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Location

Choose a city closest to you.

Winter 2010 Bay Area
Applications: Nov 07, '10
Sessions: Nov 14, '10 - Feb 23, '11

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.

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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.

HP Startup Central has offered cover the Course Fee in an HP Fellowship program. Three strong technical candidates will be selected to attend the Founder Institute courtesy of this HP offering.

Startup Weekend is a non-profit organization that has become one of the leading catalysts for startup creation, co-founder dating, and entrepreneurship in over 100 cities and 25 countries worldwide. At Startup Weekend events, attendees pitch ideas, form teams, and build functional prototypes in just 54 hours. Startup Weekend - "No Talk, All Action."

Today we are excited to announce our newest location, and first location in Africa - Johannesburg, South Africa!

Sunday, July 7th is the Early Application Deadline for the first ever Johannesburg Founder Institute. If you could benefit from expert training and feedback to launch a technology startup in Johannesburg, click here to apply. The program is open to existing and prospective technology founders of all kinds. Learn more here..

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Today we are excited to announce the official launch of our newest location, and first location in India - Bangalore!

Sunday, July 7th is the Early Application Deadline for the first ever Bangalore Founder Institute. If you could benefit from expert training and feedback to launch a technology startup in Bangalore, click here to apply. The program is open to existing and prospective technology founders of all kinds. Learn more here..

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We will be hosting a number of free events across the next few weeks.

These "Startup Bootcamps" are hands-on, intensive workshops that are modeled off a real Founder Institute session. In just three hours, FI and leading local entrepreneurs will help you improve your ideas and pitching skills, come up with new ideas, and even recruit potential cofounders. 

See the full list of upcoming events here: http://fi.co/events.

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Each week we scour the web for insightful articles to share with the FI network.

This week's top articles include Richard Branson on taking risks, Mark Suster on why your startup needs a sales methodology, what turns off investors, and more.

Read on to see our picks for this week's top articles:

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Are you the founder of an early-stage startup looking to get exposure and funding? Apply to pitch for free at the 14th Founder Showcase, taking place on Wednesday, July 17th, 2013 in Mountain View, CA. At Silicon Valley’s biggest early-stage international pitching event, you will have the opportunity to pitch to a judging panel of top Silicon Valley VCs in front of hundreds of investors and press.

Submit your application today.

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Inside FI gives you exclusive access inside the training sessions of the Founder Institute. To get updates when we release new videos, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

In this talk from the San Diego Founder Institute, Ryan Bettencourt gives tips on bringing your idea to life, and how to build a company centered around your passions, values, and bringing meaning to the world.

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Today we are excited to introduce the seven newest inductees to the Founder Showcase Hall of Fame. With the recent news of incredible business milestones and funding from several of our past participants, we can’t help but pay homage to these seven all-star companies.

Read on to learn more about our newest Hall of Famers...

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The Founder Institute has helped launch over 800 new technology companies across 42 cities and six continents.

This past week, Spinnakr raised a $1M seed round; Zipmark partnered with WorkingPoint; DigitalGroundUp was named a finalist in Techweek LAUNCH; DonationMatch won the NAWBO Trailblazer Award; and Piggybackr was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine.

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The Founder Showcase, an event hosted by the Founder Institute's Adeo Ressi, has helped seed-stage startups raise over $75 million since 2009. While over 850 startups have competed in the competition, just 109 have competed on stage, and we have crowned only 13 champions. Here are videos of the last ten pitches that won the event.

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Today we are excited to announce to announce a partnership with AppCampus to support promising U.S. mobile startups with vital training, mentorship, tools, and capital. Through this partnership, the Founder Institute will integrate AppCampus into its entrepreneur training curriculum across its U.S. chapters, giving all program participants access to exclusive Microsoft mobile tools and coaching. In addition, the most promising mobile startups have the opportunity to receive up to 70,000 euros in development grants.

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