FAQ

The Founder Institute focuses on technology and technology-enabled businesses. This can include hardware and traditional businesses such as food, ecommerce, and brick and mortar, so long as the business has the ability to scale through technology. We typically do not accept founders looking to build non-scalable service-based companies, such as consultancies and agencies.

Seed-accelerators typically take a company with a team, live product, and some traction and provide them with operating capital and/or a small seed investment to help them prepare for an angel or VC round of funding. The Founder Institute works with entrepreneurs before this point in their process, when they may or may not have a team, company, validated idea, product, strategy or plan, and provides them with a structured process, expert mentorship, and a global network to launch their company or push their idea forward.

Pre-Accelerators exist to help you get into a seed-accelerator. While many Founder Institute Graduates do go on to seed-accelerators like Techstars, Y Combinator, and 500 Startups, this is not the sole purpose of the FI program. In fact, many companies that Graduate the Founder Institute are further along than a seed-accelerator, or may not need funding at all. Only approximately 15% of FI Graduates go on to a seed-accelerator program, and we have relationships in place to facilitate that process when it makes sense for the company.

To see the full calendar, visit FI.co/program.

The local session locations are typically held in the same venues as the public pre-program events listed on FI.co/program. The training sessions are not open to the public, so their locations are not listed on the training session pages.

We do not allow remote participation. We have tested remote programs in the past and found that these participants did not receive the irreplaceable value of an in-person program.

The Institute requires a minimum of 20 hours of work per week, on average. Participating Founders are required to attend each three and a half hour weekly session. The sessions will have between five and ten hours of assignment work that needs to be completed before the following session. If a participating Founder is also working on a prototype or some other aspect of the business, then the time commitment can be much greater.

In order to graduate, there are four criteria. First, a Founder must attend all sessions. Second, a Founder must complete all of the challenging company-building assignments. Third, the Founder must incorporate a suitable company. Fourth, once the Founder is invited to graduate, the incorporated business must issue a Warrant, and the Founder will join the Equity Collective. The Institute supports the efforts of every entrepreneur, but the program is very hard, because building a meaningful company is harder. On average, about 30% of founders are able to Graduate from the program.

Attendance is mandatory, however, it is understood that Founders may have emergencies, illness, or pre-planned travel that may prevent them from attending one or two sessions. In general, Founders are allowed to miss one, and an absolute maximum of two program sessions, assuming they have the pre-approval of their Local Program Directors. Keep in mind that if you miss a session you still need to complete all of the company building assignments. In particular, the Orientation, Mentor Idea Review, and the Mentor Progress Review sessions should never be missed.

The Application Fee covers the cost of processing the Admissions Assessment, which is handled by a third party testing provider. The fee is non-refundable.

The Course Fee covers the cost of operating the sessions and administering the program (including things like location fees, audio visual, food, etc). The Course Fee is FULLY REFUNDABLE before the third session of the program, so that participants can see if the program is right for them.

We do not accept Course Fee payments in installments. For Founders that would like to pay in installments, we recommend applying for Paypal's "Bill Me Later" program.

The Founder Institute encourages founding teams to apply to the program, and a typical cohort contains roughly 40% teams, and 60% solo-founders. When a team joins the Founder Institute, the 4% pledge to the Equity Collective remains the same (it is 4% per company, not Founder).

Founding teams can decide to send one Co-Founder, multiple Co-Founders, or all Co-Founders to participate in the program, but each Co-Founder must apply separately (noting the name of your company in your application, in the “Company Name” section). Since we are the ‘Founder’ Institute, each Co-Founder’s application will be evaluated independently by our Admissions Team (one Co-Founder gaining acceptance does not mean that their entire team is accepted). However, even if one Co-Founder is rejected, any accepted Co-Founders are still invited to participate.

Teams are also able to enroll in the program for a discounted Course Fee per-founder: Teams of 2-3 are invited to enroll for 1.5x the Course Fee, and Teams of 4-5 for 2x the Course Fee.

