Partners

Silicon Valley Spring 2013

Local Partners:

UberConference - UberConference is visual phone conferencing. It is conference calling done right. They are offering Founders of this session 6 free months of UberConference Pro.

Global Partners

If you are interested in becoming a Founder Institute partner and helping us launch the next wave of innovative technology companies, please contact Joe Falore at joe (at) fi (dot) co

Please note that partnerships are subject to change.

Featured Partners

• 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 entrepreneurs within the Fouder Insitute network. Learn more about our partnership here, and sign-up for BizSpark here.

• Elance - Elance, the world’s leading platform for online employment, is pleased to partner with The Founder Institute and present enrollees with a $100 credit in Elance services to help participating companies hire online talent to launch their startup idea. In addition, the highest rated overall company of each graduating class in applicable semesters will receive $500 in Elance service credit.

• SendGrid - SendGrid powers your app's outgoing & incoming email capabilities, through a super-scalable cloud-based infrastructure. SMTP & API integration options let developers build more faster and focus on the important stuff. The metrics we report back will elevate you to the level of Email Jedi Master. They are offering founders 6 months of free service.  

• crowdSPRING - the world's #1 marketplace for custom logos, web design and naming, is pleased to partner with Founder Institute to give you $20 off any project, plus a free ($99 value) advanced promotion (total discount: $119). Entrepreneurs post what you need, when you need it and how much you’ll pay. Once posted, creatives from around the world submit actual work. You select from among actual work (an average of 130+ entries per project), not bids or proposals. crowdSPRING (winner of numerous national and international awards) has helped tens of thousands of entrepreneurs from the United States and 100+ other countries meet their creative needs. To redeem the discount, visit the Founder Institute landing page.

• Softjourn - We believe that global teams are not just for the big guys. We have proved this many times by assisting startups to go from an idea to a successful business.  You will feel the difference working with us; technical expertise, communication and experience make us a partner rather than just coders.  We love helping you launch!

• Squarespace- Squarespace is a state-of-the-art website creation platform with beautiful, mobile-ready template designs, the revolutionary LayoutEngine page building system, and over 50 innovative features that make high-end web design accessible to all. Sign up here.

• CloudSigma - CloudSigma is a next generation pure cloud I-a-a-S provider offering unprecedented flexibility in terms of computing configurations and customization. They let you fix the server size, run the OS and apps you want! They are offering Founders 3 months of UNLIMITED free capacity, MATCHED funding for the first 12 months, and a 25% additional discount for the next 24 months. 

• Dell - Dell Center for entrepreneurs has launched a $100million global initiative to accelerate emerge business to market and become the #1 technology provider to entrepreneurs.

Legal

General

• LegalZoom - LegalZoom, the nation's leading online legal service, merges innovative technology with personalized service to deliver a simple, cost - effective way to take care of common legal needs. They are offering Founders an exclusive 25% discount on business formation.
• Northwest Registered Agent Service - Northwest Registered Agent is the fastest national registered agent service, offering a flat yearly rate and easy to use online forms. They also offer extensive online resources and tools, such as scans of all documents you receive without any forwarding fees. They are offering Founders 30% off Registered Agent services.

Product

Product Planning

• Balsamiq - Balsamiq Mockups is the fastest and easiest wireframing tool on the market. They are offering Founders a $30 discount for a single user, and a $129 discount when purchasing a 5-editor Balsamiq Mockups for Desktop License. 
• Protoshare - ProtoShare is a collaborative, web - based tool for prototyping web applications and sites. With ProtoShare's easy but powerful drag and drop components, anyone can quickly build a rich interactive prototype. They are offering Founders a free 30 day trial plus a 20% discount on annual plans.
• Weebly - Offering all Founders a free 12 - month subscription to Weebly Pro - the web's leading drag - and - drop website creation service.

