What Unleash is
A free community for South African early-stage founders.
You get access to Phil and our mentors, a WhatsApp peer group, our playbooks and tools, and three community calls each quarter. Calls are led by the founders in the room, working through real problems in real time.
Pre-revenue hunting product-market fit, scaling sales, working toward a co-founder hire, or preparing your next round — the cohort works on it with you.
You are part of your cohort.
What Unleash is not
- Not a VC, not a fund. We provide value whether we invest or not.
- Not an accelerator. No curriculum, no demo day, no equity.
- Not a pitch room. The point is the work, not introductions. Show up to move forward, not to pitch.
Why we do this
Building a company costs less than it used to. Leaner teams. Faster software. Less capital needed before you have real signal.
That changes the order of operations.
Isolate a real problem. Get in front of customers early. Get to revenue before you raise. Build cash-resilient from day one.
Mentorship from people who've built and sold — not consultants, not coaches.
South African funds look for revenue. So does every serious investor. Build to that standard.
Who's behind this
Unleash is run by PAS Ventures — Philipp Ströhemann's family holding, which finances the initiative — together with the supporters and mentors we've met along the way.
Two things we're trying to do.
Get as many South African companies as possible to self-sustaining revenue — or to funding that actually fits: revenue-based, angel, operator money. Not every business needs VC.
See the best businesses early. Some we'll back through our studio model. Most we won't. A founder who spends a quarter here should be further along — whether we invest or not.
Who can join
We work with South African early-stage founders. A good fit usually looks like one or more of these:
- Pre-revenue or up to R500k in annual revenue.
- You've identified a real problem and want to build further.
- You want operator-level feedback on your business.
- You're prepping for or thinking through your next round of funding.
- You have your first paying customers and want to figure out how to scale.
If that's you, apply.
Quarterly cohorts
- Up to 15 new founders join per cohort. The wider community grows as each cohort rolls in.
- Each cohort runs for one quarter.
- Three community calls per quarter. Attend at least two.
- Maximum stay is three quarters. After that you move on, so we can bring in the next founder. If you miss the 2/3 attendance bar in any quarter, your spot rolls earlier. We want to give value to as many South African founders as we can.
- Applications for the next cohort open the last month of the current quarter.
How we use the WhatsApp group
- Tell us what you're working on, what's been hard, and what you've been solving.
- Don't wait for the community call — Phil, the mentors, and other founders will try to unblock you right there.
- Share progress when it's useful to others.
- Speak from experience. Keep it straight.
What we commit to you
By the end of your first quarter in the community:
- A clear view of your entrepreneurial journey and your business.
- An honest assessment from Phil and our co-mentors.
- A clear picture of your funding options.
- If it's an investment opportunity for Unleash, we'll say so — and if not, why.
What we ask from you
- Engage fully. Make this useful for you.
- Use the tools we share — playbooks, templates, skills.
- Tell us what we can improve. Email Nicolene at nicolene@pas-ventures.com with what you'd like to see.
- Help other founders. Be open.
- If you know a founder this is right for, send them our application link: tally.so/r/7Rx9z2