Build a Great Startup in 2020 with the Founder Institute Miami Startup Accelerator

Today, the Founder Institute, the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the Defense & National Security Fall 2025 program!

If you could use a structured process and a lifetime of support from Miami's top investors and entrepreneurs to build a startup, then apply to the Defense & National Security 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 Miami, where you can learn from top entrepreneurs and hear more about the program:

Founder Institute Online Information Session: https://FI.co/infosession

See all upcoming events

The Miami program is led by some of the region's top startup leaders, including Carlos Romero (X, X), Janet Todorova (Head of Expansion, Founder Institute).

In addition, some of Miami'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 Miami Founder Institute includes:

Aaron Chavez: Managing Partner, (un)conventional ventures
Alessandro Annoscia: Founder & CEO, 1Apeiron
Alexander Rodriguez: Partner, International Blockchain Legal LLP
Alexander McElfish: Partner, Argent Strategies
Alexander Loveyko: Attorney, ChaseLawyers
Alfredo Ferrari
Amlan Nanda
Andrea Chico: Business Development Manager, Ferguson Ventures
Andreas Calabrese: General Partner, Tampa Bay Ventures
Andres Hurtado Rangel: Founder, & President, BiZiON GROUP
Andres Hurtado: CEO, SynerTechCloud
Andrew Ive: Founder / Managing General Partner, Big Idea Ventures
Angelo Biasi: FoundeR & CEO, MassiveU
Antonio Garrido: President, and Co-Founder, Absolute Sales Development, Sandler Miami
Ashley Flucas: Angel Investor, Flucas Ventures
Aviv Shalgi: CEO, Solar Simplified
Benjamin Vides: Director, Products, Watsco Ventures
Bernardt Vogel: Sr.Associate, VU Venture Partners
Bianca Diosdado: CEO, Octagon Talent Solutions | ITRADE STEM
Bo Megginson: Managing Partner, Gold Coast Angel Investors
Bob Dakin
Brandon Evans: Purpose Driven Founder // Advisor // Investor Focused on High Growth + Social Impact Companies, 1heart
Brian Boroff: Founder & CEO, AdFone
Carlos Blanco: CEO, Pigs on the Roof
Carlos Romero: Venture Partner, The Veteran Fund
Carlos Icaza: CTO, RCTSports
Carlos Garrido: CEO, Absolute Sales Development
Carolina Mandil: CEO, DIGIREP
Carolina Forero: Director Digital Solutions, Visa Inc.
Casey Pond
Cassius Kiani: Founder & Head of Product , Mora.com
Chelsea Oppenheim
Chris Houghtaling
Chris Adamo: Investor & Senior Advisor, Conscience VC
Chris Anderson: General Partner, A2ZVenture.com
Christian Busch: Venture Scout, GGV Capital
Christos Kritikos: Product and Growth Expert | 100+ Startups, $20M+ Early Funding, Emerging Humanity
Claudio Pairot: CEO, Puntilla Films
Dan Holahan: Director of Member Experience, Embarc Collective
Daniel Buelhoff: Founding Partner, Springtech Partners
Daniel Di Maria
Daniel Nelson: Recovering Accountant, Startup Economics
Daniel Pardo: CEO , DPC Labs
David Koretz: Founder & CEO, Plum
David Chitester: Founder, SeedFunders
David Collado: Investment Banker, 1st BridgeHouse
David Zinn: Managing Director, Ocean Azul Partners
Dean Hatton: Founding Partner, Las Olas VC
Deon Bradley
Derick David: Cofounder & CEO, Hikre School
Diana Sanchez
Donna Abood: Principal, Managing Director - Miami, Avison Young
Douglas Scott: Co-Founder & CEO, The HighBoy
Dr. Lascelle A. Sweetland: Managing Director, Laspainc Consulting
Edwin Rivera: Managing Partner, CG1 Solutions
Elisabetta Bell: Marketing Operations Manager, Caterpillar Inc.
Emiliano Abramzon: Co-founder & Head of Customer Success, Nearpod
