Have an idea worth building, but not sure where to start? And when to find the time?

You’ve spent enough time in an industry to see a problem others may be missing. You have experienced it yourself, you maybe even have some ideas what to build to solve it.

But turning that insight into a scalable startup is another story. 

Where do you start? What should you test first? How do you know whether the problem is big enough? When do you find the time?  

That’s where Apolo comes in. We’re looking for entrepreneurial talent that wants to build their company with us. 👉 Apply with my idea here 

Who we're looking for

We’re looking for people who:

• Have an initial idea grounded in real experience. You know the industry, the customer or the problem because you’ve worked in it or lived it closely.
• Make things happen. You’re proactive, resourceful and comfortable picking up the phone, talking to customers, testing things. 
• Can combine action with rigor. You like moving fast, but you’re also willing to slow down when needed, question your assumptions, look at the data and work methodically. 
• Would welcome structure and support from our team.

Which type of idea are we interested in and can bring value:

Our expertise is more valuable in digital, e-commerce Saas and agentic businesses. Therefore, we look for ideas that are

• Scalable model, leveraging digital and/or AI 
• Solve a real problem or frictions

We do not build:

• Hardware company
• Service companies (such as communication agency, software development services, etc)
• Deep tech company
• Non-scalable businesses such as food truck, coffee shop, etc. 

What happens at Apolo

You recognise yourself in both the profile and the idea. Then that’s what we bring for you

We build the company together: Our role is to reduce some of the uncertainty of the founding stage by bringing a proven methodology, funding and hands-on support.

• Phase 1: Stress-test the idea

We give you a clear sequence to validate the problem, customer, market and business model before investing heavily in the solution. That means customer interviews, experiments, market research, landing pages, outreach and whatever else gives us the fastest path to evidence. The goal isn’t to prove that your idea is right. It’s to find out whether it deserves to become a company. We do actively help no just tell what to do.

• Phase 2: Build and launch the first version

Once the opportunity is sufficiently validated, we help you move from research to execution: building the first version of the product, defining the go-to-market strategy and getting it in front of customers with a 20K budget.

• Phase 3: Fund the company & scale

When the idea reaches our validation threshold and we mutually decide to pursue it, Apolo provides the initial funding needed to launch the company.

You will get:

• A sparring partner: Building a company can quickly put you la tête dans le guidon. We act as an extension of you: helping define priorities, challenge assumptions, identify the highest-impact initiatives and measure whether what we’re doing is actually working.
• Access to early funding: so you can focus on building & getting relevant traction. 
• Work in a vibrant ecosystem: entrepreneurship can be very lonely so better to be surrounded by motivated people, other entrepreneurs & some pink otters.  
• Meaningful equity: we look for a split that aligns interests & effort. 

What we ask from you

During the initial validation phase, you need to be available for a minimum of 6 hours per week for approximately 2 months.

This is not a passive advisory exercise. We will work together, speak with customers, run tests and make decisions based on what we learn.

If the idea is validated and we jointly decide to fund the company, we will expect you to join the venture full-time and lead its next phase.

Think this could be you?

If there’s a problem you’ve been thinking about for a while or a business idea. and you believe your experience gives you an unusual perspective on it, we’d like to hear from you. You can fill in the short from below.

👉 Apply with my idea here