Hey Product Hunt 👋 I’m super excited to share something new I’ve had the pleasure of working on with my team at Mercury. It’s called Mercury Raise First Check. I know from my own experience of getting a startup off the ground that one of the most difficult decisions that an early-stage founder has to make is whether to pursue their startup full-time. So many great ideas never take off because founders don’t have the freedom and capital to chase them at full steam. Sometimes all you need is a first check. Today we are launching Mercury Raise First Check as an interactive, community-led way to help early-stage companies get exposure and land their first check. Here’s how it works: 📄 Applications open today and close on July 1, 2022 🏭 Our evaluation committee will narrow down the applications to ~20 finalists 🗳 The public will be invited to cast their votes for their favorite finalists from July 11 - 15 ✅ The three companies with the highest number of votes will each be offered a $15K investment from Mercury (via SAFE terms with an MFN clause) and a featured profile on our blog I’ve seen firsthand the way the Product Hunt community rallies behind entrepreneurial ideas and products from all across the Internet. We would love you to join us in sharing the Mercury Raise First Check application with your network. Also make sure to participate in the community vote July 11–15.

Very excited to see how we can help founders make the leap and build their ideas! Nice work @jdsimcoe and team!

Hi hunters, it’s been a very cool journey watching First Check grow from idea to full-fledged new product. My favourite thing about First Check, besides joining the gorgeous visual language of our Mercury Raise brand, has been watching the incredible ownership every member of the team has taken in their part of making this happen. It’s that same kind of ownership we see in the founders we’re helping equip and I think it makes all the difference in the user experience.

Hey Product Hunt! I joined Mercury not too long ago and one of the things that really attracted me to the company was its commitment to the founder community. Going beyond our products, we help entrepreneurs transform their ideas into reality through our Mercury Raise programs that connect founders with investors. And today, we are launching Mercury Raise First Check, a brand new program tailored to founders at the earliest stages of their entrepreneurial journeys. If you or someone you know needs a nudge to take the plunge on their startup idea, I hope you will apply. Congrats to @jdsimcoe and team on the launch!

Hey PH! 👋🏾 I’m Dave, an engineer on our Growth team - I had a hand in developing the page and I’m so stoked for First Check to launch! (Huge shoutout to the team for all the hard work on this) We really prioritized creating an initiative that would provide the next generation of startups and their founders with the resources that they need to grow. Good luck to all of our applicants!

Hey Product Hunt! I’m Alexis, and I’m on the Mercury Raise team. We’re always looking for new ways to support founders at different stages, and excited to now add First Check to the Mercury Raise lineup. Finding your first check can be a daunting process, especially if this is your first time starting a company. With First Check, we aim to simplify the process. I’m looking forward to seeing how First Check will help founders achieve this milestone!

I joined Mercury in January excited to help build programs that help founders connect, execute and scale. The last few years have seen a lot more tools introduced to help founders gain access to investors — Mercury launched our Investor Database less than a year ago, for example — but getting funded at the early, early stages can be such a catch-22. Founders need an investor to get other investors! I’ve been excited to help think through this problem and how Mercury can provide a simple way for founders just starting out to gain more visibility, community, access to investors and, most importantly, an actual investment. This has been a true team effort and I’m excited to see this opportunity out in the world for founders now!

With Mercury Raise, we’ve supported founder communities and fundraising opportunities for Seed, Series A, and DTC companies. Launching First Check is an exciting next step to help us expand our reach!