Houston Spring 2027 Applications open

Build Amazing Companies in Houston

The Founder Institute provides local & global support networks and a proven methodology to get your startup to early traction and funding

Program Dates: Feb 16, 2027 to Apr 28, 2027
Early Deadline: Dec 15, 2026
Early Entrance Fee: $799 USD Regular price ~~$1,099 USD~~

You pay only after you are accepted

Refund: Full before Kickoff. 75 percent before Session 3.
Format: In-Person
This program will be run 100% in-person, with local networking opportunities and weekly sessions. Learn more here.

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The FI Agentic program

A Playbook built for your startup, agents that do the busywork, and mentors who tell you what to fix. Weekly sessions, then Demo Day.

How FI Agentic works

Agents that do the busywork

Frank, your always-on sidekick
AI Assist on every deliverable
Pitch Gym investor practice
Market research
Customer outreach

A Playbook built for your startup
- Sprints in the order your company needs them, set by your stage, industry and traction
- Re-planned every week as your company changes
Weekly feedback from mentors
- Live Feedback Sessions with your cohort and local mentors
- One-to-one Office Hours when you need a second opinion
Earn your way to Demo Day
- Fewer than 40 percent of accepted founders graduate
- Graduates pitch angels and VCs at Demo Day, with a live demo

Time: About 15 to 20 hours a week
Equity: 2.5 percent pledged to the Equity Collective
Team: No co-founder, team or finished product needed, just an idea

Week by week, from Kickoff to Funding Day

Live sessions with your chapter leaders and mentors, each with one focus. Along the way, 2 mentor reviews check your progress.

Tue

Feb 9

Onboarding
Self-paced

When you enroll in the FI Core Program, you can immediately start onboarding by following a guided process where you will learn how the program works, tips to get the most benefits, and details on the perks of Graduating from the Founder Institute.
Tue

Feb 16

7:00pm CST

Kickoff

You'll get familiar with the program, set up your AI toolkit, prove your AI proficiency, and prepare to introduce yourself to the cohort.
Wed

Feb 17

7:00pm CST

Vision

You'll explore the biggest possible idea to pursue, validate real customer problems, define your personal purpose, and draft your first pitches.
Wed

Feb 24

7:00pm CST

Validation

You'll select one business to focus on, validate it deeply through customer development, and build an initial mockup of your product.
Wed

Mar 3

7:00pm CST

Model

You'll test pricing with real customers, build a revenue model that can scale, and map out the human and agent roles needed to run your business.
Wed

Mar 10

7:00pm CST

Development

You'll turn your mockup into a working prototype that customers can use, co-develop with a lead customer, and prepare for your first major review.
Wed

Mar 24

7:00pm CDT

Idea Review
Mentor review

This is your first major milestone. You'll present your business and product to a panel of mentors who will rate you on idea viability, presentation skill, and research thoroughness.
Wed

Mar 31

7:00pm CDT

Formation

You'll incorporate your company, set up the legal foundation, protect your intellectual property, and start building your advisory board.
Wed

Apr 7

7:00pm CDT

Launch

You'll launch your go-to-market engine, get your product into the hands of paying customers, and set your victory conditions for the rest of the program.
Wed

Apr 14

7:00pm CDT

Traction

You'll push for 10% weekly growth, track both your business and AI performance metrics, and discuss growth strategies.
Wed

Apr 21

7:00pm CDT

Fundraising
Mentor review

You'll prepare for fundraising by organizing your materials, building your investor pipeline, and deciding on your funding strategy ahead of Funding Day.
Wed

Apr 28

7:00pm CDT

Funding Day
Final milestone

This is your final milestone. You'll pitch a panel of angel investors and VCs with a five-minute pitch and a live demo for ratings, feedback, and potential investment.

Founders who built with FI

What graduates say about the program, in their own words.

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.

GB Gagan Biyani Udemy (IPO, 2021)

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.

KA Kelly Anderson Founder, DyeConverter Silicon Valley AI cohort 2026

First funding offer 2 weeks after Funding Day
Delaware inc. Aug 2026

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.

DW David Williams Founder and CEO, Zuma Internet Silicon Valley AI cohort 2026

AI marketing team built
1,500 synthetic customers
Seed investor list ready

I came in already using AI heavily. The curriculum pushed me past research and content into the company itself: customer discovery, pilot design, pricing, unit economics, KPIs, investor prep, a repeatable pilot-to-enterprise sales process. Our first construction deployment started at one site. The customer asked us to expand to two more. We're in two live proposals and already discussing an annual subscription.

DR Donna Vincent Roa Founder, MicDots Silicon Valley AI cohort

1 site to 3 sites
2 live enterprise proposals

Founder Institute since 2009

companies launched: 9,000+
raised by graduates: $2BN+
mentors and investors: 40,000+

See more graduates

Frequently asked questions

All questions(opens in a new tab)

: The entrance fee for the Houston cohort is $799 USD by Dec 15, 2026 ($1099 USD after Dec 15, 2026). 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, not at enrollment, founders pledge 2.5 percent of future equity to the Equity Collective as a warrant: 0.5 percent to mentors, 1 percent to local leaders, 1 percent to FI. It activates only at a qualified equity financing of $100,000 or more from outside investors ($25,000 if you join a qualifying program such as Y Combinator after graduating), carries no board seat or voting rights, is not a revenue share, dissolves if the company fails, and 60 percent of returns go back to the local ecosystem that helped you. Bootcamps have no equity component. How the Equity Collective works.
: 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. Local leaders are listed on your chapter page.
: If you have an idea and want to build a company, apply to the FI Agentic Program: 10 sessions plus Funding Day, a program generated for your startup (your Playbook), practice pitching an AI investor at any hour (Pitch Gym), Frank and AI Assist on every deliverable, and weekly feedback from mentors. It runs in 200+ cities; apply to the chapter nearest you or to an online cohort. If you want a short, focused course first, FI Bootcamps (Startup Ideation, Vibe Coding, OpenClaw AI Productivity) are short, focused courses of a few weeks with no equity component, and enrolled Agentic founders get one bootcamp free and 50 percent off the others. See the program or see the bootcamps.

All questions(opens in a new tab)

Early Deadline: Dec 15, 2026

Ready to build your startup with Houston Spring 2027?

Create your account, then answer a few questions about you and your startup. You pay only after you are accepted.

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The Founder Institute is the world’s largest agentic company builder, turning ideas into fundable startups, and startups into unicorns. Since 2009, the Founder Institute program has helped over 9,000 entrepreneurs build 9,000+ companies, including unicorns like Udemy and Esusu, raise over 2BN in funding, and grow a portfolio worth an estimated $20BN. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200+ cities and 95 countries, our mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide. Learn more about the Founder Institute.

Build Amazing Companies in Houston

Apply to Houston Spring 2027

The FI Agentic program

A Playbook built for your startup

Weekly feedback from mentors

Earn your way to Demo Day

Week by week, from Kickoff to Funding Day

Founders who built with FI

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost?

Is there an equity component?

Can I talk to someone about the program?

Which program should I apply to?

Ready to build your startup with Houston Spring 2027?