Each enrolled Founder will be responsible for completing assignments and participating in working groups, and 1-2 team members will be responsible for pitching during program sessions. Non-participating Co-Founders are not permitted to attend the FI program sessions, but are welcome to participate in program Office Hours and company-building assignments, as well as many perks post-Graduation.

You can receive a FULL refund of your Course Fee in your first Founder Institute program if you drop out before the start-time of the third program session (currently, the "Customer Development" session). This gives you the opportunity to try out the program for two sessions, with no risk. You can see the program schedule at FI.co/program, and all refunds are processed within a few weeks of your drop out date.

Similarly, if all or part of a team decides to Drop Out before the Refund Deadline, then the Course Fees paid will be refunded in accordance with the Team Pricing. So for example, if all co-founders drop out, then all Course Fees paid will be refunded; if a 4-5 member team downgrades to a 2-3 person team, then the difference between 1.5x and 2x the course fee will be refunded; and if a 2-3 or 4-5 member team downgrades to a solo-founder, then the difference between 1x the course fee and 1.5x and 2x the course fee will be refunded, respectively.

After the Customer Development session, if you cannot finish the program for personal reasons or get dropped by the Founder Institute, you can use your already paid Course Fee towards a future program of the Founder Institute in the same city, so long as that program begins within one calendar year of the start date of the program you dropped out from. If the Course Fee for the new program is significantly higher than your original program, FI reserves the right to require you to pay the difference in order to enroll in the new program. However, we will not refund the difference if the Course Fee of the new program is lower.

In order to guarantee a spot in the program, we encourage Founders to complete their enrollment promptly. Typically we close enrollment approximately 7 days before the start date of the program, but if the class fills up before then you may not be guaranteed a spot.

Keep in mind that you can receive a full refund before the 3rd session in the program, so enrolling is risk-free.

Each person can be given a code to pay the reduced team rate, or we can invoice the team as a whole.

Evaluations throughout the program are by team. If a team is not able to meet course requirements they will be asked to leave and re-enroll in the next program. If a team member decides to stop participating, the rest of the team can continue with the program contingent on there being one Full-time team member enrolled.

The Founder Institute is always interested in speaking to qualified startup experts and local ecosystem leaders to start a local chapter. For more information, visit FI.co/lead

Yes. The Institute does not ask applicants to submit their specific business idea in the application process, since our focus is on developing you as a Founder. In past program, Founders have shared ideas and collaborated accordingly.

This is up to you. The Institute is more interested in the person, and less interested in the business idea. Founders must select one idea to turn into a company within the first 60 to 90 days of the program.

In the beginning of the program, the Founders are broken into smaller working groups by related ideas, and provided with very specific assignments for refining, researching, and validating ideas.

All Founders, Mentors, and Directors attending sessions of the Founder Institute have to sign NDAs before participating in the program. Your IP is protected under the NDA.

After submitting an application and paying the Application Fee, candidates will be sent the Founder Institute's Predictive Admissions Assessment. Learn more about our Admissions Process at FI.co/admissions.

We focus on founders, not ideas. As a result, all applicants are required to take a proprietary psychometric/ aptitude test developed by the Founder Institute and leading social scientists. Learn more about the Assessment at FI.co/DNA, and our full Admissions Process at FI.co/admissions.

The Founder Institute encourages founding teams to apply to the program, and a typical cohort contains roughly 40% teams, and 60% solo-founders. When a team joins the Founder Institute, the 4% pledge to the Equity Collective remains the same (it is 4% per company, not Founder).

Founding teams can decide to send one Co-Founder, multiple Co-Founders, or all Co-Founders to participate in the program, but each Co-Founder must apply separately (noting the name of your company in your application, in the “Company Name” section).

Teams are also able to enroll in the program for a discounted Course Fee per-founder: Teams of 2-3 are invited to enroll for 1.5x the Course Fee, and Teams of 4-5 for 2x the Course Fee.

To see the deadlines in your city, visit FI.co/join.

If you enroll by the Early Admissions Deadline, you will be invited to take the Admissions Assessment for free, you will be eligible for a reduced Course Fee, and you will be eligible for several Founder Institute Fellowships, which provide our best applicants with a full refund to participate in the program for free.

