Graduate Our Program Patent-Pending & Fundable

Founder Institute, in partnership with moatly®, and led by a former U.S. Patent Examiner, turns ideas into protected, fundable businesses.

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Virtual

Program Dates

Oct 21, 2026 Feb 11, 2027

Early Deadline

Jul 28, 2026

Early Entrance Fee

$1999 $2999

The Core Experience

You don't have to do it alone. Alongside other like-minded entrepreneurs, you will build your business in a structured, proven process.

From Idea to Patent-Pending in One Program

A comprehensive provisional patent application, drafted and filed during the program itself

Guided step by step by a former U.S. Patent Examiner — from invention disclosure to filing confirmation

Highly Structured and Sequential

Clear growth sprints with weekly deliverables

Engineered to reduce complexity and help you focus

Constant Feedback from Mentors

12 Weekly Feedback Sessions and Office Hours on your pitch, progress, and data to help you make the right decisions

Office hours provide individual, personalized time with industry experts

Learn more about FI core

Session Calendar

Below are the dates for the upcoming program

Onboarding

Oct 14, 2026

06:00pm MST

Kickoff

Oct 21, 2026

06:00pm MST

Vision

Oct 22, 2026

06:00pm MST

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Featured Grad

From our Silicon Valley chapter, Udemy is the global leader in online learning, with nearly 200,000 courses. The company went public on the NASDAQ in October 2021, raising $421 million.

The real question is: can the Founder Institute be game-changing for your business? The answer is yes. Without FI, Udemy may have never raised any money.

Gagan Biyani

Udemy (IPO, 2021)

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Events

Join us for an upcoming event - local or global - to meet other founders and experts. Learn what you need to know now to scale your startup.

The AI-Native Founder Revolution: Build Your Company Faster Than Ever

Jul 08, 2026

09:00am MST

Go From Idea to Working App with AI, Featuring Adeo Ressi

Jul 09, 2026

10:00am MST

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Leadership

Our husband-wife team is dedicated to helping founders steward their gifts and build companies that create lasting impact.

Jeff Vatt

Co-Director @ Founder Institute IP Accelerator

Kathryn Vatt

Co-Director @ Founder Institute IP Accelerator

What's unique about our Founder Institute IP Accelerator?

Your Director, Kathryn Vatt, is an investor, scientist, former United States Patent Examiner, and LinkedIn's #1 Global Influencer in Innovation. You get funding insight, building experience, and IP protection, all from one person who's protecting the past, present, and future of innovation.

Every founder leaves patent-pending with a filed provisional patent application.

Every mentor was hand-selected from the Hubble expert network.

A Three-Lens Director: Investor, Founder & Global IP Strategist.

Mentors

Our Mentors bring real-life experience and expertise so you can make timely decisions quickly.

Harold Hughes

CEO @ Bandwagon

Mark Phinick

B2B Deal Coach @ Let's Make It Rain

Michael O'brien

Síol VC

Jason Butcher

Orbit Capital

Ankur Sethi

Winner Capital

Joyce Shin

The Human Edge

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FI Partners

Quickly increase connections to other ecosystem organizations, investors, and industry experts.

J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute

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The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, our AI-native company-building programs have helped over 9,000 entrepreneurs raise over 2BN in funding. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 100 countries, our mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.