HEXA START
Hexa Start is where founders go from 0 to 1 with unfair odds: we push you to think bigger, execute faster, and 10x your chances of building a category-defining company in 12 months.
Founders who build with Hexa don’t just start companies, they build category leaders. See how our companies outperform the market.
We build the company together and provide you with everything you need to 10x your chances - for 25% of the company. In 12 months you will…
01. Match with a bold idea
Our partners identify high-potential opportunities targeting massive TAMs and match you with the most promising ones.
This is Hexa’s core expertise: a rigorous methodology to surface ambitious ideas capable of becoming exceptional companies. Our partners are repeat entrepreneurs who’ve launched multiple ventures, they know what makes a great idea, and they muscle-test each one with you to find the perfect match for your ambition and what you want to build.
See our current ideas
02. Find your co-founder
We help you meet the ideal co-founder so you can move faster and build better.
You’ll tap into Hexa’s extensive network and strong brand, which attract top-tier talent that would be hard to access alone. Co-founder matching is one of the biggest predictors of startup success and we know exactly what makes a great founding team and how to assemble complementary skills.
03. Build the first version of your product & get traction
You’ll be supported by a dedicated expert squad (product, design, and GTM) who work as an extension of your founding team.
They are specialists in the 0→1 phase and have helped dozens of founders get to traction quickly using a proven playbook. You don’t start alone, you start with great talent beside you, the kind that’s nearly impossible to hire at the earliest stage.
04. Spend time in San Francisco
We place you in the environment where things move fastest.
You'll spend time in San Francisco, living, working, and building there, with direct access to the SF ecosystem, a network of world-class builders, and an environment that can fundamentally change your company's trajectory.
05. Get funded
We cover all your costs for 12 months so you can focus entirely on building ambitiously.
Then we help you raise a strong seed round: we open our network of investors, coach you on how to pitch, help craft your deck, and prepare you to run an efficient fundraising process.
Learn more about the Hexa deal
An unfair starting line
Partners who've built before
You’ll be building alongside a dedicated partner, an ex entrepreneur who's been in your shoes before, acts as your “third co-founder,” helping you think bigger, maintain focus, and execute with a proven methodology.
10x method
Weekly KOs, product and GTM reviews, monthly investor updates, quarterly demo time - a cadence built for accountability and velocity. This 10x method has already helped build 50+ companies and 3 unicorns.
Human capital
Beyond your founding squad, you’ll tap into Hexa-level resources across finance, admin, legal, comms, community, and talent - so you can stay 100% focused on building.
Access to top-tier people
From early design partners to investors, journalists, and top operators, you’ll access a powerful network designed to accelerate every step of your journey.
Exclusive deals
You get access to curated partnerships and discounts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars - negotiated just for founders in our ecosystem.
Brand power to hire early
Leverage the Hexa brand to attract top talent even before your company is known. We de-risk the earliest stage, giving candidates the confidence to join and build with you.
Launching with Hexa immediately gave us a headstart. As soon as we got started, we had access to talent, a network of potential customers, and help from everyone in the core team. It’s been invaluable.
Hexa really sped up our 0 to 1 phase. We made key product and GTM decisions with very fast iteration loops. Access to the core team’s resources, the wider talent pool, and the Hexa brand made it way easier to reach product market fit.
What stuck out to me was their help with product and design. Early on, you have a product that is intuitive and looks great, which acts as a green flag for customers. This is rare. They were also invaluable in terms of fundraising and hiring.
What do we look for in founders?
We're in the business of partnering with people for whom launching a company isn't just a choice, but a calling; people who will create their company one day, with or without us. Besides this drive, there are specific traits we value: mindsets, soft skills, and qualities we’ve seen fuel successful startups time and time again. These boil down to ambition, humility, and execution. While there are always exceptions, they’re the attributes shared by many of our founders who have gone on to create some of the world’s leading software companies.
For a deep-dive on the profiles and qualities we look for in founders, read this.
What is the journey of a founder?
The journey at Hexa typically lasts 12 months. Every journey is different, but all startups reach the same milestones during their time at Hexa: getting matched with an idea, finding a cofounder, building an MVP, finding first customers, hiring a team, launching publicly, raising a seed round, and finally, becoming independent.