Fellowships provide the very best applicants to the Founder Institute a free Course Fee. The criteria for Fellowship recipients is purely merit-driven, and they are typically awarded to only the top 1-5% of applicants to the program. Anyone who enrolls before the Early Admissions Deadline is automatically eligible for a Fellowship - no special process is needed. To find out more about the Fellowships available in your program visit FI.co/fellowships.

Fellowships are normally awarded within 5 days after the Early Admissions Deadline. All Fellowship recipients are notified by email no later than 7 days after the Early Admissions Deadline, and unfortunately due to the large number of applications, we cannot always notify all applicants that they have not been chosen for a Fellowship.

You can apply to any other Founder Institute program without redoing your application or retaking the Admissions Assessment.

If you want to defer your acceptance from this program to the next one, just let us know via email. We will then mark you as Declined, and you will be notified via email when the next program opens applications. Typically, this will take place in the next 6-12 months. While most people who defer their acceptance are admitted to the future program, we cannot guarantee this because you will be judged against a new cohort of applicants.

If you want to change your city, just log into the Founder Institute website and go to the application page (FI.co/join), where you can see the chapters currently enrolling and pick a new one.

The Institute will not reveal any application information to the public.

Yes. All applications are processed in the sequential order that they are received. If you apply before the early admission deadline, you will have two separate chances to be admitted into the program. Space is limited, so apply early.

Yes. The Founder Institute is appropriate for both aspiring founders, and founders that are running a business that is less than two years old and with less than half a million in annual revenues. Founders that are more advanced in the program are put on the "Growth Track", which focuses more on generating traction and preparing for funding.

Because founders and teams come into the program at different stages of the pre-seed stage, the Founder Institute program bifurcates between a "Launch Track" for earlier-stage founders, and a "Growth Track" for later stage founders and teams. The "Launch Track" is designed to help individuals and teams at the idea-stage validate their business, grow their team, and launch their startup. The "Growth Track" is designed to help teams that are post-launch generate traction and prepare for funding. 

We have had many successful cases of Founders that go through the program to receive valuable feedback from Mentors while they already have an incorporated company. If the company is incorporated with an acceptable legal structure, then the company only needs to issue the warrant or option with the help of a law firm, or professional firm. Otherwise, the legal partner needs to work with the company to transition an incorrect structure to the proper structure as part of the engagement.

The Founder Institute does not accept partnership and LLC formats because these companies are not optimal for issuing shares and raising capital.

The Institute accepts between 20 and 50 Founders. A number of factors encourage limiting the group size, such as the capacity of reserved meeting facilities, the ability to deliver a meaningful mentorship experience, and the quality of the shared upside among participants.

Yes. After you successfully apply, you will be logged into the Founder Institute site. On the right hand side, it should say: Semester: {Semester} Role: Founder, Status: Applied. This indicates that your application has gone through. As the Institute processes applications, your status will change to "Reviewing," "Accepted," "Finalist" or "Rejected." The Institute will email you with your application status once it changes.

See a sample Founder Institute session here.

No. The Institute has a mix of full-time and part-time Founders in the program. Many businesses get started with part-time Founders until the company gains traction. Once a company gets off the ground and properly capitalized through revenues or investment, the Institute expects that the Founders will start working full-time.

Yes. Since participants have shared areas of interest and hail from a variety of backgrounds, it is common for founding teams to be established with different program participants. In one case a Mentor even joined one of the Institute companies as a Co-Founder.

Graduating from the Founder Institute is challenging. First, only roughly 30% of applicants are admitted to the program. Then, less than 30% of accepted Founders generally make it through the program to Graduation. In order to graduate, a Founder needs to develop an engaging idea for a technology company that is validated by the program mentors, plan out the business, work on an offering, incorporate their company, and complete all of the required assignments - all within a four month timeframe. Reasons for not graduating differ, but each Founder who leaves is invited to join a future program, when they are ready to launch a business.

