Evaluation Process

Founders Games has a summer and a winter edition. Each year more than 6000 startups coming from 150+ countries apply for the competition. A collective intelligence of 200+ top Venture Capital investors are acting as jury members of the Founders Games. The VCs have a wildcard to refer their top portfolio companies into the 1st and 2nd rounds so they have a better chance of continuing ahead in the competition.

Before making the selection, the Founders Games’ team screens through all of the applicants and conducts further research of the startups. Then the team makes a thorough review and evaluation to choose the best companies that will continue to Round 2.

The startups are evaluated by different jury members based only on the application forms they have submitted.

The jury members evaluate the startups based on the 6 evaluation criteria:

• IMPACT FACTOR (SDG Compliance)
• UNIQUENESS OF THE IDEA
• TEAM CAPACITY
• BUSINESS MODEL, SCALABILITY AND MARKET ADOPTION
• FUNDING & FINANCES
• LEADERSHIP AND PERSONAL QUALITIES OF THE TEAM

The 4 Startups which have the highest scoring in each of the 17 verticals of Founders Games continue in this round.

Interesting fact:
More than 200+ investors and late stage VC representatives participate as jury members in the competition.

The 4 startups from the same vertical compete between each other in front of 5 jury members.

They pitch and answer questions coming from the jury. The juries have previously looked into the 4 companies and are able to evaluate and provide their feedback after each startup's performance. The startup with the highest score continues ahead in the competition.

Interesting fact:
In each subsequent round, the jury rank is higher.

The winners from each vertical compete between each other in front of jury members which chooses the big finalists which continue ahead.

The finalists pitch in front of an All-star jury.