Build a Great Startup this Fall 2020 with the Founder Institute Montreal Startup Virtual Pre-Seed Accelerator

Now, more than ever, the world needs entrepreneurs to build the future.

At the Founder Institute, we know times are tough, but we also know that economic downturns are a great time to start a business. This isn't just conjecture - the Founder Institute was started in April of 2009 (during the "Great Recession"), and world-leading companies like Microsoft, Tesla, and Apple also took advantage of cost savings during a recession to launch and get their initial traction.

Applications for the Montreal Virtual 2021 program will close on August 2, 2020.

If you could use a structured process and a lifetime of support from Montreal's top investors and entrepreneurs to build a startup, then apply to the Montreal Virtual 2021 Founder Institute today.

Local COVID-19 Update: In an effort to #StopTheSpread and ensure everyone’s health and safety, this program is planned to be held online. Learn more on our Virtual Program FAQ page.

While the program is generic, Montreal is offering fellowships in two (2) specific streams. Those fellowships give entrepreneurs the opportunity to enrol in the program for free ($999 value):

Supply Chain fellowship (https://fi.co/join/supplychain) in partnership with BCF Ventures and Scale Ai super-cluster.
Blog Post announcement here:
"Founder Institute Startup Accelerator launches Global Supply Chain Tech Vertical in Montreal"
Digital Health fellowship (https://fi.co/join/medstack) in partnership with MedStack.
Blog Post announcement here:
"Founder Institute Montreal Announces New MedStack Digital Health Fellowship program"

To celebrate the launch, we will host several free startup events in Montreal, 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

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 7,800 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).

Launched in 2014 by Sergio Escobar and LP Maurice, the Montreal Founder Institute has produced over 55 companies that have collectively raised several million dollars in funding. Notable alumni of the Montreal program include FightCamp, Unito, Streamline Genomics, Jitbase, Allset, and many more. The 2020 Virtual program will count with the addition of Francois Poirier as Program Manager and co-Director. The Montreal program is supported by Fasken and Richter.

