Globalizing Silicon Valley

The Founder Institute is a global network of startups and mentors that helps entrepreneurs launch meaningful and enduring technology companies. Through our four month idea-stage incubator program, you can launch your dream company with expert training, feedback, and support from experienced startup CEOs, while not being required to quit your day job. Our unique Bonus Pool also shares equity upside with all participants, creating local, teamwork-based ecosystems where great startups can flourish.

In under three years of operation, the Founder Institute has helped launch over 485 companies across 22 cities and five continents. Based on companies launched, we are the world's largest idea-stage incubator. 

Our goal is to "Globalize Silicon Valley" by launching 1,000 meaningful and enduring technology companies per year in 30 cities worldwide. The Founder Institute was founded in 2009 by serial entrepreneur, Adeo Ressi, and is operated out of a small warehouse in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Learn more about our model for Globalizing Silicon Valley through this infographic. 

Our Vision

Starting a company is often an arduous and lonely journey, and technology entrepreneurship is a constantly evolving discipline. Early mistakes can be deadly. The Founder Institute aims to improve the rate of startup success by providing high-potential entrepreneurs with expert training, critical objective feedback, and peer support in the early stages of building a company. .

Our Formula

Great People + Expert Training + Aligned Incentives = Exponentially Better Chance of Success

Great Companies Start With Great People

It's very hard to judge a new founder by the quality of their idea, because there is too much subjectivity involved. To apply to the Founder Institute, you do not need to provide an idea. Instead, we use a proprietary Predictive Admissions Test to find the best people. This social science test was developed along with leading university social scientists, and is regularly calibrated to identify entrepreneurial personality traits and remove all forms of subjective bias. Our unique applicant screening approach has been featured in CNNMoney.com in a piece by FI Mentor and Founder of Mint.com, Aaron Patzer.

Expert Training

We provide a four-month program with weekly company-building assignments guided by a worldwide network of over 750 Mentors that are founders themselves. Topics range from “Startup Legal and IP” towards the beginning of the program, to “Fundraising” near the end. Our curriculum was initially crowdsourced by the 17,000+ CEO members of TheFunded.com, and has since been improved using the Institute's experience running chapters in over 22 cities.

• Click here to see our full Curriculum
• Click here to see our full Mentor roster
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Aligned Incentives

Amazing things happen when smart people work together towards a common goal. To create and foster a teamwork-based ecosystem, the Founder Institute employs a unique Bonus Pool where everyone shares equity in the companies formed from each semester. Here's how it works - each Graduate contributes 3.5% of their company equity in warrants to a 10-year Bonus Pool with other peers from the current semester. The Pool returns are then distributed as follows:

• 40% goes to the Founder Institute, it's Local Directors and Partners.
• 30% goes to the Mentors, and each Mentor's individual share is based solely on anonymous ratings received from the Graduates.
• 30% goes back to the Graduates themselves - allowing them to earn returns based on both their success, and the success of their peers.

When one succeeds, everyone receives financial upside.

Other Benefits

• Flexibility - You are welcome to join the Founder Institute at any stage: Idea or no idea, early stage startup or no startup. You are not even required to quit your day job, because sessions are held once a week at night throughout the four month program.
• Services and Scale - We leverage our global scale to secure free and discounted services from leading law firms, hosting companies, technology providers, and over 50 other vendors. We also collect data, feedback, and reviews to select the best Mentors, improve the curriculum, fine tune the test, and improve the experience for participating Founders.
• Investment Support - Founders are introduced to local angels and venture capitalists throughout the program at three "investor sessions," where they can secure fair market value for their company in a low-pressure environment. Graduates are also featured on an exclusive “Founder Angels” mailing list, and are invited to participate in large-scale Founder Institute pitch events - such as the quarterly Founder Showcase in Silicon Valley.

Our Model

The Institute keeps costs low, bets on the success of the companies created, and shares in the returns.

• First, Founders pay a $50 USD Application Fee to cover the costs of administering the Predictive Admissions Test.
• Next, Founders accepted into the program contribute a $995 USD Course Fee to cover location fees, catering costs (14+ dinners), Mentor travel, and other expenses of running a 16 week program. The Course Fee is calculated by dividing costs by the expected number of accepted Founders.
• Third, Graduates from the program are asked to contribute warrants for 3.5% of their company priced at fair market value into the shared equity Bonus Pool that is split between the other Graduates, the Mentors, and the Institute. 30% of the Bonus Pool returns goes right back to the Graduates themselves, allowing them to earn returns based on the success of their peers.
• Lastly, if a company is successful and receives significant financing from third parties, the Institute asks that the company pay a one-time Tuition of $4,500, which supplies the growth capital for the Institute. The success of the Institute is based on the success of the graduates, as it should be.

“If you're lucky enough to get accepted and graduate from the program, these costs are negligible. In fact, I would go as far as saying that this is the best money you'll ever spend on your business” - Gary Herman, Silicon Valley Graduate (@garyjherman)

Applying

We believe that great founders are often overlooked by the current entrepreneurial system. As a result, anybody who is passionate about building a technology company is welcome to apply to the Founder Institute: idea or no idea, young or old, female or male, experienced in business or straight out of school. Our application process was designed to be as objective as possible. 

In each Application Period, there are two deadlines - the Early Admissions Deadline, and the Final Admissions Deadline. If you apply by the Early Admissions Deadline, you can take the Predictive Admissions Test for free (in select locations), and you have a greater chance of being accepted because your application is reviewed twice (before both deadlines). All other applicants must contribute $50 USD to help cover the administration costs of the test. From there, applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and once accepted you are granted access to a library of exclusive training content that will help you better prepare for the course ahead.

On average, the Founder Institute accepts roughly 30% of applicants, and performance on our Predictive Admissions Test is the predominant factor in our admissions process.

