London company funds people, not plans, to form startups from scratch

London

ENTREPRENEUR First, a London-based sparring group for startup companies, seeks to get ahead of its US peers by catching technical talents before they even know what to build or to whom to sell it.

"The idea is to get them before Y Combinator does, so that you don't only get the second best," said Philip Wilkinson, a partner mentoring startups in the Entrepreneur First programme, referring to the California-based financier which has seen success in early involvement in companies such as Airbnb Inc, Dropbox Inc and Reddit, Inc.