Common Ventures has launched its Common Path programme, which is designed to help talented graduates from lower-income backgrounds build a career in startups. The programme is designed to identify graduates with the drive, resilience, self awareness and mental agility to thrive in startups, regardless of where they went to school
Kirstie Pickering
Common Ventures has launched its Common Path programme, which is designed to help talented graduates from lower-income backgrounds build a career in startups.
The programme is designed to identify graduates with the drive, resilience, self awareness and mental agility to thrive in startups, regardless of where they went to school or who they know.
Through four intensive week-long sprints, each cohort will develop the practical skills needed to succeed in early-stage companies before being introduced directly to startups.
Common Ventures says UK tech still has a social mobility problem. Only 9% of the country’s tech workforce comes from lower-income backgrounds and when it comes to the people building startups, founders from working class backgrounds remain underrepresented.
The VC says by building talent density at the entry point and giving founders a credible way to hire beyond established networks, it believes the startup pipeline can start to look very different.
The programme is supported by the VC’s industry partners The Hg Foundation, The Sutton Trust, Phoenix Court and Atomico.
Interested graduates can apply to the Common Path programme now. Common Ventures is also looking to collaborate with employers and mentors as part of the programme.
The launch follows news of Common Venture’s Fund I last week, which will invest in pre-seed companies led by state-educated and immigrant founders across the UK.