Eryka Gemma: Director, Timelock Ventures
Esteban Elias: Expert Lawyer, PAG.law
Esteban Reyes: Founding Partner, Las Olas Venture Capital
Etienne Gillard: Head of Ventures, Mana Tech
Eugenio Grapa: Founder and CTO, Supplino, Inc
Federico Halperin: Founder & CEO, Kubikware
Felipe Fernandez: Executive Partner, Altenergy & Ecosolutions
Fernando Cariello
Gabriel Cabrera: Omni Channel Strategist, Avon
Gabriel Cabrera: Advisor to the Board, Silverback Concepts, LLC
Gary Aksamit: Founder, Aksamit Resource Management
Geoffrey Keith: Chair of Managers Committee, Seedfunders LLC
German Hornstein: Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
Goutam Jain: CEO, Sygnius, LLC
Grace Spindel: Head of Venture Studio & Incubator, EY
Greg Taffet: Managing Partner and CIO, Taffet Associates
Gregory Sukornyk: Founder & CEO, Good World Games
Guillermo Sierra: Founder & CEO, Alentha Inc
Gustavo Fernandez: Founding Member, Royal Oak Kapital
Hector Figallo: Managing Partner, TamboWorks
Howard Marks: Founder, StartEngine
Hubert Reinfeld: Creative Director, TOTUMA COMMUNICATIONS & DESIGN
Hugo Perez: Managing Partner, United Data Technologies (UDT)
Imran Khan: Founder & CEO, TechNerds.com
Jahn Karsybaev: Founding Partner, Big Sky Capital VC
Jamaila Holder: CEO/Lead Advisor, Holder Advisory and Associates
James Irvine: Founder, 305 Works and Pitch Night NYC
Janet Todorova: Head of Expansion, Founder Institute
Janet Mentor Test
Janet Todorova
Jason Blilie: Owner, Blilie Law
Jeff Brown: Founder | Accredited Angel | Mentor, Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation, FIU SJMC
Jeff Alexander
Jeff Brown: Founder, Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation
Jeff Herman: CEO, HotShoo, Inc.
Jeffrey Harris: Founder, SpringBIG
Jessica Shraybman: CEO, Shraybman Law
Jim Ryan: Founder and CEO-Chairman, Talk2Rep, TechNearshore
Joan Zhang: Chapter Co-Director, Startup Grind Miami
Joe Daniels: Partner, Co-Chair - Emerging Companies, Partner & Co-Chair, Emerging Companies Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
Joe Tremols: CEO, StreamGuard
John Ngo: DBA, John&Partners Global
John Wensveen: Chief Innovation Officer, Nova Southeastern University
John Price: Managing Director, Americas Market Intelligence
Jonathan Fichman
Jonathan Cole: Managing Director, Rio Vista Advisors
Jose Rocha: Assistant Professor of Management, Gus Machado School of Business, St. Thomas University
Juan Patron: CEO, The 2020 Agency
Juan Colmenares: Growth Lead, Graphite Growth
Juan Meza: Director, Visa
June W Choi: Managing Partner, Serval Ventures
Kathy Chiu: Managing Partner, DeepWork Capital
Ken Roberts: President, WorldCity
Ken Hall: Vice President, DeepWork Capital
Kerstin Holm: Founder & CEO, Summus Inc.
Kevin Levy: Shareholder and Chair of Technology Business Law, GrayRobinson, P.A.
Kirsty Barany: CEO / Founder, RxGenesys Biotech / Clear Sparrow / Kompass Group
Kjell De Orr: Managin Director, Newlink Research
Kjell De Orr: Managing Partner, Newlink Group
Kristen Corpion: Founder, CORPlaw
Kristina Momchilova: Founder, The Better Kind
Kwamara Thompson: Founder, TEC, LLC
Laura Gonzalez Estefani: CEO, The Venture City
Leonel Azuela: CEO & Founder , Quaxar
Logan Paull: Investment Banker, Growthink Capital
Lorenzo Thione: Managing Director, Gaingels
Lorenzo De Leo: Managing Director, Rokk3r
Lou Leuzzi: President / CEO, Netoria
LUIS Murguia: Managing Partner, Murguia Associates LLC
Luis Antonio Bergas Vilardell: Partner , AI8 Ventures
Madeline Aufseeser