Product Development

• 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.
• Elance - $100 in Free credits to Elance - the leading place to hire expert freelancers, consultants, and outsourcers to do your work. 
• Twilio - Twilio is a simple, pay-as-you-go web service that empowers developers to build voice and SMS applications. 8,000+ developers use Twilio - including start ups, Fortune 100 companies, and both major political parties. They are offering Founders a $133.70 credit.
• Retailigence - Retailigence is a leading provider of location-based retail industry data. Founders are offered free access to Retailigence API's as well as promotional support if they launch a product that integrates its data. To Redeem click here.
• WeLink -"Social Community for Mobile Apps."  Use WeLink's Plug n Play SDKs to instantly create a private social community within your mobile application. With 10 lines of code and 15 minutes of development, WeLink transforms your app into a socially connected BEAST!" They are offering founders the ultra pricing model at no charge for 12 month ($5,000 value).
• Digital Aptitude - 25% off their leading Web Development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay per Click (PPC), Conversion Optimization, and Social Media Marketing (SMM) services to help your company attract more clients.
• ProjectLocker - ProjectLocker is a leading provider of on - demand development tools for software developers. They are offering Founders a free one - year subscription to ProjectLocker Venture edition ($99 value).

• CloudForge - CloudForge by CollabNet is the leading provider of cloud development and deployment tools including Subversion (SVN), Git, Bugzilla, Trac and TeamForge.  The CloudForge platform allows to instantly provision a project workspace with the development tools you need to get started in minutes.  They are offering Founder's a one year subscription of their Personal Plan at 50% off.

• The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development - Customer Development is a four-step framework for helping startups discover and validate their customers, product, and go-to-market strategy, developed by Steve Blank and an integral part of Eric Ries' Lean Startup methodology. Focused on the Customer Discovery step, The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development is an easy to follow guide for finding early adopters, building a Minimum Viable Product, finding Product-Market fit, and establishing a sales and marketing roadmap. FI Founders can get the ebook for free.

• Tropo - Enables you to make and receive phone calls, text messages and IMs from any web or mobile application, using a simple web API and pay-as-you-go pricing.  Tropo's cloud communications infrastructure easily allows applications to grow and scale, with reliability trusted by over 220,000 developers and half of the Fortune 100. Tropo is pleased to offer all Founder Institute enrollees 6 months of free Tropo service, up to $100/mo and 2 hours free consultation to help design your application. In addition, the highest rated company from each class will get hands-on assistance in designing and building their application from a Tropo engineer who will spend a full two days with them creating their app.

Project Management

• Apptivo Project Management - The Project Management App of the Apptivo Platform allows you to collaborate with all your team members globally. The Projects App is free and will always be free. There are no limits on the number of projects, clients and users you can have. 
• TaskPoint - TaskPoint (formerly PMP HQ) is an easy to use web - based online project management and collaboration tool. They are offering all Founders a free 6 - month subscription.

Testing

• nResult - nResult is an innovative software testing company, where they act as an extension of your team. They are providing discounts on any offered testing service, as well as a free consultation.

Infrastructure

Hosting

• MediaTemple - This premier hosting company is giving Founders 35% off their entire line of dedicated virtual private server offerings ("dv") - for both monthly and yearly packages.
• CloudSigma - CloudSigma is a next generation pure cloud I-a-a-S provider offering unprecedented flexibility in terms of computing configurations and customization. They let you fix the server size, run the OS and apps you want! They are offering Founders 3 months of UNLIMITED free capacity, MATCHED funding for the first 12 months, and a 25% additional discount for the next 24 months.
• Name.com – Want a website? Get one in minutes at Name.com, your one-stop shop for website addresses, website builders, hosting packages, SEO, and website security.  They are offering Founders 50% off hosting packages and 25% off domain registrations.    
• Rackspace - Rackspace Hosting is the service leader in cloud computing, and they are committed to helping entrepreneurs drive the next generation of businesses with our hosting and Fanatical Support®.  We are offering Founders up to $2,000 per month in Rackspace Cloud credit for 12 months.

Email

• SendGrid - SendGrid replaces your email infrastructure so you don't have to build, scale, and maintain these systems in-house providing reliable delivery, scalability and real-time analytics along with flexible APIs.They are offering founders 6 months of free service.