Apply to the Founder Institute today.

Graduating

Graduating from the Founder Institute is challenging. In fact, less than 50% of accepted Founders generally make it through the program. Reasons for not completing the program differ, but each Founder who leaves is invited to join a future semester, when they are ready to launch a business.

In order to graduate, a Founder needs to develop an engaging idea for a technology company, plan out the business, work on an offering, incorporate their company, and complete all of the required assignments - all within a four month timeframe.

When you graduate, you join an elite worldwide network of startups and Mentors that you can leverage for advice and support. Here are the ten main benefits to graduating, ordered from tangible to intangible:

• Bonus Pool: Each Graduate joins a ten year Bonus Pool that distributes cash generated from peer success. The shared upside reduces the risk of launching a company and creates camaraderie between Mentors and Founders, who all share in the pool.
• Discounts: Over 50 product and service partners, ranging from office space to legal, provide free or discounted offerings to Graduates - reducing the cost of starting a technology company from over $20,000 in the first year to as little as $5,000.
• Investment Support: The Institute has forged relationships with a dozen regional investment groups to fast track applications of Graduates, and the Institute has innovated in the creation of the Class F stock to protect Founders, the Plain Preferred term sheet for fair investments, and other fundraising guides.
• Events: TheFunded operates a series of events to assist seed stage companies in exposure and fundraising, such as the quarterly Founder Showcase.
• Global Network: Each Graduate joins an elite global network of over 485 startups, and 750 CEO Mentors, to leverage for feedback, advice, best practices, and support. The Founder Institute facilitates communication through a mailing list, periodic alumni gatherings, and other tools.
• Safe Haven: The scale of the Founder Institute encourages fair treatment of Graduates by investors and service providers. The Institute proactively confronts those who take advantage of our Graduates, and has published an internal “Blacklist” to steer Graduates away from unsavory characters.
• Prestige: The growing success of Graduates, combined with the difficulty in completing the program and the credibility of the Mentors, make graduation a prestigious accomplishment to help you secure investment, close partnership deals, find co-founders, and win industry awards.

Testimonials

• “A radically new idea in itself... This is entrepreneurship at a tremendous scale. What's different about the Founder Institute is the data it collects...” - Aaron Patzer, Founder & CEO of Mint.com, Founder Institute Mentor (@apatzer)
• “I participated in this Summer's program as a Mentor and have spoken with a number of entrepreneurs who have graduated. All found it to be a great experience.” - Michael Arrington, Founder & Co-Editor of TechCrunch, Founder Institute Mentor (@arrington)
• "Being a mentor for the institute not only gave me the opportunity to give back to fellow entrepreneurs but also to learn from them and the other mentors as well. Truly nothing else like it for tech startups. Wish I had this when I started my first company." - Jon Carder, Chief Mojo, MojoPages.com, Founder Institute Mentor (@joncarder)
• "Being involved with the Founder Institute program has already opened huge doors and great opportunities for CloudCanvas. We are excited and prepared to take it to the next level. We've all spent a lot of time getting our houses in order to complete the program and now our bases and backs are covered." - Chance Roth, CEO & Founder, CloudCanvas, San Diego Graduate (@aobjects)
• "After graduating from the Founder Institute, I highly recommend that anyone serious about their startup joins an incubator. You will learn what you’d learn by going through 2 or more startups. You will also meet fantastic mentors and have a great network of entrepreneurs going through the same things you’re going through." - Steffany Boldrini, Founder & CEO of EcoBold, Silicon Valley Graduate (@ecobold)
• “The Founder Institute was a critical factor in Udemy's successful fundraising. I can't say how valuable Adeo and the Founder Institute team was in providing advice and introductions throughout the fundraising process. Without Adeo's sage wisdom, Udemy may not have raised any money.” - Gagan Biyani, Co-Founder of Udemy.com, Silicon Valley Graduate (@gaganbiyani)
• "From the first session until now, they just get better and better. Formula - Great speakers, committed facilitators, and driven founders who hang in like they're at a revival. The spark you've created is a roaring fire here in LA, Adeo. It's been a pleasure and entirely worth the 2 hour drive each way to come to these sessions every week." - Uday Gupta, Founder of LiveOnCampus, San Diego Graduate
• “The community is worth its weight in gold." - Lecole Cole, Founder & CEO of Skydera, Silicon Valley Graduate (@lecole)

Blog Post Reviews:

• Engage-a-Pro Graduates from the Founder Institute - via @_JohnWhelan
• Founder Institute Graduation: The End of the Beginning for FotoJelly - via @cmross
• A Terrific Experience at the Founder Institute Paris - via @MayaTheBuzz
• 3 Lessons Learned from the Founder Institute - via @vladblagi
• The End of the Beginning: A Thought on Founder Institute Graduation - via @ProjectBoeja
• Jakarta Founder Institute: Preparing Entrepreneurs - via Remco Lupker
• Just How Glamorous is a Founder's Life? - via @cherylmarquez
• A Founder Institute Review - via @marenkate
• The Founder Institute Experience - via @brajeshwar
• Founder Institute Graduation - via Seth Cohen
• Newly Minted European Grads Talk About Graduation [VIDEO]
• If You're a Founder the Founder Institute is Your Hippo - via @adrianaherrera
• Why the Founder Institute is Great for Women - via @mediamum
• My Founder Institute Experience - via @hugotroche
• Finding My Passion Via The Founder Institute - via @aguywithanidea
• How I Used My Summer Vacation to Start a Business - via @caringwise
• My Experience at the Founder Institute Paris - via @gangadhards
• If You're a Female Founder Stomp Your Feet via @alexfriedman
• I'm a Singapore Founder Institute Graduate via @elishatan

Apply to the Founder Institute today