Location

Choose a city closest to you.

Fall 2011 Amsterdam
Applications: Oct 02, '11
Sessions: Oct 11, '11 - Jan 31, '12

Vision

Our vision is to Globalize Silicon Valley by creating and fostering local startup ecosystems in promising markets across the globe. We aim to help launch 1,000 technology companies per year in over 30 cities worldwide.

Join the Program

Sponsors

Microsoft BizSpark - Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that helps software startups succeed by giving them access to Microsoft software development tools, connecting them with key industry players, including investors, and providing marketing visibility to help entrepreneurs starting a business. Microsoft BizSpark is a worldwide partner of the Founder Institute, providing software, support, facilities, and mentoring to many entrprenuers within the Fouder Insitute network. Learn more about our partnership here, and sign-up for BizSpark here.

Clifford Chance is one of the world's leading law firms, with 33 offices* in 23 countries and some 3,200 legal advisers. www.cliffordchance.com

Sanoma Media is a media company that crosses frontiers, with her expertise, creativity and appealing content Sanoma creates the right context for advertisers to achieve their objectives. Sanoma Media Netherlands B.V. is a part of the Sanoma Group, an European mediagroup operating in several media sectors in twenty countries www.sanomamedia.nl

V-Ventures is a holding company with a portfolio of Dutch investments geared towards news- and information supply and management www.v-ventures.nl  

Events

Join us for a free event to meet local startup founders, and learn about FI.

• New York City Pitch Bootcamp (Jan. 26th, 6 - 9 PM)

See all of our upcoming events here. 

Twitter (@founding)

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Founder Feedback gives you insights from the startup trenches.

In a story posted to her blog Escaping the 9 to 5, Maren Kate, founder of Zirtual, details her first year experience as the Founder of a new startup. The most valuable thing she learned was that focusing on cultivating persistence is the key. 

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The Founder Institute has graduated over 400 companies in over 20 cities worldwide. 

Over the past week, iRewardChart won a Best Parenting App award, Spinnakr won the 9th Founder Showcase, Zirtual wrote a great post, and Udemy was mentioned in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation annual letter. 

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Just a few months ago, we announced a large partnership with Microsoft BizSpark to give our startups scholarships, software, support, and visibility to help them succeed. Well, today we are excited to annouce an even deeper relationship that will give our companies more support - including up to $60,000 in Windows Azure Cloud services over two years. It's called the BizSpark Plus Program, and the Founder Institute is one of a select few launching partners. 

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Since 2009, the Founder Institute has helped launch over 50 startups across Los Angeles and New York City. Now we're getting ready to launch many more, as we gear up for new Spring 2012 Semesters in both cities. If you or someone you know could benefit from expert training and feedback to launch a technology startup in Los Angeles or New York City, then apply today. 

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Inside FI gives you exclusive access inside the training sessions of the Founder Institute.

It's important to understand the details and negotiate favorable terms that align the interests of the entrepreneurs with the investors. However, as Barry Silbert,  Founder and CEO of SecondMarket explains in this video, “it’s worth taking a less attractive term sheet to work with investors you like.”

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We are very excited to announce the 22nd Founder Institute location: St. Louis, U.S. If you or someone you know could benefit from expert training and feedback to launch a technology startup in the greater St. Louis area, click here to apply.

The St. Louis Founder Institute Chapter will be led by four leaders of the local entrepreneurship and angel investment community; including Brian Matthews, Trey Goede, Kyle Welborn, and Israel Vicars.

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At last week's 9th Founder Showcase, we celebrated the best investors of 2011 with TheFunded.com's Entrepreneur Investor Awards.

Anthony Ha of TechCrunch covered the awards here.

Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz, George Zachary of Charles River Ventures, Philippe Herbert of Banexi Venture Partners, Yuri Milner of Mail.ru Group, and Dave McClure of 500 Startups all received awards. 

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Last Thursday, over 300 people gathered in Silicon Valley for the 9th Founder Showcase, hosted by TheFunded.com and the Founder Institute. At the event, 8 companies competed on stage in a free pitch competition, and taking the Grand Prize was Michael Mayernick and Spinnakr - a service for displaying targeted messaging on your website based on the specific audience segments. Click here to see the video of their pitch. 

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The Founder Institute has graduated over 400 companies in over 20 cities worldwide.

Over the past week, Retailigence raised $2.6m, Client Magnet was featured on PC World, Breezy  announced the organizations feature, Zambig was profiled by Mark Ramsey Media, and ShareSquare wrote a guest post on Mashable.

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Founder Feedback gives you insights from the startup trenches.

On his blog "Be Launched", Vladimir Blagojevic, Founder of Grant Snap and newly minted Graduate of the Brussels Founder Institute, described the three top lessons he learned from the Founder Institute. 

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