Harold Hughes
CEO, Bandwagon
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9,000+ companies launched
200+ chapter cities
awaiting new founder...
The playing field has leveled. If you are ready to work and have the right set of AI tools - there has never been a better time to launch a startup.
Oddbox wouldn't exist without the Founder Institute. FI gave me the structure I needed to take Oddbox from idea to an MVP.
Emilie Vanpoperinghe
Founder, Oddbox
My investor materials, my data room, my pitch deck, all of it exists because someone was going to ask for it each Thursday morning. I've never had that kind of forcing function.
Joining the Founder Institute was a defining chapter in my founder journey. The experience, the pressure, and most importantly the mentorship shaped how I think, build, and lead TransTRACK today.
Anggia Meisesari
Founder, TransTRACK
Without Founder Institute, Udemy may have never raised any money.
Gagan Biyani
Founder, Udemy
Before the program I was using ChatGPT for basic tasks. By the end of the summer I had built an AI agent marketing team, 1,500 synthetic customers and a voice AI avatar agent. I didn't even know what Python was.
FI's accelerator was tough, but it prepared me for life as an entrepreneur. The support from local leaders, mentors, and ecosystem partners helped us close our first round.
Renata Redondo
Founder, SleepUp
Oddbox wouldn't exist without the Founder Institute. FI gave me the structure I needed to take Oddbox from idea to an MVP.
Emilie Vanpoperinghe
Founder, Oddbox
Joining the Founder Institute was a defining chapter in my founder journey. The experience, the pressure, and most importantly the mentorship shaped how I think, build, and lead TransTRACK today.
Anggia Meisesari
Founder, TransTRACK
Without Founder Institute, Udemy may have never raised any money.
Gagan Biyani
Founder, Udemy
FI's accelerator was tough, but it prepared me for life as an entrepreneur. The support from local leaders, mentors, and ecosystem partners helped us close our first round.
Renata Redondo
Founder, SleepUp
The new rules
Skills are no longer a barrier to entry. Your domain expertise is your unfair advantage, but only if you become AI-enabled.
Four AI tools on every deliverable
Every Sprint comes with the tools to finish it. Watch one week in the life of a founder on the platform.
Playbook: Personalizes your Sprints to your stage, industry and goals.
Pitch Gym: A live AI investor that interrupts, pushes back and scores you.
AI Assist: Drafts each deliverable with you, from your own answers.
Frank: Answers any startup question, at any hour, with your context.
Global businesses start local, so FI builds sustainable startup ecosystems to help aspiring entrepreneurs. Apply to build alongside top local investors, advisors, and mentors.
Package InSight, LLC
President, Raise Craze
CEO, Capaven
CEO, tForm and parmetric
Free startup events
We run 1,000+ free online startup workshops, pitch events, investor meetups, and networking mixers per year. 750,000+ attendees to date.
Founder insights
Deep-dive essays, data stories, and tactical playbooks on launching and funding startups.
If you have an idea and want to build a company, apply to the FI Agentic Program: 10 sessions plus Funding Day, a Playbook generated for your startup, Pitch Gym and weekly feedback from mentors. It runs in 200+ cities; apply to the chapter nearest you or to an online cohort.
The entrance fee for the Greenville cohort is $699 USD. It is fully refundable before Kickoff and 75 percent refundable before Session 3. Payment plans are available through Partial.ly (5 percent service fee). Teams of 2 to 3 founders pay 1.5 times the fee and teams of 4 to 5 pay 2 times; the 2.5 percent Equity Collective pledge is per company, not per founder.
Yes. About two-thirds of the way through the program, founders pledge 2.5 percent of future equity to the Equity Collective. It activates only at a qualified financing, carries no board seat or voting rights, and dissolves if the company fails. How the Equity Collective works.
All program agreements are public at fi.co/agreements, including the Entrance Agreement, the only document you sign to enroll, and the Warrant you sign later in the program.
Yes. Come to a free event in your city or online at fi.co/events, where local leaders and mentors take questions, or write to us at fi.co/support.
Join the FI Agentic Program: an AI-powered curriculum, world-class mentors, and free AI agents to turn your idea into a fundable company.
Our programs helped launch Udemy, Esusu, and thousands more, with a portfolio worth an estimated $20B. Yours could be next.
A global network of founders, mentors, and investors building enduring companies, with free AI agents to help you do the work.
