Today, the Founder Institute, the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the Buffalo - New York Fall 2025 program!
If you could use a structured process and a lifetime of support from Buffalo's top investors and entrepreneurs to build a startup, then apply to the Buffalo - New York Fall 2025 Founder Institute today.
Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200+ cities worldwide, the Founder Institute provides high-potential entrepreneurs and teams with the devoted support network and structured growth process needed to get to traction and funding. Participants in the 4-month core program also get access to a lifetime of support through the Founder Institute's industry-leading post-programs.
Since 2009, the Founder Institute has helped over 7,500 Alumni raise over $1.85BN funding, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more (see the FI 10 Year Impact Report here).
To celebrate the launch, we will host several free startup events in Buffalo, where you can learn from top entrepreneurs and hear more about the program:
- How to Build Your MVP Using Artificial Intelligence : 1:00pm, Jun 04, 2025 (America/New_York): https://FI.co/e/371327
- Founder Institute Online Information Session: https://FI.co/infosession
- FI Alumni Panel: Meet Portfolio Companies and Ask Questions: 1:00pm, Jun 23, 2025 (America/New_York): https://FI.co/e/371738
- Co-Founder Networking: Find a Business Partner: 1:00pm, Jun 30, 2025 (America/New_York): https://FI.co/e/371580
The Buffalo program is led by some of the region's top startup leaders, including Anush Ricci (Director , Founder Institute New York Chapter), Ken Parker (Director, Humans for AI), Lara Hejtmanek (Director, FI - NY), New York Admin (Founder Institute , New York), Reid Hamilton (Executive Director, NYC Innovation Collective), Silvia Lupu (CEO, Hikaro Capital, Director - Founder Institute).
In addition, some of Buffalo's top investors, entrepreneurs, and CEOs will be participating in the program, providing them with expert feedback and evaluation. The list of startup mentors for the Buffalo Founder Institute includes:
- Aaron Price: cofounder, rocketfuel.cc
- Abdellah Aouf: Chief Executive Officer, GO PLATFORM
- Abraham Milano: Cofounder - CTO, Dada Art
- Adam Kirsch: Principal, Next Day Hill
- Adam Seifer: Co-Founder, Co-CEO, Everplans
- Adam Balogh: Co-Founder, Vanna Labs
- Adam Schoenberg: Chief Marketing Officer , Leiio Wellness / First Person
- Adam Sah: Advisor, Seed Investor, Consultant (ASIC), Secret Weapon
- Adebayo Adegbenro
- Adeo Ressi: CEO, Decile Group / VC Lab
- AJ Kintner: Owner, Mrktplc.com, Moneypub.co
- Aki Balogh: President, MarketMuse
- Akshata Philar
- Akshay Rawat: Senior Staff Software Engineer, Checkr Pay @ Checkr X
- Alex Batdorf: Co-Founder & CMO, ZipFit Denim
- Alexander Kippen: Founder, LighTowerMedia
- Alexander Volodarsky: Co-Founder, 90sFest
- Alexis Beechen: CEO, The Drop
- Alice Maglio: Product Designer , Genome Medical
- Alison Anderson: CEO and Founder, Succession Matching
- Allen Saakyan: Interviewing the Greatest Minds, Simulation
- Ambrose Price Iii: Founder & CEO, Ambrose Madison
- An Wang: Director, ASW Venture Partners
- Anand Gandhi: CFO, Skillshare
- Andrea Vossler: Lawyer and VC , Varia Ventures
- Andrew Aziz: Independent Consultant, Self-employed
- Andrew Osipov: Founder & CEO, Visual Craft
- Andrew Ive: Founder / Managing General Partner, Big Idea Ventures