If a solo-founder drops out after the Refund Deadline (the third session of the program), they are able to apply any Course Fees paid towards the next Founder Institute program in their city. Approximately 30-40% of Founders that drop out of the program return to the next one.

If you want to enroll in the next program, you will need to pay a small re-enrollment fee ($50), plus any difference in course fee. We will not refund any fees if the course fee for a future program is lower.

The process of building your company will be a lot harder than you ever expected. Maintaining your enthusiasm, passion, and enjoyment of pursuing your vision is paramount.

The Institute selects Mentors with a broad range of industry experiences, including hardware, software, manufacturing, biotech, entertainment, digital media, investment, services, and B2B/B2C. Most Mentors have started multiple companies and are currently running a well-known startup. In addition, all Mentors are anonymously rated by program participants for the sake of quality control.

The pairing process is informal. Founders have the opportunity to ask questions of Mentors before, during, and after each session both online and in-person. While some Mentors are extremely busy, it is expected that the majority of Mentors will help Founders where they have common interests. The Mentors are compensated through the Equity Collective, and Mentor compensation increases with positive ratings from participating Founders. This gives Mentors the extra incentive to help the Founders, provide introductions, etc. In addition, a final review is done after the program is completed, creating an incentive for longer term Mentor involvement.

To see the Local Founder Agreement, select the city of your choosing from the drop down on the top right corner of the site, and then go to FI.co/agreements.

The Program will include a session about legal topics during the Startup Legal and IP session. If you need help with getting incorporated, you can always ask for help during the program's office hours, or speak with our Local Legal Partner, Directors, or Mentors.

You should engage a law firm for incorporating your company during the Program, and we will provide you with the guidance and tools to do so. In some countries, professionals, such as corporate secretaries or accounting firms, are customarily hired to incorporate a company. It is important that you hire a professional to create the corporation to ensure that it is done properly and investors can fund your company.

The Founder Institute strongly recommends that Founders use our legal partner in each city, but we do not mandate it. Most legal partners also provide discounted and/or deferred pricing.

You are allowed to incorporate in whatever country you see fit, as we have localized agreements in many jurisdictions. During our Startup Legal & IP session, we will give you advice on how/where to incorporate as well. For those incorporating in the United States, we recommend Delaware C-Corps as they are the most conducive to raising venture capital. There are similar safe-havens for corporations all across the globe.

This question should be asked to your law firm as each country has different laws and policies. The Founder Institute does not sponsor nor facilitate any processes with regards to Visas. If you cannot incorporate a company, you cannot Graduate from the program.

No. At approximately 1/2 way through the Founder Institute program (around the Startup Legal & IP session), you will sign the warrant or option agreement for the company you are building in the program.

The Founder Institute does not have any voting rights in our Graduate companies, and we do not hold any board seats either.

If you drop out with more than 45 days left before Graduation, then you are not obligated to issue the warrant. However, if you drop out with less than 45 days left in the program, then you are contractually bound to issue the Founder Institute warrants in accordance with the Founder Agreement. This prevents people from cheating the system and leaving the program at the very end, thereby purposefully avoiding contribution into the Pool and cheating their peers, mentors, and the Founder Institute.

Similar to the 45 day stipulation above, this clause is meant to prevent Founders from immediately starting a new (identical) company after Graduation that is not part of the Equity Collective, thereby cheating their peers and the Founder Institute. We would only use this clause if the new company formed within 6 months was identical or very similar in nature to the company you formed in the program.

This clause was added to the Founder Agreement after receiving feedback from Graduates, and it prevents Graduates that do not try to build a company within 2 years after the program from participating in the Pool.

Please send the signed to agreement to mailing (at) fi (dot) co with your information, including full name and location of the program where you intend to enroll. Alternatively, you can reply to any emails you have received from us.

The FAST agreement (https://fi.co/FAST) gives you the legal framework to engage with mentors and advisors. It was developed by our CEO, Adeo Ressi with our partner law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, LLP (WSGR). It is a public document for anyone to use and edit. For any questions regarding the document, please consult a legal counsel.

