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Schedule

Stockholm 2020

At the Founder Institute, you won't "learn" how to build a business. Rather, you will build your business alongside top startup experts using a proven, structured process that has helped some of the world's fastest growing companies raise over $1.75BN. 

Our core program includes a series of challenging growth sprints, in addition to Weekly Feedback Sessions where you will receive constant feedback on your progress from experienced Mentors and Investors. 

See the schedule for the Stockholm 2020 program below.

The Final Application Deadline for the Stockholm 2020 program is Feb 23, 2020, and you can apply to the program at FI.co/join.

Orientation

Meet the cohort & learn our methodology

Date: Mar 04, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

This is where it all begins. During Orientation, we will review the Founder Institute program structure, methodology, tools, and requirements. You will meet the cohort and establish how your startup will use the program to push your business forward.

Sprints

During Orientation, your cohort will be split up into the “Launch Track” or “Growth Track”, depending on the stage your business. The "Launch Track" focuses earlier Founders and teams on validation and go-to-markets, while the "Growth Track" focuses teams with a live product and customers on traction and funding. 

The below deliverables are in addition to any custom "Epic Sprints" you may receive based on your specific challenges, and below is a small sample of the deliverables you’ll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

 

Launch Track Deliverables

  1. Progress - Outline your business ideas and any testing or progress made to date. 
  2. Hotseat Pitch - Prepare a one minute verbal pitch for the weekly “Founder Hotseat”, where you present to Mentors during the Feedback Sessions. Start with our one-sentence pitch template, and if you do not have a final idea yet, describe yourself and a field that you are passionate about and uniquely qualified to build a business around.
  3. Co-Founders - If you are looking for a Co-Founder, create a basic description of what you are looking for, and this will be shared with the rest of your cohort.

 

Growth Track Deliverables

  1. Program Goals - Outline the monthly objectives your team wants to achieve during the four month Core Program.
  2. Key Performance Indicators - Outline the KPIs that you are currently using to track success. Analyze the validity of these metrics, and create a plan to share updated metrics and progress with your Local Leaders every week in the program.
  3. Hotseat Pitch - Prepare a one minute verbal pitch for the weekly “Founder Hotseat”, where you present to Mentors during the Feedback Sessions. Start with our one-sentence pitch template, followed by why your team is uniquely qualified to execute your business and the progress that you’ve made to date.

Vision

Define a strong business vision

Date: Mar 05, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

Customer Development

Analyze your customer feedback

Date: Mar 12, 2020
Starts at: 01:00 pm (America/New_York)

Revenue

Validate a scalable revenue model

Date: Mar 19, 2020
Starts at: 01:00 pm (America/New_York)

Branding & Design

Get feedback on branding & design

Date: Mar 26, 2020
Starts at: 01:00 pm (America/New_York)

In this session, Mentors will analyze your existing branding and design, and also discuss how to develop an enduring brand and great user experiences.  

Sprints

Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you’ll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours: 

 

Launch Track Deliverables

  1. Competitor Branding - Analyze and compare the name and branding of at least 15 companies with a competing offering, in a related industry, or with a similar value proposition in a different industry.
  2. Name Brainstorming - Use combinations of your naming words to develop a series of business names for the review of your peers and Directors.
  3. Name Research - Research the availability of the combined words as a domain name and list the ones that are most available.

 

Growth Track Deliverables

  1. Branding Expert - Leverage the FI Network to set up meetings with industry experts to get feedback about your name, branding, and customer experience. 
  2. Close Sales - Follow-up on your previous sales activities, and measure the time allocated, conversion rates, financial spending and other metrics for each activity. Your goal is to convert new sales and/or show quantifiable traction before the Mentor Idea Review. 
  3. Idea Review Pitch Deck - Finalize your 3-minute pitch deck for the Mentor Idea Review, using our templates and guidelines. Practice the pitch at least five times with your peers, and revise it based on feedback. Upload a final video on the deliverables page.  