- Andy Saldaña: Executive Director/ Co-Founder, NY Tech Alliance/ QueerTech
- Angela Fisher: Founder, Neufluence
- Angelique Mercurio: Founder & CEO, EnerKnol
- Angie Hanna-Bugueiro: Product Strategy Consultant, Self-Employed
- Anna Degtereva: CEO & Founder, Happy Farm Business Accelerator
- Anna Kozachukhna: Founder & Creative Director, BREATH VISION
- Anna La Germaine
- Anne Augusta Blum: Program Manager, German Accelerator Tech
- Annick Thiombiano, Trading with Africa
- Anush Ricci: Director, Founder Institute New York Chapter
- Aparna Srinivasan: Founder & CEO, SpotOn
- Arcui Usoara: Founder/CEO, Iaculus
- Arsen Pereymer: Founder & Managing Partner, Appument Ventures
- Ashantha Kaluarachchi: Managing Director, StartEd Accelerator
- Aulene De: Software Engineer, Meta
- Aviv Shalgi: CEO, Solar Simplified
- Ayub Ansari: Principal, Anthesis (Carlyle)
- Beatriz Helena Ramos: Founder , DancingDiablo, DADA.nyc
- Ben Stacey: CEO, Pitchverk
- Benjamin Rollert: CEO & co-founder, Composer
- Bhaskar Ahuja: CEO, Sand Hill Road Technologies Fund
- Bhuvan Khanna: Co-Founder/EVP, Webonise
- Bill Rivkin: Virtual Relationship Manager |non-dilutive funding, Citizens Bank
- Bobbi Wegner: CEO, Groops
- Bobby Palmieri: CEO, Lilo Social
- Bonnie Halper: Founder, Startup One Stop
- Brandon Burke: Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer, LegWorks
- Bre Pettis: Business Owner , Bantam Tools
- Breen Sullivan: Founder & CEO, The Fourth Effect
- Brian Hecht: Venture Partner, ERA
- Brian Stuckey: Principal , CoVenture
- Brian M Pasalich: Chief Executive Officer | Co-Founder, Behave Technologies (Formerly Syntoniq, Inc.)
- Bryan Janeczko: Founder, Wicked Start
- Caitlin Herling: Principal, The Venture Collective
- Candace Ohm: Founder, Canz.Art
- Carolyn Katz: Public Company Director, Multiple Companies
- Caya (Jose) Cayasso: CEO, Slidebean
- Changhao Wei: Program Manager, Medtronic
- Charlie Kim: Founder & CEO, Next Jump
- Charlie Cliff: CTO
- Charlie Tillett: Consulting CFO, 50-50-50 Consulting
- Cheryl Kallem: Managing Director, Golden Seeds
- Chhavi Singh: Co-founder, Flyte (flyteai.com)
- Chintan Oza: Founder, Anantam Ecosystems
- Christian Monfiston
- Christian Behl: International Business Development, Cognition IP
- Christina Sass: Cofounder & Chair, Advisory Council & Alumni Network at Andela, Andela
- Christopher Coyle: Founder and CEO, TAO
- Christopher Jacob: Founder, Data+AI
- Christopher Taktak: CEO/Founder, Doola
- Çigdem A Binal: Director, L-Spark/Wesley Clover
- Claire Mc Taggart: Founder & CEO, Square Peg Hires
- Clara Luo: Head of Marketing Strategy, Deloitte
- Clarisse Dr. Behar Molad: CHief Strategy Officer , Whistesteps Technologies
- Colin Gallacher: President, Haply Robotics
- Conchita Galdón: CEO & Founder / Manager, Puentes Global / Area 31 @ IE Business School
- Conrad Egusa: CEO, Publicize
- Corey Menscher: Founder & CEO , Perceptive Things
- Cory Crosland: President, Croscon
- Courtney Brand: Founder of , The Lighthouse
- Craig Zingerline: Founder and CEO , Growth University
- Crystelle Desnoyer: Chief of Staff
- DAISY CONROY, Hodge, Inc.
- Dan Bratshpis: CEO, Inshur
- Daniel Nelson: Recovering Accountant, Startup Economics
- Daniel Seidman: Founder / CEO, Clean Cloud Solutions
- Daniel Rothman: Healthcare Entrepreneur, Empire Angels / Mid Atlantic Bio Angels
- Daniela Pico
- Danny Potocki: Founder, Finis Ventures
- Dario Anaya: Founder & CEO, GetPupil Inc.
