Program Schedule

During the Kickoff Sprint, you will set up your AI toolkit, meet your cohort of founders, and prepare to build an AI-forward business over the next couple of months. You'll configure accounts on tools like Replit and Claude, craft your first One-Sentence Pitch, and identify the AI capability shift that creates the timing window for your startup. By the end of this session, you'll be fully onboarded and ready to hit the ground running.

The goal of this Sprint is to identify and validate customer problems worth solving with AI. You will brainstorm at least three AI-native customer problems, interview potential customers, and use AI research tools to stress-test market demand, willingness to pay, and competitive density. Push yourself to talk to real people this week — the combination of AI validation and human feedback will sharpen your direction.

This Sprint focuses on selecting your One Customer Problem and developing a revenue model that can scale. You will test pricing with real customers, build a landing page in Replit to validate your messaging, and map which business functions require humans versus AI agents. By the end, you should have a clear revenue model, a live landing page collecting signups, and a Human vs. Agent Team Map for your business.

This is where your product starts to take shape. The goal is to validate your business by building a working tool in Replit that solves your customer’s problem, while deepening your research through comprehensive customer interviews. You’ll conduct at least 10 interviews, vibe-code a functional tool, put it in the hands of real customers, and assess whether your AI approach creates a defensible moat.

The Mentor Idea Review is next session, so everything comes together in this Sprint. You will build a compelling three-minute pitch with a deck, use AI tools like Yoodli and Claude to evaluate your delivery and slide quality, and practice with peers acting as skeptical investors. This Sprint also includes developing healthy tactics to handle the emotional pressure of building a company.

This is the Mentor Idea Review — the first critical milestone of the program. You will present your business in a three-minute pitch with a deck and a live demo of your Validation Agent in front of a panel of Mentors. You’ll be rated on the viability of your idea, the skill of your presentation, and the thoroughness of your research. After the review, you’ll reflect on feedback, decide whether to pivot, and build a pressure-tested Executive Summary using multiple AI tools.

The goal of this Sprint is to incorporate your company and set up the legal foundation for your business. You will file formation agreements, complete the FI Warrant, begin building an Advisory Board across Technical AI, Go-to-Market, and Domain Expert categories, and address any compliance considerations for deploying AI agents. You’ll also set up your Cap Table and protect your intellectual property.

This Sprint is about launching your go-to-market engine and getting your platform into the hands of paying customers. You will extend your vibe-coded tool into a complete platform with onboarding and payment integration, build an AI-automated outreach pipeline, and set your Victory Conditions for the remainder of the program. By the end, you should have paying customers or strong letters of intent and a Parade Plan that accounts for the exponential growth of AI capabilities.

Everything in this Sprint is measured against one target: 10% weekly growth. You will establish baseline metrics, execute on your highest-leverage growth activities, and build a live dashboard in Replit that tracks both business KPIs and AI-specific metrics like agent accuracy, latency, and inference cost. You’ll also evaluate which of your AI agents are performing and decide on your first critical human hire.

This Sprint prepares you for fundraising and the Demo Day next session. You will evaluate your funding options including Launch Financing from the Founder Institute, build a pipeline of at least 30 regional angels and 10 micro VCs, and extend your pitch to five minutes with a live product demo. Every element of your investor materials — deck, executive summary, data room — should be polished and ready to send.

Join a fun, outdoor activity to network with your peers in the program.

A bonus session to practice your pitch and get feedback from mentors.

This is the Demo Day — the final milestone of the program. You will pitch a panel of Angel Investors and VCs in a five-minute presentation with a deck and a live product demo, and be rated on your product progress, presentation skill, and model completeness. You’ll also confirm your investor pipeline is ready for outreach and set up post-program accountability systems to maintain momentum after graduation.

​FounderX (FounderX.com) is the exclusive VIP gathering of founders, mentors, investors, LPs, and accelerator leaders from the world's largest startup network.​This highly-curated, intimate 'un-conference' will gather 300+ leaders for three days of networking events, group workshops, and engaging talks from top Keynote Speakers.

Join a private networking dinner for FounderX - the private, VIP gathering of our global network.

Join the main conference day for FounderX - the private, VIP gathering of our global network. This ‘un-conference will take place all day and culminate in a Dinner and Afterparty with 250+ founders, investors, and accelerator leaders from the global FI Network.

Full-day conference at The Midway, San Francisco. Participants receive tickets to this conference. Learn more at StepSF.com.

Review progress and set your next goals for growth post-program. Onboard onto FI's post-program resources and benefits.