Software

• Dizzion is changing the way people work on their compute devices. Their Cloud Delivered Desktops enable employees to securely access their applications and data from any device, anytime, anywhere while enjoying the same access, security and productivity as they do in their office environments. They are offering all Founders Institute companies waived installation charges allowing them a no risk method of getting started. 
• Phone.com - Phone.com is a small business phone service provider with a powerful cloud based PBX that will scale as your business grows. Users can choose from a variety of devices ranging from IP or analog phones, sofphones, mobile, or forward to existing devices. They are offering founders Virtual Office 300 free for one year.
• Grasshopper - Sound professional and stay connected with Grasshopper, the Virtual Phone System for entrepreneurs. Get an 800 or local number, create employee extensions, forward calls, and get voicemails via email for only $9.95 a month. They are offering Founders a $150 credit after your first month of service.
• Zipcar - Zipcar is the world's largest car sharing and car club service. Zipcar for Business membership gives you (and your employees) self - service access to vehicles in dozens of cities across the US, Canada and the UK. For FI companies, Zipcar will waive the standard $75 corporate set - up fee to open a Zipcar for Business account, which provides deeply discounted weekday rates, half off the annual fee, and more.
• UberConference - UberConference is visual phone conferencing. It is conference calling done right. They are offering Founders 3 free months of UberConference Pro.
• Userlike - Userlike is live chat software for websites. Chat with your website visitors through an integrated chat window, or receive messages through a contact form when you are offline.They are offering 12 months free use of the Team Package.

Team

Recruiting

• Cream – We identified you! Cream is used by The Founders Institute to choose every entrant. Cream is the most reliable personality test available, ideal for screening job applicants. The online assessment easily ranks the top candidates before you even read a single resume or application. It is the first and only test scientifically proven to be ‘unfakeable’. They are offering  Founders 50% of the first hire.
• Sortbox - Sortbox makes it super easy to screen and curate job applicants from Craigslist, other job boards and social media by replacing your email with a "Sortbox" for each job. Applicants no longer email you, they apply directly into your Sortbox. All jobs can then be managed from yourSortbox account. For a limited time, Sortbox is giving all Founder Institute Grads or Students UNLIMITED Sortboxes for FREE. 
• NeoHire - The premier online media and technology recruiting agency is offering Founders 75% off their services (or the hard cost, whichever is less) and free consultation.
• Zirtual- Zirtual provides dedicated, US-based, and college educated virtual executive assistants who work in your time zone. We work with a number of startups and entrepreneurs to give them administrative efficiencies at a price point they can afford.  Zirtual Assistants manage scheduling, travel planning, market research, and many other types of tasks that are a headache for entrepreneurs and easily delegated. Plans range from $200-$1000/month, depending on level of service needed. They are offering founders 15% off for life for any plan. 

Collaboration

• vSee - vSee is one of the most powerful and easy to use video/remote collaboration tools available, used by leading companies like IBM, Intel, and NASA. They are offering Founders one free year of 20 Professional licenses for their teams ($12,000 value).
• PBworks - Over 50,000 businesses have chosen PBworks to implement knowledge management, extranets, project management, and a host of other business processes and workflows. They are offering Founders a 50% discount off all their packages.
• Startup Stay - StartupStay.com is a global (invite-only) community for entrepreneurs that travel: 1) Stay with or host a like minded entrepreneur. 2) Build meaningful relationships, gain local insights. 3) Avoid accommodation costs! Founders may request a personal code from the home page or get invited by an existing Startup Stay member.

Marketing & Sales

Branding

• Portal A Interactive - Portal A Interactive creates tutorial and marketing videos to help companies articulate their core services while promoting their brand. They are offering our Founders 20% off, along with a free consultation.

Public Relations/ Strategic

• PRNewswire - Free 12 - month membership, plus over $2,000 in free and discounted services.
• UpRight Marketing - UpRight Marketing consultancy helps you win repeatable sales so you can scale your business and develop trusted customer relationships. They are offering Founders a 50% discount on a 2 - day coaching session to design your strategic marketing plan - and a 30% discount on sales messaging services - both are a $1500 value.

