In this syndicated blog post, Adeo Ressi, the Co-Founder and CEO of the Founder Institute, talks about the some of the most successful companies from the very first chapter of the Founder Institute. While countless promising tech startups have graduated from the program since it first launched in 2009, it was this first chapter that set the standard for all of the other proceeding companies.
The blog post, "7 years ago the first Founder Institute Semester began. Where are they now?", first appeared on Linkedin and has been republished below with permission.
On May 19th, 2009 the first ever Founder Institute session started in a conference room at Stanford University. Actually, it was called “TheFunded Founder Institute” at that point… quite a mouthful.
As the night began, dozens of ambitious Founders started arriving and taking their seats. Then the amazing mentors we had for the night arrived: Trip Adler, Philip Kaplan, and Jason Calacanis. The excitement and anticipation in the room was high, and everyone was curious how things would go.
I was also curious. To be honest, I was really just nervous. The Founder Institute was put together in just a few months, and I had no idea if the program would work.
But then, the mentors started speaking. The aspiring Founders started sharing their ideas. Jason screamed and broke a clipboard. The room began brainstorming around some of the Founders’ ideas. Some of the Founders started teaming up.
The magic of combining incredibly talented and passionate people in room together took over, and I knew I was onto something.
It has now been a little over 7 years since that first night, and while a lot has changed, many things have not. For example, in addition to running the business I still run my own semesters in Silicon Valley, because it is one of my favorite things to do. Watching Founders reach their potential and build great companies is incredibly rewarding.
The companies from that first semester have gone on to do some truly amazing things, and below I've included some highlights (and some old photos I dug up from that first night)!
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CakeHealth, and Founder Rebecca Woodcock: CakeHealth developed a “Mint.com for health insurance” - a central dashboard for people to better understand their health costs, track their deductibles, and manage their (or their family’s) healthcare. The company was recently acquired by Inbox Health.
Udemy, and Founders Gagan Biyani & Eren Bali: Udemy is the world’s largest source for online courses. The company has now raised over $170MM, and has over 11 million students and 40,000 courses on the platform. Eren and Gagan actually met in the Founder Institute program.
Getable, and Founder Tim Hyer: Formerly RentCycle, Getable serves the construction rental market with mobile tools designed for construction professionals and rental equipment providers. The company has raised over $10M from some of the world's best investors, like Andreessen Horowitz and Chris Sacca.
Got Clues, and Founder Satyajit Sahu: Got Clues creates mobile apps for parents and children. The company has bootstrapped and released several award-winning and successful mobile apps, including iRewardChart and Peekaboo HD.
Lellan, and Founder Richard Wimmer: Lellan’s customizable and interactive “SmartTile” lighting systems help bars, restaurants, and other establishments create a unique ambiance. The company has raised $1.5M+ in funding and is growing at a steady pace.
Monstrous Company, and Founder Jason Asbahr: Monstrous created absolutely beautiful music-based, interactive games on iOS, Android, and Facebook. The company was acquired by Freeform Development in 2015.
Retailigence, and Founder Jeremy Geiger: Retailigence localizes all forms of digital marketing to increase engagement, foot-traffic, and revenue for retailers and brands. The company raised $13M+ funding and counts over 100,000 brick-and-mortar stores in their platform. They were recently acquired by Shopadvisor.
Shopalize, and Founder Aditya Kothadiya: Shopalize was a comprehensive social commerce platform specializing in social sharing and social referral solutions. In 2013 the company was acquired by [24]7, a predictive customer relationship software company.
Skimble, and Founders Maria Ly and Gabriel Vanrenen: Skimble creates apps (likeWorkout Trainer) and personalized workout regimens to help you stay in shape. The company has bootstrapped their way to 20M+ downloads and 3M+ active users. Also, Maria and Gabriel have since married!
Wedding Party, and Founders Ajay Kamat and Himani Amoli: Wedding Party started as a group micromessaging platform named Micromobs, but was pivoted when it was discovered that the most fervent users of the product were organizing and communicating about weddings. The company raised $1M and grew to several hundred thousand users before being acquired by Instacart in 2015.
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Here are some photos from that first night:
(Me, nervously watching with the Founders as the first session gets started)
(Our first-ever mentor lineup included Trip Adler, Philip Kaplan, and Jason Calacanis)
(Not sure if this was before or after Jason smashed a clipboard into several pieces)
(This shot was actually taken at the Graduation night of the first program, with all of the inaugural Founder Institute Graduates and Mentors)