- Dav Masaon: Co-Founder, Zanda
- Dave Rossberg: Business Leadership Coach, Self-employed
- David Postolski: Partner, Gearhart Law
- David Beatty: Founder, Golden Seeds
- David Rosen: CEO, Acrelic Group
- David Odrich: Partner, Pillsbury
- David Olaniyan: Founder, GameBase Inc.
- David Silverstein: Founder, Ned Helps
- David S. Rose: CEO, Gust
- Dawn Zappetti: Founder and Principal Consultant, Zap Advisory
- Dean Soukeras: Founder, Carster Inc
- Dean Hopkins: CEO, One Eleven
- De-Ann Abraham: Programs Manager, NYU Entrepreneurial Institute
- Denise Bowen
- Devin Young: Co-founder and President, Classcraft
- Diego Rodriguez: Partner, Magnolia Innovation
- Dimitrios Douloumbakas: Owner
- Dmitry Shmakov: Senior Software Engineer, Unqork
- Don Samoil: Managing Partner, Trusted Scale
- Duy Tran: Co-Founder and VP, Koç University 180 Degrees Consulting
- Eavan Cleary: Design Director, Burns Group
- Eduardo Neeter: Founder & CEO, HyperTunnel
- Elise Neel
- Elizabeth Tsai: Founder & CEO , HiOperator
- Emile Chung
- Emily Bell: Program Manager, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
- Federico Salvitti: CMRO, Stateset.io, NYU Faculty, & United Nations Global Compact Advisor
- Frédéric Harper: Senior Developer Advocate, DigitalOcean
- Fung Lin Wu: Director of Retention Marketing, MongoDB
- Gabe Zichermann: CEO, Failosophy
- Gabriel Alin Zainescu: Founder & CEO, Zainescu Consulting
- Gary Whitehill: Founder, Numerous
- George Likourezos: Senior Partner, Carter, DeLuca & Farrell LLP
- Guc Ozenci: Connector | Advisor, ConnectOp
- Gyan Kapur: Managing Director, Bayes Ventures
- Hans Kullberg: CEO & Founder, EconoCast
- Hara Wang: Principal, Third Derivative
- Haris Jaliawala: Senior Product Manager, Vivante Health
- Harlan Milkove: Managing Partner, Syntoniq
- Heidi Diamond
- Helena Fogarty: CEO. Founder. Coach, Chief Growth Officer
- Henri Huselstein: Co-Founder / CEO, AUCTA
- Hollie Haggans: Manager, Community Relations and Engagement, DigitalOcean
- Hugo Renaudin: CEO, LGO Group
- Ignacio Castro: Managing Partner, 128vc
- Ihar Mahaniok: Managing Partner, Geek Ventures
- Inna Wolanski: Digital Innovation Executive, Barnes & Nobles - Digital D2C Division
- Irina Berkon: Member, Golden Seeds
- Ivan Stamatovski: CTO, Easy Aerial
- Jack McGowan: Director, Buffalo Angels
- Jack Sousa: Partner, wiggin(x)
- Jackie Trebilcock
- Jacob Geffner: CEO, BuyMyOrder Inc
- Jacob Levy: Associate, SoundBoard Venture Fund
- Jae Lee: Founder and CEO, Stealth Startup
- James Sutcliffe: CEO , the founding network
- James Shomar, Startfast
- Janet DeFrino: Principal, Five Mile Advisors
- Janet Todorova: Head of Expansion, Founder Institute
- Jason Shuman: Principal, Primary Ventures
- Jason Jacobsohn: Managing Director, Propellant Ventures
- Jason Schmidt: Vice President, Global Head of Commercial Data, Condé Nast
- Jedidiah Weller: CEO, OpenForge
- Jeff Lindor: CEO, Gentleman's Factory
- Jeff Yellin: N/A, Prime8
- Jeff Brodlieb: Partner, Centricap