Online Marketing

• SEOMoz - SEOmoz is the web’s premier destination for SEO education, tools and information. They are offering Founders an exclusive 40% discount on SEOmoz PRO, their award - winning suite of SEO tools and utilities.
• My BetaList - My BetaList offers a viral subscription form that can be used by startups in the pre-launch phase to incentivize sign-ups to spread the word about the startup. In addition, founders can submit their startup for publication to reach an audience of beta users. They are offering founders free use of My BetaList.
• Cloudsponge - Email is still the most effective way to share.  CloudSponge addresses the friction point of making users type email addresses into referral forms by offering a simple copy/paste widget for your website that lets users populate your referral form with email addresses straight from their address books.
• Trigger.ly - Trigger.ly is an automated lifecycle marketing service that allows you to send emails based on user actions and the rules. Founders will recieve free service for up to 5,000 users.

Feedback/ Analytics

• UserTesting.com - UserTesting.com enables you to quickly and inexpensively discover where and why users get confused on your website, by utilizing a large panel of users who record their screen and voice as they use your site. They are offering Founders 2 free user tests.
• AskYourUsers.com is the easiest way for businesses to reach professional experts and people in targeted demographics for 15-minute consulting projects. Starting at $22, businesses can hire LinkedIn professionals for usability testing, market research, general feedback and expert advice via either screencasts or written responses. 
• UserVoice.com - UserVoice is the premier user feedback system for websites. They are giving Founders 12 months of any UserVoice plan for a very special price.
• Unbounce - Unbounce is the fastest and most powerful D.I.Y. Landing Page Platform. They are giving FI companies 80% off any plan.
• Mixpanel - Mixpanel is a real - time analytics platform that tracks how users interact and engage with web applications. Mixpanel goes way beyond Google Analytics and provides extremely detailed analysis that companies generally have to do all in - house. They are offering Founders 2MM free event credits (a $200 value).

Sales

• CureCRM - CureCRM provides the leading software that enables you to access relevant sales conversations anywhere. They are offering Founders 25% off of one year of their Pro Service.

Support

• Desk.com - Salesforce Desk.com is the customer support app used by the most successful startups, including Yelp, Vimeo, Zaarly, and Do.com to provide world-class service to their customers. Desk.com connects your entire team to your customers, across multiple channels -- including email, phone, Twitter, Facebook -- and makes it easy to create FAQs and discussion boards on your web site. Start for free and get a great Founder Institute discount as you grow. 

Finance

Accounting

• Intuit - 30% off Quickbooks Online Plus - the #1 small business financial software.

Credit

• FoundersCard- FoundersCard is a members-only community for leading entrepreneurs and innovators. Members receive unprecedented rates and benefits from the world's top travel, lifestyle, and business brands, as well as access to frequent members-only networking events.  For a limited time, Founders may apply at the preferred annual rate of $295 (40% off the standard rate of $495). This rate will be lifetime guaranteed.

Fulfillment

• Apptivo Invoicing - The Invoicing App of the Apptivo Platform allows you to generate invoices and get paid online. The App integrates with many other Apps in the Apptivo platform. The Invoicing App is free and will always be free. There are no limits on the number of invoices, number of customers, and number of users you can have.
• Total Merchant Services - The leader in the merchant bankcard business is offering our companies an "Interchange - Plus" pricing model on merchant transactions - a cheaper and more transparent pricing structure typically available only to high - volume businesses.

• Chargify - Chargify helps startups and small businesses bill their customers and grow their bottom line. It’s a powerful billing platform and recurring billing application. They are offering Founders a $150 credit after your first month of service.

Modeling

• FusionCharts - FusionCharts is the leader in JavaScript charting components for web and mobile applications. They enable organizations to make data in their dashboards, internal reporting systems and presentations look stunning and easy-to-understand. They are offering Founders a 25% discount.

Fundraising

General

• Preferred Return - Preferred Return is an expert valuation firm that helps startups comply with the newly-mandated IRC 409A and FAS 123R regulations for stock options. They are offering Founders $1,000 off their already low $3,500 compliance package for Series A and $500 off of seed or earlier companies (seed stage normally priced at $2,500).
• TheFunded.com - Offering premium Membership for all participating Founders.

Events

General

• Conference Guru - 50% off already discounted conference and event tickets.