Location
Choose a city closest to you.
Silicon Valley Spring 2013
Applications: Mar 17, '13
Sessions: Apr 01, '13 - Jul 09, '13
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 50 cities worldwide.
Sponsors
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the premier legal advisor to technology and growth enterprises worldwide, as well as the investment banks and venture capital firms that finance them. Over the past four decades, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has established its reputation by having an unmatched knowledge of its clients' industries and deep and long-standing contacts throughout the technology sector. The firm's legal expertise serves clients at all stages of growth, from venture-backed start-up companies to multibillion-dollar global enterprises. The firm's clients include some of the most recognized names in the technology, retail, life sciences, venture capital, and finance sectors. The firm has offices in Austin, Palo Alto, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, and Washington, D.C.
First Republic Bank and its subsidiaries provide private banking, private business banking and the full range of wealth management services with an emphasis on exceptional relationship-based service and a solid commitment to responsiveness and action.
Ravix Group - Ravix Group Inc.provides seasoned consulting expertise to outsource the finance, human resources, and facilities functions of early-stage and middle market companies so that management can focus on their priorities to increase the value of their company.
Purplepatch Services is a strategy consulting firm offering technology firms Marketing Communications and User Experience Design solutions.
NYC First Look Showcase Set For March 18
For aspiring entrepreneurs, the opportunity to pitch their business idea in front of a room of deep-pocketed investors is often nothing more than fantasy. The Founder Institute is looking to change that.
In just four years, FI has helped to launch over 750 businesses across 40 cities worldwide – making them the world’s largest startup accelerator. They’ve done so by taking students with innovative ideas and entrepreneurial sense through a rigorous 15 session semester. During the sessions, students take their business idea from concept to company through incorporation and the production of a prototype to be presented to investors at the FI Showcase.
Courses throughout the semester are focused on specific business topics such as branding, finance, public relations, and technology development, among others. All courses are taught by mentors and experts in the field, most of whom are successful entrepreneurs themselves. The students and mentors work together to develop and perfect each student’s business concept, and every week the budding entrepreneurs pitch their company to the group for criticism and feedback. Due to the rigor and pace of the program, approximately 60% of the students drop out throughout the semester, typically leaving a dozen or less who make it to graduation and the Showcase.
The 2012-2013 FI New York Winter Semester Showcase will take place on March 18 and feature the
semester’s nine top graduates. After spending four months scoping and refining their business plans, they will have the opportunity to pitch them to investors, advisors, press, and fellow entrepreneurs.
The companies pitching range from education to motorcycles to beauty, and everything in between.
PathGather, a marketplace for online education that helps you find the right online courses for you, will demo alongside companies like BikeMinds, an online community for networking and shopping that targets motorcycle enthusiasts. Riding the new wave of taxi apps, TaxiBuddie will pitch its new app for a cost-saving and efficient taxi sharing solution in urban centers and airports. In a city where the apartment search seems never-ending, Brinkway situates itself as a one-stop destination to make moving ‘simple’.
Whether this semester’s presenting companies will join the long list of successful startups produced
by Founder Institute is left to be determined, but their demos at the March Showcase are sure to be a launching pad for some – and if they’re lucky, profitable.
To attend, register at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5582908630. The event will take place at Microsoft BizSpark on Monday, March 18 from 6:15pm – 8:30pm.
