01 · Who Launchpad serves
First-generation founders. Real businesses. Real bridges.
Launchpad is for the entrepreneur who is already moving — not the person looking for a job, and not the person with a slide deck and no traction. You're earning something, however small. You can name the next milestone. You know what would unlock it.
We are biased toward operators with skin already in the game. The single mom running a cleaning business out of her car who needs the deposit on a small commercial space. The barber who has filled every chair he can borrow and needs his own. The food-truck owner whose generator is on its last leg. The HVAC tech who has the customers but not the second truck.
Pillar I gets 50% of grant capital because lifted entrepreneurs become tomorrow's givers — the flywheel that funds the next class.
First-generation, defined
What we mean — in plain language.
A first-generation entrepreneur, for Launchpad's purposes, is an individual whose parents did not own and operate a business in the same trade or industry. You're the first in your family line to build this thing. You don't have a parent's company to inherit, a family vendor list to lean on, or a built-in line of credit at the local bank.
We use this definition the way the IRS will read it — as a charitable class — not as a hard wall. If you come from a family of restaurateurs and you're starting a roofing company, you're first-generation in that trade. If your parents ran a small shop that closed before you were old enough to learn it, tell us — the Grants Committee weighs the spirit of it, not just the line on a form.
We ask because the bridge we're funding is the one most families take for granted: the first $500 to $5,000 of unobligated capital, paired with someone who has built what you're building. If you already have that bridge at home, we'd rather route the grant to someone who doesn't.
02 · What Launchpad provides
The grant is just the start.
Micro-grant
$500 to $5,000, sized to the specific bridge you can name. Most awards land between $1,500 and $3,500. Funds typically paid directly to the vendor or supplier rather than handed across as cash.
Mentor match
An operator from our growing network — somebody who has built what you're trying to build. Not a coach selling a course. Real experience, matched to the specific challenge you're facing.
90-day accountability
Three structured check-ins over the first quarter. What's working, what's not, what's next. Honest. Not punitive. Not optional — the accountability is part of the grant.
Founder community
Quarterly gatherings of Launchpad grantees. Resource kits, peer introductions, war-story sharing. Trade secrets shared, no consultants invited.
The flywheel invitation
Two years out, Launchpad graduates are invited — never obligated — to give back where they got their blessing. That's how we sustain the next class.
03 · What we look for
Honest signals. Not paperwork theater.
01
Skin in the game
You are already doing the thing, however small. Your own time and money are already in it. We are a bridge, not the bottom of the boat.
02
A specific bridge
Not "more money would help." A specific thing: this tool, this lease deposit, this inventory order, this license fee. If we award it, what unlocks?
03
Honesty about the gap
What you don't know yet. Where you're stuck. What scares you. We can't help with what you won't name. The whole point is that fear was never meant to win.
04
Willingness to be matched and held
A mentor isn't an extra. 90-day check-ins aren't an extra. If you don't want either, Launchpad isn't your pillar.
"Your faith and your ambition are not in conflict."
Apply
Ready to apply for Launchpad?
The application takes about 15 minutes. Acknowledged within 48 hours. Decision within 30 days of the cycle deadline.
Apply: Launchpad →