A Look into the Founder Institute’s Admission Process

The Founder Institute is a unique program that focuses on founders instead of ideas, and works with founders and companies at a very early stage. As a result, we approach admissions very differently than other startup organizations.

Read about our unique admissions methodology below:

What We Look For

At the Founder Institute, we believe Great Companies Start with Great People, and the greatest variable in the success or failure of any company is its leadership.

As a result, we focus on the Founder versus the idea in our admissions process. Whereas most seed-accelerator programs will ask you questions about your product, company, or traction, the Founder Institute works with Founders at an earlier stage and instead looks for people with the raw skills, experience, and passion to build an enduring company.

Most startup ideas quickly evolve and change through customer and market feedback anyway, so our admissions process is designed to identify Founders that have the openness, determination, and problem-solving skills to adapt and endure to build a great company.

Who Should Apply

The Founder Institute is designed to help founders at the very-early stages. This includes;

• Aspiring founders who are still employed full-time
• Solo-founders, or teams
• Founders of established companies (generally less than two years old, and before significant funding, revenue, or traction)
• Founders open to building an enduring business in a number of different ways, whether through bootstrapping, funding (not a requirement), or otherwise.

We define "tech or tech-enabled businesses" as any businesses that leverages and can scale through technology. In addition to traditional "tech" businesses (software, hardware, biotech, etc), this also includes businesses selling physical products via e-commerce. We are not vertical-specific, and have Graduated successful businesses building software, hardware, bio-tech, greentech, fashion, food, non-profits, and more. Service-related businesses (ex. a marketing consultancy or web development shop) are not a good fit for our program.

Who Should Not Apply?

• If your company has significant funding, traction, or revenue, then you are probably too advanced for the Founder Institute. We recommend these founders apply to a “seed-accelerator” such as Techstars.
• If you are building a service-related business, like a marketing agency.
• If you are not committed and ready to perform the hard work required to build an enduring company.
• If you are just trying to "flip" a company or "get rich quick"

The Founder Institute regularly holds virtual information sessions where you can learn even more about what it has to offer. Click here to register for the next webinar.

Starting Your Application

To start your application, visit FI.co/join.

The first part of the Founder Institute application begins with a short written portion, where we ask about your professional background and areas of interest. Applicants also have the option to share their business idea and details with us, but this is not required because we are much more interested in identifying strong Founders than trying to evaluate an early startup idea.

After completing the written portion, applicants are then invited take our Predictive Admissions Assessment, which is our main criteria for acceptance.

The Predictive Admissions Assessment

We are serious about our belief that "Great Companies Start with Great People". In fact, we have been working with leading social-scientists since 2008 to develop a test that identifies people with the raw skills and personality traits conducive to entrepreneurship.

Through many years of iteration and calibrating the real-world performance of thousands of startups with the test results of their founders, we have developed online aptitude and personality tests that have proven to be over 85% accurate in predicting entrepreneurial success. Our research has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, and Forbes, among others.

The Predictive Admissions Assessment is a required component of our admissions process, and the current iteration takes approximately 45-90 minutes to complete. The test is administered online, and has been translated into nine different languages. There is a $50 Administration Fee to take the test, however anybody that attends a free Founder Institute Event can apply for free.

The Founder Institute appears to have developed an assessment that any population, any city, university, or country could use to determine who among them has the best shot at succeeding as an entrepreneur.” – Aaron Patzer, Founder of Mint.com, Founder Institute Mentor since 2009

Application Review Process

All applications to the Founder Institute are human-reviewed, so you will not receive an immediate answer. Our Admissions Team is based at our Silicon Valley Headquarters, and they are typically able to provide an Admissions Decision via email within 72 hours (this timeframe may be slightly longer over the weekend, or during U.S. holidays).

Admissions are done a rolling-basis, and every applicant is judged in comparison to the other applicants in their semester. Our Admissions Team uses the following review criteria (in order of importance):

1. Predictive Admissions Assessment
2. Written Application
3. Professional Background and Experience
4. Input from Local Directors
5. Other (this includes things like your communication with Admissions Team, etc)

After reviewing your application, the Admissions Team will assign you to one of the four categories below. You will receive an email notification, and you can also see your state at the top of your profile page when you are logged in.

1. "Accepted" - Accepted Founders are invited to complete the final steps to enrollment, and immediately get access to all course materials.
2. "Reviewing" - If you are in this state, then we are conducting a more thorough review of your application or Assessment. In many cases our Admissions Team will reach out to you with specific questions over email. This is not necessarily a good or bad thing, it just means that we are digging a little deeper on your application.
3. "Finalist" - If you are designated as a Finalist, then you are placed on the "Waiting List" and your application will be re-reviewed at a later date. Since we judge all applicants in comparison to other applicants in a semester, this allows the Admissions Team to more thoroughly review an application once most or all of the local applications are collected. Over the course of our history approximately 30% of Finalists have been accepted, but this varies widely depending on each semester.
4. "Declined" - If you are not accepted to the program, please do not let us stop you from building a company. All declined applicants are given access to free company-building materials from our program, and are welcome to move their existing application to future semesters for consideration.

What are the Deadlines?

Each Founder Institute semester has two deadlines: the Early Admissions Deadline, and the Final Admissions Deadline.

The Early Admissions Deadline (2017-10-22 for the Munich 2017 program), is designed to encourage people to apply and enroll in the program early, so that they can start working on the company-building assignments. To encourage early applicants there are a number of perks, such as free applications, eligibility for Fellowships (awarded to the top applicants), and more.

The Final Admissions Deadline (2018-01-14 for the Munich 2017 program) is when we stop accepting applications, and when our Admissions Team begins to finalize selections for the semester.

Since all admissions are done on a rolling-basis, the earlier you apply, the greater your chances of acceptance.

What are the next steps if you are Accepted?

If you are accepted into the program, you then have the opportunity to enroll on the site and immediately get access to all course materials. To enroll in the program, you will need to:

1. Sign and upload the Founder Agreement
2. Pay the Course Fee (€999 EUR for the Munich 2017 program)

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

Accepted Founders are more than welcome to take their time completing their enrollment, and we offer one-to-one calls with FI team members to answer any questions they have. However, many semesters do fill up, so we encourage accepted founders to enroll as early as possible.

How do Co-Founders Enroll in the program?

The Institute encourages all Co-Founders to apply to the program, and when Co-Founders enroll in the program together they each get a 25% discount on the Course Fee. However, each Co-Founder is required to take the Admissions Assessment and will be judged individually.

It is very common for some Co-Founders to participate in the FI program, while their fellow Co-Founders do not.