Each graduate company contributes 4% of their equity into an Equity Collective, which is shared between each cohort's Graduates, Mentors, Directors, and the Founder Institute. This encourages teamwork in the local cohort, and provides returns to everyone involved in each program (including Graduates). For more information, visit https://fi.co/liquidity.

Graduating founders allocate 4% of your company to the Founder Institute through the form of a Warrant or Option, and the Founder Institute then contractually allocates any money that is generated from the Warrants or Options to various stakeholders. Upon exercising the warrant, The Founder Institute would become on official common shareholder for easy corporate housekeeping, but the contractual allocation spreads returns from the Warrants or Options with others, allowing you have the benefit of multiple shareholders without the complexity. Teams that join the Founder Institute pledge 4% total to the pool (it is 4% per company, not founder).

Each Founder that contributes a company to the Pool receives an equal share of the 25% allocated to Founders. If there are 10 Founders in the Pool, then each Founder gets 1/10 of the Pool, or 2.5%. Co-Founders split their allocation. So, If there were 12 Founders contributing 10 companies, and two of the 10 companies each had two Co-Founders, then each Co-Founder would get 1.25%, while all other single Founders would get 2.5%. Since value in the Pool is derived from companies, shares in the Pool are allocated for each company contributed.

Even in small acquisitions of $5 MM or less, the financial return from the Equity Collective far exceeds the average Course Fee by multiple times. Below are four hypothetical situations where a Founder in the Pool sells their company for anywhere between $5 MM and $250 MM. The models assumes that the Pool will be diluted over time as the company gets larger and brings on investors, senior employees and partners. The model also assumes that there are 10 graduating Founders, each getting 1/10 of the Pool 25% allocation to Founders, or 2.5% each. Please note that Pool returns are paid out to individual Founders, not to their companies, so returns can be used for anything that you want, from paying rent to investing in your startup.

At approximately 1/2 way through the Founder Institute program (around the "Startup Legal & IP" session), you will be required to incorporate your company and sign the warrant or option agreement. At this point you will be added to the Pool. Founders that do not wish to join the Equity Collective need to withdraw from the program before the last 45 days of the program.

When a Founder in the Pool achieves a liquidity event by selling their business or by going public, the Founder Institute distribute the proceeds to the stakeholders through the following process. The Founder notifies the Institute that there is an impending liquidity event, and the Institute will provide some strategic advice on closing the deal for the best terms. The Institute will also work quickly to provide any necessary signatures and approvals. When the transaction is completed and a payment is sent to the Institute, the Institute then takes the total return and divides it up by the contractual allocation, which is stored in our systems and checked by our accountants. Individual distribution checks are then cut for all of the stakeholders and mailed along with a nice letter. In the future, the Institute may switch to PayPal for convenience.

Yes, it is a requirement for graduation.

The warrants and the Pool expire after 15 years from the issue date. The Institute set a realistic timeframe for companies in the Pool to achieve some type of liquidity event, such as a merger, a sale or a public offering. The vast majority of businesses will either fail or succeed within 15 years.

The Founder Institute does not have any voting rights in our Graduate companies, and we do not hold any board seats either.

The Institute analyzed multiple equity programs, and choose 4% as the smallest amount of equity to contribute that can still return reasonable value to the Pool. As one example, setting up an advisory board normally requires 5% of a company to attract 5 or 6 advisors, and the Institute wanted to be less than 5% to attract over two dozen Mentors during the program. As another example, most funding incubators purchase approximately 7-10% of a company for approximately $20,000, and the Institute wanted to be less than these type of programs. At 4%, Founders in the LPool can get $100,000 in cash returns from low a nine figure exit.

Warrants have a number of advantages over equity.
(1) Successful Founders from incubators often feel that they receive bad investment terms from the incubator. Warrants ensure that any equity placed in the Pool for the Institute and other stakeholders is priced by the market, creating a win-win scenario.
(2) Warrants do not give the Institute any control or voting rights in the company

There are two types of investments done by Founders, either a convertible investment or an equity investment. The Warrant or Option only matters with respect to a Qualified Equity Financing, which is defined as any equity investment for $100,000 USD or more completed by external investors, people other than the Founder or Founders themselves. If you join a qualifying startup program, such as YCombinator, after graduation from the Founder Institute program, a Qualified Equity Financing is defined as any equity investment for $25,000 USD or more. The Founder Institute maintains a list of qualifying startup programs that may be updated from time to time.

