions that apply both inside and outside of the industry
- Regional conferences, events, media, and entertainment properties
Companies accepted into the program are provided with an $80,000 – $120,000 services package in exchange for an average of 5% equity. During the accelerator program, Greenhouse Ventures surrounds entrepreneurs with resources and mentors to expedite market validation, to test risky hypotheses, and to identify a scalable model based on user feedback, key performance metrics, and a long-term capitalization strategy.
Upon graduation from the accelerator, entrepreneurs either engage with GHV through an ongoing 12-month advisory agreement, or alternatively, select companies are offered a hands-on partnership with GHV through our Growth Stage Incubator program (12-24 months).
Entrepreneurs can apply here to be considered for our next accelerator beginning September 16, 2019.
Growth-Stage Incubator
Greenhouse Ventures has been successfully operating the industry’s first growth-stage incubator since 2016. Unlike traditional incubators, companies accepted into our growth-stage program are provided with hands-on operational guidance for 12-24 months, often resulting in GHV staff taking an interim management level position with the company. Applicants of the Growth-Stage Incubator seek to leverage GHV as a primary sales, operations, fiscal management, and capital formation partner in pursuit of seed or Series A financing.
Companies accepted into the Growth-Stage Incubator either graduate from a GHV Innovation Accelerator or are accepted based on a unique market opportunity that GHV identifies to implement a market-validation and scaling strategy that will expedite the company’s ability to gain customer traction and secure long-term strategic partners within 12 months of initial engagement.
Through the Growth-Stage Incubator, GHV contributes $100,000 – $1,500,000 in professional services (and sometimes cash) over a 12-24 month period in exchange for an equity position (10% – 40%) and/or a revenue-sharing agreement.