Marcelo Ricigliano: CEO, 4Geeks Academy
Marcos Polanco: CEO, Deedit
Mario Cruz: Founder & CTO, Choose Digital
Mario Cruz
Mark Cuda: Founder, Ancient Strength
Mark Volchek: Founder, Las Olas Venture Capital
Mark Beyer
Marshall Swatt: Founder, SocialSplendor
Marty Schultz: Founder, Objective Ed
Mary Ann Knaus
Matt Quinn: Ecosystem Growth Director, Nervos Foundation
Matthew Lally: CEO, Lex Lally Corp
Matthew Capala: Founder, Alphametic
Melisa Pinto-Rivera, MS: Founder, Creativa Impact Capital
Melissa Krinzman: Co-Founder, Krillion Ventures
Mercedes Bankston: Founder, Funderstar LTD
Michael O'donnell: Principal, StartupBiz.com LLC
Michel Legros: CEO & Founder, Normandy Print
Michel Triana: CEO, Mean DAO
Miguel Molina Cosculluela: Managing Partner & Co-Founder , Analytikus
Mike Dannheim: Founder & CEO at SENSIE, Former VP at Groupon
Mike Teichberg: Founder, InventivHR
Mike Lingle: Entrepreneur / Mentor, Rocket Pro Forma
Mike Mumola
Molly Walsh: Director, Founder Institute, Miami Florida
Nathaniel Vasel: Associate, Las Olas Venture Capital
Neil Steinhardt: Founder, ClassWallet
Neil Kleinberg, DiliVer
Nelly Yusupova: Founder, TechSpeak.co
Nelson Telemaco: CEO, Proximity Works, LLC
Nestor Villalobos: CEO, Tudor Ice Company
Nev Terzieva: Co-Founder & President, Clinical Solutions Division, ChronWell, Inc
Nico Berardi: Partner, Magnetico Ventures
Noah Wallach: Founder, Hope OS
Oren Klein: Director of Strategy, Finaben llc
Oscar Perez: COO, Infosys Consulting
Oscar Perez: COO, 8Base
Pablo Trench: Founder & CEO, THE LAB IDEAS
Pandwe Gibson: Founder , ECOTECH VISION
Peter Livingston: Entrepreneur & Investor
Pilar Fernandez Hermida: Founder i-Expand (We help Health Tech companies go global), i-expand
Rajeev (Raj) Seshadr: CFO, Escalon
Ramit Singh: Director of Startup & Entrepreneurship Programs, Tampa Bay Wave
Randy Wood: Co-Founder, Citrix
Ricardo Taveras: Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Taveras Private Holdings
Richard Greco: Managing Member, Treasure Investments LLC
Richard Munassi
Rob Matzkin: Co-Founder , myQuest.co // RobMatzkin.com
Rob Strandberg: Founder & CEO, Datamax Inc
Rob Lundstrom
Rob Panepinto: President , Florentine Strategies
Robert Hacker
Robert Robert Himelfarb: Partner, Randall Investment Partners
Rodo Novarini: Managing Partner, INCUBING
Rodolfo Novarini: Director, Founder Institute South Florida
Rodolfo Saccoman: CEO & Co-Founder, AdMobilize.com
Roger Hoss
Ron Tarro: VP, New World Angels
Ronaldo Bastos: Partner, Weston Capital Insights
Roxette Miranda: Director, Founder Institute Florida
Roy Wolman: Finance Director , Diamonds International
Ryan Whittemore: Chief Investment Officer, Florida Funders
Sandra Finn: Founding Partner, EdgeCraft Advisors
Satish Movva: Founder & CEO, CarePredict
Scott Greenhouse: Founder
Scott Rivello: Partner, EY
Silvio Frank Pupo: CEO, Logos Capital Group
Spencer Lyon: Director of Industry Relations , Realdax
Sujee Jeganathan: Managing Director, Pursuit SCC Inc.
Tahl Milburn: Investor, New World Angels
Terence Bentley: Cofounder, The Venture Mentor Team
Terri Ann Brown: Mentor, Venture Team
Thomas "Tigre" Wenrich: CEO, LAB Miami Ventures
Tigre Wenrich: CEO, LAB Miami Ventures
Tim Hasse: Founder, General Provision, T R I M
Tim Hawkes
Timothy Cartwright: Chairman, Tamiami Angel Funds
Val Kamenski: Co-CEO, Klika Tech
Valerie Lopez: CEO, Shoot My Travel
Vojkan Dimitrijevic: Principal, Blackloft Ventures
Walter O’Leary: Managing Partner, South Pointe Capital

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.