Cohorts
A cohort is one intake cycle under your programme — for example, “Cohort 3 — Q1 2026.” Each cohort has its own application form, applicant criteria, and pipeline of submissions. A programme can run as many cohorts as it needs, one at a time or in sequence.
The cohort lifecycle
Section titled “The cohort lifecycle”Every cohort moves through four stages:
Draft → Open → Closed → Completed| Stage | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | The cohort is being configured. Applications are not yet accepted. |
| Open | The public application form is live. Founders can apply. |
| Closed | The application window has ended. No new submissions accepted, but existing ones can still be reviewed. |
| Completed | The cohort is finished. All submissions are archived. |
Creating a cohort
Section titled “Creating a cohort”Go to Cohorts in the sidebar, then click New Cohort.
You’ll be walked through a setup wizard. Here’s what each section covers:
Basic details
Section titled “Basic details”- Cohort name — e.g. “Cohort 4 — 2026” or “Spring Intake.” Seen by your team only.
- Duration — e.g. “12 weeks.” Informational only.
- Location — Where the programme will run, if applicable.
- Delivery mode — In-person, hybrid, or remote.
Applicant profile
Section titled “Applicant profile”This tells the platform what kinds of founders you’re looking for. It’s used to calibrate the AI-generated application form.
- Applicant types — Select all that apply: ideator, early-stage startup, student, technical founder, social entrepreneur, returning founder, corporate innovator, diaspora founder, researcher.
- Target sectors — e.g. fintech, healthtech, agritech. Leave blank to accept all sectors.
- Target geographies — leave blank to accept applications from anywhere.
Capacity
Section titled “Capacity”- Expected number of applicants — your rough estimate. Helps the platform surface useful analytics.
- Shortlist size — how many you intend to accept into the programme.
Eligibility rules
Section titled “Eligibility rules”Set hard rules that can automatically flag applications that don’t qualify:
- Minimum/maximum age
- Required business registration
- Allowed sectors or locations
- Commitment hours per week
- Required documents
Launching a cohort (payment)
Section titled “Launching a cohort (payment)”Before a cohort can go live and accept applications, a payment is required to unlock that cohort’s capacity.
To complete payment:
- Open the cohort and go to Settings → Billing.
- Choose a pricing plan based on the number of applications you expect.
- Click Pay Now — this opens a secure Paystack payment popup.
- Complete the payment. Once confirmed, your cohort status automatically flips to Open.
Once open, your application form link is live. Share it with prospective applicants — see Application Forms for how to find and distribute your form link.
Closing and completing a cohort
Section titled “Closing and completing a cohort”When your application window ends, update the cohort status to Closed from the cohort settings page. This stops new submissions but doesn’t affect your existing pipeline.
Once you’ve finished reviewing all submissions, mark the cohort as Completed.
Cohort overview
Section titled “Cohort overview”Each cohort has an Overview tab showing live stats:
- Total submissions received
- How many are pending review, approved, or rejected
- Average fit and clarity scores across all submissions
- Top sectors represented