How involved is Hexa in each startup?
Hexa's Start track is deeply involved in each project, providing hands-on support over a 12-month period. Our team works alongside founders in key areas like product development, design, strategy, go-to-market planning, recruiting, and funding. The focus is on building strong, independent companies, both from an operational and financial perspective. We cover all costs until the company becomes independent. We do not provide shared resources in consulting mode to independent companies, nor do we provide funding to independent companies.
As for our partners, they contribute significantly to strategic decision-making, shaping the business's trajectory, and addressing complex challenges head-on, ensuring a blend of independence and expert guidance for the founders we support. Founders are in the driving seat, but need to remain open to the perspectives around them.
What does the Hexa team look like?
The Hexa team supports each project on recruiting, product, design, marketing, sales, finance, legal, and more strategic topics. Most importantly, the priority of each core team member is to help build a fully independent team for each project. It's also worth noting that we don't have software engineers in the core team working on new products. This means that each new startup's product will be built by engineers who have been recruited specifically for this company.
Where is it?
Hexa is based in Paris, 12 rue Martel 75010. We have several founders who aren’t based in Paris, but it’s important to have a presence at our HQ to benefit from the resources, guidance and expertise of our partners and core team. Building startups in teams is at the core of our ethos.
How do we find founders?
Every month, entrepreneurs reach out to us to express their interest in launching a company with us. When we sit down with them, we want to have a real and open conversation, similar to when two people meet for a coffee for the first time. The aim is to get to know each other, identify mutual areas of interest and assess the possibility of working together in the long run. The discussions are led by the Hexa partners responsible for each idea. We have three kinds of discussions in the partnering process:
Fit and skills discussion - are we a good professional match?
Idea fit - as we’re spending more and more time together working on the business idea, do we feel that we’re going in the same direction?
Ownership - as our discussion moves forward, do we feel that entrepreneurs are taking ownership of the idea and bringing their own vision and insights to it?
Co-founder match - if a co-founder's already in place, do we think there's a match?
What is the difference between Hexa Start and Hexa Sprint?
Hexa Start is for entrepreneurs building companies from scratch, often before they have a concrete idea. The program runs for 12 months and is more operationally intensive: it provides the idea, team, and co-founder. It's perfect for founders who don't have an idea or traction yet. Hexa Sprint is for founding teams who already have an idea and are looking for their first check, typically at the pre-seed stage.
How many people get through?
At Hexa, we believe in nurturing potential and fostering entrepreneurial spirit. Every year, we are approached by roughly 1000 aspiring entrepreneurs, each with a unique vision and drive. From these, we select an average of 12 founders (two per project) per year to embark on the startup journey with us. This selection reflects not just the high demand for our program but also our commitment to dedicating intensive, personalized support to each founder. Our selection process is thorough and fair, prioritizing candidates who exhibit the qualities we value most: ambition, humility, and the ability to execute. Find out more about what we look for here.
Our focus is on finding the right match between the founder's vision and our expertise. We believe in giving everyone a fair chance and making our decision based on who we think has the highest potential to succeed in the challenging and rewarding world of startups.
Where do the ideas come from?
The initial idea will in most cases come from our partners. The numerous rich discussions we have through our deep exposure to entrepreneurs, companies, investors, and more generally the global tech ecosystem are the key source of inspiration for new pain points to solve. An idea for us generally means (1) a pain point we want to solve, and (2) a first mockup of the initial MVP - a simple solution to start solving the pain point while providing enough value to users.
It's important to understand the idea will obviously evolve as we will be working together on the venture, driven by the founding team - and that in our experience the founders very quickly become full owners of the idea.
Find out more about our current ideas here.
How much equity does Hexa take?
You can find all the details about the Hexa deal here.
What is the journey of a startup after independence?
Once the company raises a seed round, it becomes a completely "normal" startup. The founders are in the driver's seat, they have a board comprised of the founders and the key investors. As the business grows, the team will also grow. As cash burn increases, the company generally needs to raise additional funding rounds often with VCs (Series A, B, C...). In general, startups are not profitable for a long time, as they tend to invest a lot in growing the business (e.g. by hiring engineers, sales, marketing people, etc). Hexa remains a shareholder until an "exit", the company is sold, or listed on a public market.