- Jeff Stewart: Managing Director , Global Public Offering Fund
- Jeffrey Wald: Founder and President, Work Market
- Jeffrey Silverman: Co-Founder and Managing Director, Laconia Capital Group
- Jeremy Kagan: Professor, Columbia Business School
- Jessica Millstone: Managing Director, Copper Wire Ventures
- Jie Li: Director, Lair East Labs
- Jody Chesnov: Managing Partner, Rosenberg Chesnov CPA's
- Joe Daniels: Partner, Co-Chair - Emerging Companies, Partner & Co-Chair, Emerging Companies Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Johann Botha: Software Engineer, Google
- John Dallas: CEO, Enclave Academy and Hillview Partners Network LLC
- John Siracusa: Founder, #BankSocial
- John Matson: Digital Director, Voyager
- John Gavigan: Chief Operating Officer, Cupule Ventures
- Johnny Hwin: Partner, Studio Management
- Jonathan Greechan: Co-Founder & CEO, Founder Institute
- Jonathan Tran: Consultant, Kynetic Consulting (work-in-progress)
- Jonathan Grasso: Attorney - Partner, Pierce McCoy, PLLC
- Jonathan Hakakian: Managing Director, SoundBoard Angel Fund
- Jonathan Lui: Managing Consultant, Beth Thouin Consulting
- Jonathan Miller: Executive Leadership Coach, Level 7 Leadership
- Jonathan Ebel: CTO, Verivend
- Jonathan Brinson: Co-founder, Reveler
- Jordan Walbesser: Senior Counsel, Director Legal & Business Affairs, Mattel
- Jordan Jocius: Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Founder Institute
- Jorge Torres: Managing Director, VenSeed
- Jorge Castro: Co-Founder, ScienceVest
- Jose Martins: Director , Founder Institute Boston
- Joseph Daniels: Partner, Co-Chair -- Venture Capital and Emerging Companies Group , Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough
- Joseph Shair: Co Founder, Drivr
- Joseph Jaffe: Founder & CEO, Evol8tion, LLC
- Josh Williams: Co-Founder, Very Great
- Josh Kleiman
- Joshua Aviv: CEO , SparkCharge
- Juan Lacey: CEO, Farms Close By
- Julie Campbell: Founder, Center Stage Connections
- Julie Cottineau: CEO, BrandTwist
- Julien Lancha: Entrepreneur, CCO and Co-founder, Advizzo
- June Barrage: Innovation Consultant, Disruptive Edge
- June W Choi: Managing Partner, Serval Ventures
- Justin Sherratt: Founder, Sortbox
- Kamal Hassan: Founding Partner, Loyal VC
- Kat Dey: Co-Founder & President, ettitude
- Katerina Dimitratos: Founder & CEO, Meddy Health Co.
- Katherine Zamsky: Managing Partner, Carbon Ventures
- Kathryn Minshew: CEO, The Muse
- Katy Bolan: Sustainability Executive, Google
- Katy Richardson: VP (PR), Publicize.co
- Ken Parker: CBO, Humans for AI
- Kevin Kovacs: VP, Blackstone/GSO
- Kevin Siskar: CEO & Cofounder, Finta
- Kevin Qiu: Consultant, TechEx
- Kevin Dawidowicz: President, CoachMePlus
- Kfir Nissan: Founder and CEO, Valid Network
- Khalil Zahar: Founder & CEO, FightCamp
- Kiran Pingali: Co-founder, CEO, TELK Group
- Kirsti Jane: CEO, House Of Luxury LLC
- Kristi Gaudioso: CEO, Luminate Consulting
- Kuji Chahal: Principal, Plexo Capital
- Ladislav Jurić: Founder & CEO, Motus Vis inc.