Mentor Idea Review

Test the core business on a mentor panel

Date: Apr 02, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

Legal & IP

Review your legal infrastructure

Date: Apr 08, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

In this Feedback Session, startup lawyers and CEOs will explain various legal agreements, startup legal components (such as equity), cap tables, how to protect intellectual property, the best practices for managing a law firm, and more. As usual, Mentors will also provide Founders with ratings and feedback on their startup pitch and progress.

 

Sprints

Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you’ll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

  1. Legal Review - Review our Legal Guide to fully understand all critical startup legal components, including granting equity, vesting equity, granting options, issuing common stock versus preferred stock, and more. If any of your existing legal structure is in conflict with these best practices, then create a plan for resolution. 
  2. Capitalization Table - Develop or improve your capitalization table (“Cap Table”) that shows the ownership structure of the business, using our template and guidelines.
  3. Finalize Co-Founder Legal (if any) - Create a list of any co-founders, co-founder candidates or founding Team Members that you have for your Founder Institute company, and begin the next steps in formalizing the relationship.
  4. Law Firm Engagement - If you don’t already have a law firm, meet with your law firm candidates and sign an “engagement letter” with your chosen firm. 
  5. Corporate Formation Agreements - If you don’t already have a suitable corporation, secure all of your corporate formation agreements which govern how the business conducts itself.
  6. Equity Collective - Prepare to join the Equity Collective, and send your law firm the necessary agreements and request their help to properly fill out the required fields.

Go-to-Market & Scale

Improve your strategy to launch or scale

Date: Apr 16, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

In this Feedback Session, Mentors will provide Founders with feedback on their current go-to-market plans and progress, and cover topics like marketing messaging, unit ecomomics, customer acquisition, and more.   

Sprints

Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you’ll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

  1. Alternatives - Identify two alternative models (markets or “pivots”) for your go-to-market solution to discover the most lucrative market opportunity. Interview at least 2 customers for each alternative.
  2. Advisor Follow-Up - In the next Step you will finalize advisors, so begin finalization meetings with your top candidates, and set up test Advisor Test Projects where necessary following our templates.
  3. Test Marketing Messaging - Write at least three separate marketing messages for your solution, and A/B test them using landing pages with at least 100 engagements each. 
  4. Customer Acquisition Channels - Identify at least five initial or new major marketing channels to acquire customers that are appropriate for your solution.
  5. Conversion Rate - Begin testing at least three of your new customer acquisition channels, pushing as much traffic through them as possible to evaluate their comparative conversion rates. 
  6. Unit Economics - Research any data on the standard Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC) and standard Lifetime Value (LTV) for your industry and segment, and compare and analyze against the metrics you have collected thus far. 

Product Development

Get feedback on your product roadmap

Date: Apr 23, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

Mentor Progress Review

Test your progress on a mentor panel

Date: May 07, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

Hiring & Onboarding

Improve your team and hiring

Date: May 13, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

Growth

Establish a scalable engine for growth

Date: May 20, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

Equity & Funding

Fix any impediments to fundraising

Date: May 27, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

Leadership and Graduation

Celebrate & onboard to our post-programs

Date: Jun 03, 2020
Starts at: 12:00 pm (America/New_York)

Completing the Founder Institute is an honor. The program is challenging, and the expectations are demanding.

In this final session, you will celebrate with your peers, friends and family, as well as select Mentors. Some Founders will also pitch to a live audience, and you will officially onboard to all of the post-program resources and assistance the Founder Institute provides.

Post Program Resources

The 4 month Core-Program is just the beginning. We have developed extensive support programs and resources for our Alumni that far exceed any other comparable startup program.

Continued Support

FI Alumni
  • Dedicated Alumni Support Team in Silicon Valley
  • Access to the world's largest network of mentors and investors (35,000+)
  • Private Alumni mailing lists
  • $2M+ in partner discounts
  • Invites to FI sessions & network events
  • Potentail introductions to investors

Post-Programs

Founder Lab
  • A series of virtual advisory programs where you work with our Silicon Valley HQ team to reach next milestones
  • Funding Lab helps get your lead investor within 6 months
  • P/M Fit Lab (2023) helps you get to Product Market Fit
  • FI Venture Network helps you get intros to investors
  • 100% customized and FREE for Alumni