When a Founder in the Equity Collective completes a qualified equity investment, the shares in the company are given a value by the outside investors. At this point, the strike price of the Warrant or Option is set. The number of shares of the Warrant or Option is also set at 4% of the company after the investment is complete. Hundreds of Founders have raised capital with the Founder Institute Warrant or Option in place. Most investors are used to investing in companies with Warrants or Options present.

The Institute does not intend to purchase the Warrant or Option until a liquidity event occurs with a greater value than the strike price, at which point the Institute will purchase the Warrant or Option to return value to the Pool.

The exercise price is the price-per-share granted via the Warrant. The share price is set by your investors during the first Qualified Equity Financing. The price your investors paid-per-share is the price of the Founder Institute's shares, and thus determines how many shares are included in the warrant. As a basic overview, the warrant is an agreement that allows us to buy stock from you in the future. The price and the exact amount of shares (4%) we can purchase gets determined at your first "qualified financing" or "priced round" of the Company. The qualified financing sets the valuation of your company and the "price per share" based upon whatever terms you negotiate with the investors. Our 4% is based upon of the total outstanding shares at the qualified financing round, but this amount gets diluted over time if you raise future equity financing rounds. In practice, FI waits to actually execute the warrant (buy the shares from you) until there is a liquidity event (M&A, IPO, etc.), which could be 10 years from now. We do not actually own the shares until we execute the warrant and we have no voting rights in the company.

The warrant grants the Founder Institute 4% at the time of the first Qualified Equity Financing This 4% is fully dilutable over future rounds of investment.

This clause allows the Founder Institute to exercise the warrant and obtain shares without having to pay with cash. Please consult your lawyer if you have specific questions about this clause.

FI reserves the right to sell the equity granted via the Warrant at a time of its choosing. Graduate companies continue to participate in the Pool until its termination (15 years) even if their equity has been sold.

This provision is there to protect a Founder from involuntary termination. This clause is there to help the Founder in the case that the Board wants to remove the Founder as the CEO. If you leave the company as the CEO voluntarily and would like to appoint a new CEO, the company is not required to pay the penalty.

Yes. The Institute encourages Founders with standalone business ideas that are capital efficient to apply. The majority of topics covered in the program are relevant to any business, such as team building, vendors, and revenue. The Institute is working with two dozen partners on discounted or free offerings to dramatically reduce the cost of launching a new company, making enrollment worthwhile.

Yes. The Institute encourages active fundraising throughout the program for Founders that are prepared and require outside capital. The goal is to get Founders in front of investors multiple times before the program ends.

At graduation, top rated angel investors and venture capitalists will be invited to attend and contribute. At this investor session, you will be experienced and very well prepared to pitch. In past investor sessions, over a dozen venture capital companies have been represented, with additional angel investors. The Institute also facilitates investor meetings outside of the program.

Some are, yes, and others are not. Only the best teams and the best companies will receive financing in the current economic climate, and these strong opportunities will be able to push for better terms. The Institute aims to foster the best, and that is reflected in the terms. The Institute does not mandate that companies use the documents nor that the Founders participate in the Pool.

The Institute invites a wide range of Founders from different sectors to apply. Some companies need more capital and will raise more capital during the program. The amount of money that a participating Founder can expect to raise is ultimately based on the business, its specific needs, and the execution.

The Founder Institute does not invest directly in Graduate companies. However, we do facilitate investment through introductions, local/ regional/ global events, and more.

The Founders choose the investors, negotiate the terms, and sign the deal with assistance of, but no control from, the Founder Institute. Everything is up to the founder and the shareholders. Keep in mind that the Founder Institute will not be a shareholder of any kind pre-funding.