- Lane Campbell: CTO, Vue Ventures
- Laura Maiurano: CRO & Co-Founder, Fivefoottwo Marketing
- Laura Di Francesco: CEO, Founder, Attorney
- Lauren Cascio: Co-founder, Abartys Health
- Leandra Elberger: Studio Director, Cornell Tech
- Leena Palav: Board Member, Strategy Advisor, COO, -med devices, health tech, consumer products, robotics
- Len Gray: Partner and Co-Chair of the Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Practice Group, Wiggin and Dana LLP
- Lewis Gersh: Founder and CEO, PebblePost
- Lindsay Siegel: Founder, LS Advising
- Lisa Cuesta: Vice President, NextGen Venture Partners
- Lisa Morales-Hellebo: GP & Co-founder, REFASHIOND Ventures
- Liz Leahy: Founding Partner, Purple Sage Ventures
- Lorenzo Thione: Managing Director, Gaingels
- Luca Albertinazzi: Global Evangelist , Startup Grind
- Luis Gonzalez: Co-Founder and Partner, Outbound Ventures
- Lynda Kommel-browne: Financial Advisor, RoundRock Advisors
- Maaike Doyer: Founder, Epic Angels
- Maggie Chan Jones: Founder & CEO, Tenshey
- Mara Rada: Chief Operations and Strategy, Loon (loonbio.com)
- Marcos Polanco: CEO, Deedit
- Marcy Borofsky: Founder & Board Member, Smile America Partners
- Marina Vytovtova: Product Consultant, Product in Action
- Marisa Freeden
- Marisa Sweeny: Director, Investments, Generate Capital
- Mark DeSantis: CEO, Bloomfield
- Mark Milastsivy: CEO, Firstbase.io
- Marly Lake: Co-Founder & CEO, Curled
- Mars Shah: CEO, Red Rock Capital
- Marta Llopis Mariño: Strategy Manager, Clarity AI
- Marvin Johnson: Co-founder, Dashible
- Matt Rodak: Founder, Fund That Flip
- Matt Melbourne: Business Development Lead, Republic
- Matt Wills: Co-Founder, Drivr Startup Solutions
- Matt Mandell: Principal, PayNerd.com
- Matt Eventoff: Founder, Princeton Public Speaking | The Oratory Project | Damselfly Ventures
- Matthieu Dejardins: CEO & Founder, NextUser
- Maxine Rosen: Assistant Director, Savills
- Mee Jung Jang: Co-founder, Jefferson Investors
- Meera Oak: Principal, Alumni Ventures
- Meghan Messenger: Co-Founder, Next Jump
- Mehul Sompura: Founder, Diamond Hedge
- Melissa Li: Managing Partner and Head of Community, Dorm Room Fund
- Michael Presser: Investing Partner, Kairos HQ
- Michael Fouquet: Chief Technology Officer at Stark, Stark
- Michael Zaytsev: Founder, High NY
- Michael Lapin: CEO, Beginex
- Michael Letros: Strategist, FI Mentor
- Michael Diamant: Co-Founder at Cleverpup , Former Founder of Skip Hop
- Michael Solomon: Co-Founder, 10x Management
- Mirjana Perkovic: Founder & CEO, LookStyler
- Mitch Wainer: Co-Founder, DigitalOcean
- Moe Mousavi
- Mohammed Kashif: Senior Quality Assurance Automation Engineer, Department of Motor Vehicles
- Mohit Agarwal: Associate Partner, Bain & Company
- Mona Yan: Investor, Allport Capital
- Morgan Johnson: VC. Coach. , Nucleus Adventure Capital
- Morgan Hewett: Co-Founder & CEO, OptionsMD (Techstars '20 Grad)
- Morgan Hewett & Kyle Pierce: Cofounders, Options MD
- Nadia Tian: founder, Bridge Point Capital
- Nadia Genevieve Masri: Founder & CEO, Perksy
- Nadia Shalaby: CEO, ITE Fund
- Nadine Zerrini: Director, Founder Institute Boston
- Naeemah Brown: Co-founder & CEO, BodyElevated Inc
- Nana Parry: CEO, Tectonic
- Natalya Bagrova: Co-Founder, Art Director, Brand Strategist , Suva Inc.
