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The Tenacity Worx story

Tenacity Worx was founded in April 2011 by Allan Teruel and Renelito Delos Santos. Both of the aspiring entrepreneurs had applied to Y Combinator but were rejected. Unwilling to give up on their dreams, Teruel and Delos Santos initiated a brand new accelerator program that would parallel the YC class. Within hours of announcing their intentions on their blog, hundreds of entrepreneurs had reached out to express their interest, tens of Valley executives had offered to be mentors and several angel investors had committed to funding the accelerator. What was once known as the YC Reject project became Tenacity Worx.

What is Tenacity Worx?

We are a program for tech startups that provides seed capital, mentoring sessions and introductions to prominent individuals and investment firms.

What will happen at Tenacity Worx?

In addition to providing you seed capital, we'll be holding regular sessions where we listen, learn and work closely with your company. We will advise you in product development, customer acquisition and fundraising. We will also introduce you to experienced mentors and investors.

What is Tenacity Worx's purpose?

Our purpose is to identify awesome startups and help them succeed. We will achieve this by:
  • Bringing together the right people
  • Helping them build great products
  • Guiding their strategic development process

    • What is Tenacity Worx's vision?

    Our vision serves as the framework for our roadmap and guides every aspect of our business by describing what we need to accomplish in order to continue achieving sustainable, quality growth.
  • People: Get stuff done, be open to change and support one another
  • Product: Solve a deeply felt need using the correct technology and design it with the customer in mind.
  • Opportunity: Expand your network to meet customers, mentors, investors and peers that will further your venture

    • What does Tenacity Worx value?

    Our values serve as a compass for our actions and describe how we behave in the world.
  • Passion: Do whatever it takes to make your company awesome
  • Collaboration: The desire to help like-minded individuals succeed
  • Leadership: The courage to build a better future
  • Quality: What we do, we do well
    • Help Others Succeed
  • Trust and support one another
  • Be committed to helping others succeed
  • Work together to seek ideas and share solutions
  • Learn from and teach your peers
  • Give constructive feedback and receive it gracefully
  • Build good relationships and a good team spirit
    • Be Customer Focused
  • Solve a real, deeply-felt need
  • Focus on the customer’s experience
  • Get out into the market to listen, observe and learn
  • Go the extra mile to show we care
    • Work Efficiently
  • Use the correct technology to deliver the solution
  • Focus on execution every day
  • Remain responsive to change
  • Have the courage to change course when needed
  • Remain constructively discontent
  • Get stuff done
  • Remain insatiably curious
    • Act Like Owners
  • Be accountable for what we do and what we do not do
  • Reward people for taking risks and finding better ways to find a solution
  • Focus on building value
  • Respect others and succeed together
    • Live the Mission
  • Inspire collaboration, excellence, passion, and fun

    • Who Founded Tenacity Worx?

    Allan Teruel (pronounced: [teˈɾwel]) is a co‐founder and managing member at Tenacity Worx, a program for tech startups that provides seed capital, weekly mentoring sessions and introductions to prominent individuals and investment firms. Allan held various lead engineering and sales positions with IntruVert Networks (acquired by McAfee), Meraki and Cast Iron Systems (acquired by IBM). In his free time he likes to play with his Rhodesian Ridgeback dog and with new technology in San Jose. Allan graduated with a B.S. in Operations and Management Information Systems from Santa Clara University. You can contact Allan here.
    You can see Allan's favorite music videos here.



    Renelito Delos Santos is the co-founder and managing member at Tenacity Worx, a program for tech startups that provides seed capital, weekly mentoring sessions and introductions to prominent individuals and investment firms. Renelito is also a Payload Systems Manager at one of the premier commercial aerospace firms, where he leads teams that design and manufacture communications systems for spacecrafts. Prior to building satellites, Renelito was in marketing at Intel. Renelito graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University and is an MBA candidate at Santa Clara University, where he is a Graduate Business Fellow. You can contact Renelito here.