- Nate McCray: Head of Marketing and Growth, Whiskybase
- Nathan Minns: Speaker, Facilitator, & Entrepreneur Coach, Green Light Improv
- Neha Bhalani: trademark & copyright attorney, CSG
- Nelly Yusupova: Founder, TechSpeak.co
- Nelly Yusupova: Founder, TechSpeak.co
- Nia Pryce: Community Manager, Forum Ventures
- Nicholas Katz: Founder, RAISE
- Nir Markus: Founder, OKpanda
- Nitya Nagpal: Co-Director, Founder Institute
- Noah Wallach: Founder, Hope OS
- Olga Bartnicki: Managing Director, Techstars
- Paige Halam Andres: Managing Director, Highline BETA
- Patrick Schoonveld: Director, RTB Product Management, Criteo
- Paul Breloff: CEO / Co-Founder, Shortlist
- Paulo Cunha: President, SeatGeek, Inc
- Pavel Asanov: Co-founder, COO, Finta
- Pedro Silva
- Peter Ma: Co-Founder, MixPose
- Peter Sopher: Manager, Investments& Portfolio, Clean Energy Ventures
- Peter Egziabher: Venture Partner, GVC Partners
- Philipp Chvanov: Chief of Staff, Vox Funding LLC
- Pilar Fernandez Hermida: Founder i-Expand (We help Health Tech companies go global), i-expand
- Qihang Zhang: Senior Product Designer, Chartmetric
- Rachel Loui: Chief Strategy Officer, Boehringer Ingelheim
- Rachel Kroft: Fractional CPO, Happy Warriors
- Rachele Haber-Thomson: Founder, Co-CEO, Blue Dot
- Rafael Kartaszynski: CEO, TechEdge Dynamics
- Rafi Tanzim Syed: Co-founder and CEO, Fuego Studios, Inc.
- Randy Eager: CEO, Aqualibrium LLC
- Rapha Danilo: GM & Director of Product, Gong
- Rashad Haque: Corporate V.P., New York Life Insurance
- Rasu Jilani: Director of Cultural Diversity and Strategic Partnerships, NEW INC
- Raymond McCauley: Cheif Scientist, Exponential Biosciences
- Reid Hamilton: Managing Director, Founder Institute and Toronto Stock Exchange
- Rhea Alexander: Founder, Parsons Elab
- Richard Peterson: Associate Director
- Rob Delman: Managing Director, Golden Seeds
- Robin Schaffer
- Rose Pember: CEO, Hodge, Inc.
- Rosemarie Truman: Founder and CEO, Ignite Social Impact
- Ross Palley: General Manager, Venture Lane
- Roza Szafranek: CEO & Founder, HR Hints
- Ruth Ku: CFO, Entrepreneurs for Global Change
- Ryan Salerno: Technical CoFounder, Finta
- Ryan Micheletti: Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute
- Ryan Smith: CEO, FTSY
- Ryan Brennan: Founder, RPB Capital Corp
- Ryan Fairhurst: Founder, EchoGrowth
- Ryan O'Conor: BD, VC & Accelerators, Carta
- Sachin Jaitly, Tessera Venture Partners
- Sam Wils: Founder, Columbia Alumni Virtual Accelerator (CAVA)
- Samantha Peterson: Founder, Best Kept Secret
- Sameer Sortur: Founding Partner, SquareCircle Ventures
- Samuel Newbold: Chair, Immigration Law Group, Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC
- Sanjay Devnani: Manager, Security Architecture, Google
- Saul Orbach: Managing Director, The Beachhead Group
- Scott Landers: Co-Founder, Systems Engineer, Figure 8 Logistics
- Scott Heiferman: CEO, Meetup
- Scott Wayman: Founder & CEO, Kangarootime
- Scout Tweedie Yates: Regional Manager , The Founder Institute HQ
- Sean Pohjalainen: Co-founder , Reveler
- Selena Singleton: Director, New York Life Ventures
- Seneca Dunmore: CEO and Founder, Dunmore Capital Ventures
- Sergio Escobar: CEO & Partner, BCF Ventures, Managing Director, Lalotte Ventures
- Shakthi Kumar: Dr, BHS Group
- Sharon Cryan: CEO, Food Nerd
- Sharon Hsu: Program Manager, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
- Shasha Yan: Founder & CEO, FINTECH
- Shashank Srivastava
- Shaun Johnson: cofounder, Startup Institute
- Shelley Orenstein
- Sherrie Totoki: Director of Startup Programs , GreenBiz Group
- Shibin Muhammed: Portfolio Manager, Techstars Canada
- Shiven Ramji
- Shyam Maskai: Associate, Wiggin and Dana LLP
- Sidney Nakahodo: General Partner, Seldor Capital
- Silvia Lupu: Venture Investor, VU Venture Partners
- Simon Okeke: CEO, Jet Star Logistics
- Sina Roshan: Cofounder & CPO, Peekage (Techstars 2020)
- Sita Chantramonklasri: Principal, Future Positiive
- Sneha Lundia Agrawal: Founder & CEO, Step2Growth
- Soumya Tejam: Business Development, Sardine
- Spandan Saha: Investor, Investor
- Spencer Topel: CEO, Physical Synthesis
- Stefan Klotzbuecher: Director, Founder Institute New York
- Stephan Freudl: Managing Partner, SEF Opportunities Group
- Stephen Meade: Founder & CEO, MonetaPro
- Steven Rooney: CEO, Intelligent Vehicle Briefs
- Steven Lubin: Partner, Board Advisor and Early Stage Consultant with focus on Advertising, Media and Marketing Technology, Caspian Hill Group
- Sumeet Shah: VC in Residence, Galvanize
- Sunil Sharma: Managing Director, Founder Institute Toronto
- Sunita Rao: Vice President, Platform, Citi Ventures
- Susan Huang: CEO and Founder, Yodayo
- Sydney Wong: CEO & Angel Investor, VenturX
- Szandra Ford: Operating Partner & Investment Professional, Republic
- Tarun Rishi: Founder, About Alpha
- Tarun Gulati: Founder & CEO, Contemplate
- Tawanda Mahachi: Co-Director, Founder Institute Boston
- Test T
- Thomas Fandrich: Co-Founder and COO, Quantilope
- Tim Makhauri: Head of Investor Platform, Hum Capital
- Tim Schnurr: Partner , LeastTrust
- Tim Shisler: Consumer’s Beverages, Marketing Manager
- Tobin Lent
- Tomer Molovinsky: Co-founder, CEO, Per Diem
- Tony Jenkins: Executive Coach, CATAPULT
- Tovit Neizer: Chief Storyteller, Yellow Bricks
- Trevor Longino: Founder & CEO, CrowdTamers
- Vasileios Stoidis: President and CEO, 7L International Inc and MassiveGrid Inc
- Veronica Guzman: Founder | Innovation Catalyst, WAMVentures
- Vicente DyReyes: Founder & CEO, Craft and Savor
- Victor Adefuye: Partner & Sales Architect , Winning by Design
- Vinayak Javaly: Data Scientist, Professor, Advisor, Mentor, Baruch College and numerous startups
- Vince Scafaria: CEO, DotAlign
- Vinnie Lauria: Founding Partner, Golden Gate Ventures, Singapore
- Walter Roth: CEO, Moment Sales, LLC
- Will Sim: Country Manager, The Founding Network
- William Butler: CEO, Journey Sales
- William Abney: Head of Business Development, Smart Vision, Ricoh
- Xuelan Zhang: Lead Software Engineer, Next Jump, Inc.
- Yatin Patil, MD, FACP: Dedicated to Innovating Healthcare: A Mentor with a Unique Mix of Clinical, Investment, and Entrepreneurial Experience, D4HI (Doctors for Health Innovation)
- Yemi Oluseun: Growth & GTM For FinTechs, The Change Hive
- Yonatan Raz-Fridman: CEO & Founder, Supersocial, Inc
- Youn Jung Chung: Founder, Dal Enterprises
- Zehra Naqvi: Head of Founder Community, Republic Ventures
- Zoe Oz
- And many more to be announced.
The Founder Institute focuses on helping tech or tech-enabled businesses at the pre-seed stage, including both solo-founders and teams. This includes established businesses that are pre-funding and traction, MVP and prototype-stage projects, and even part-time founders with just ideas. FI's mission is to create sustainable startup ecosystems that will create one million new jobs worldwide.
Join us in Buffalo to build a great company in 2020.
Apply to the Buffalo - New York Fall 2025 Founder Institute today, or learn more at FI.co/overview.