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

Aaron Carr: CEO & Founder, Qarrot Performance
Abdullah Snobar: Executive Director , DMZ
Afsoon Soudi: Co Founder & VP R&D, IRYStec
Alessia Talarico: Investment Analyst, BCF Ventures
Alex Nemeroff: Co-Founder, Creative Director, Dynamo
Alex Barrett: Investment Associate, iNovia Capital
Alex Norman: Partner, N49P
Alexandre Witkowicz: Analyst, WhiteStar Capital
Alice Dinu: VP Student Success & Research, Ready Education
Amélie Morency: CEO, The FoodRoom
Amy Pollard: Startup Program Manager, OVHcloud
Angelique Mannella: Strategic Global Alliances, Amazon
Ashok Prabhu Masilamani: CTO & Founder, Stratuscent
Balaji Gopalan: Co-Founder and CEO, MedStack
Ben Yoskovitz: Founding Partner, HighlineBETA
Ben Melchionno: Associate Partner, IBM
Benjamin du Haÿs: Founder & CEO, Mobeewave
Benjamin Tuff: Managing Partner, Benjamin David Group
Beth Thouin: CMO-for-Hire, Beth Thouin Consulting
Bonnie Chau: Portfolio Manager, BCF Ventures
Brandon Waselnuk: Product Manager and Principle, CoVenture
Brian Church: Country Manager, Canada
Brian Zubert: Director, Thomson Reuters Labs
Brice Scheschuk: CEO, Globalive Capital
Caitlin Mac Gregor: CEO & Cofounder, Plum.io Inc.
Caroline Pelletier: Vice President Screening and Investment Support, Anges Quebec
Cesar L. Patricio: CEO & co-Founder, WorkMesh.co
Chevonae Walcott: Associate, Relay Ventures
Chris Arsenault: Managing Partner, iNovia Capital
Chris Atkinson: CEO & co-Founder, FleetOps
Claude Théoret: Founder, Nexalogy
Clement Cazalot: Managing Director, Self
Code Cubitt: Managing Director, Mistral Venture Partners
David Dufresne: Partner, Panache VC
David Sciacca: COO, LIFT session
Dax Da Silva: Founder/CEO, LightSpeed
Deborah Hayek: Senior Product Owner (Manulife's Innovation Lab), Manulife
Dennis Van Staalduinen: President & Executive Strategist, Brandvelope Consulting
Diana Cheptene: Senior Product Manager, Shopify
Diana Sciortino: Investment Analyst, BCF Ventures
Dr. Alexandra T. Greenhill: CEO, Careteam Technologies Inc.
Eleonore Jarry Ferron: Investment Associate, BrightSpark
Elizabeth Wasserman: Co-Founder & CEO, Mate1.com Inc.
Ella Hilal: Director of Data, Shopify
Eryk Warren: Co Founder & CTO, Unito
Ethan Song: Co-Founder & CEO, Frank & Oak
Francis Wenzel: Founder & CEO, TickSmith
Francois Poirier: COO, Parcours entrepreneurial Rémi Marcoux
François Arbour: CEO / VP Music & Video, Premiumbeat / Shutterstock
Frantz Saintellemy: President & COO, Leddartech
Frederic Scherer: CEO & co-Founder, Jitbase
Frederick Townes: Co-Founder & CTO, Boundless Life
Geoffrey Bernard: Senior Director, Growth, Analytics & Data Science, La Presse
George Korkejian: Venture Manager, BCF Ventures
Gian Carlo Di Tommaso: Chief Operating Officer
Giselle Bisson: Managing Director, Chain Reaction PR
Greg Isenberg: Digital Marketer and Angel Investor
Ha Nguyen: VP, McRock Capital
Hakim Merah: Senior Manager, Acceleration & AI Ecosystem
Ian Jeffrey: VP Product Marketing Marketing, PasswordBox
Isaac Souweine: Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Real Ventures
Isaac Adejuwon: CEO & Founder, Metricsflow
James Slifierz: CEO, SkyWatch Space Applications
Javier Gotschlich: Head of Partnerships - Hubspot for Startups, HubSpot
Jay Ferst: Managing Partner, Ferst Capital Partners
Jean Benoit Richard: COO, Alexsei
Jean David Begin: Co-founder & CEO, Guestful
Jeremy Geiger: CEO, Funding Lab LLC
Jerome Soucy: People & Operations, Hykso FightCamp
Jessica Korthuis: Founder & CEO, SOHUIS
Joanne Wong: Partner, REDDS Capital
Joel Yaffe: Founder, GuestDriven, iTechnique, Potcoin, Glace des Arts
John Espinoza: Co-founder , Unito
Jonathan Greechan: Co-Founder & CEO, Founder Institute
Jonathan Brun: Vice-President, White Star Capital
Jonathan Druker: Director of commercialization and innovation, PME MTL
Jonny Caron: Launch Specialist, Unbounce
Jose Martins: Director , Founder Institute Boston
Josette Renée Landry: CEO, Streamline Genomics
Julien Denaes: Co-Founder , Alpin
Justin Sherratt: Founder, Sortbox
Justin Evans: Co-Founder, LANDR Audio
Kevin Swersky: Research Scientist @ Google Brain, Google Austria
Khalil Zahar: Founder & CEO, FightCamp
Kookai Chaimahawong: VC Associate, Pangaea Ventures
Kyell Vyncke: VP Sales & Marketing, TrackTik
Laviva Mazhar: Investment Analyst, Luge Capital
Leah Mazur: CEO & Founder, Loop Digital Marketing
Lee Silverstone: Co founder/ EVP strategic partnerships, Mystral Venture Partners
Leo Lax: Managing Director, L-Spark/Wesley Clover
Lisa Cashmore: Vice President, Start and Scale, Communitech
Lloyed Lobo: Co-founder, Boast.AI
Lorne Lieberman: Managing Partner, Jant Ventures
Louis François Hogue: Strategic, Advisor
Louis Philippe Maurice: Louis Philippe Maurice - Founder/CEO, Busbud (Montreal FI), Busbud
Luc Filiatreault: Luc Filiatreault - VP Venture Development, OpenText (Barcelona FI), OpenText
Lucas Francioli: Founder & CEO, MoveMate
Madusha Cooray: Manager, Developer Relations, Google Canada
Magaly Charbonneau: Principal, iNovia Capital
Mano Kulasingam: Venture Partner, Good News Ventures
Marc Alloul: Managing Partner W2/W3, W Investments
Marc Boscher: Founder & CEO, Unito
Marc Chriqui: Angel Investor & Former CEO, Raymark (acquired by Mi9 Retail)
Marc Antoine Ross: Angel Investor & Chief Innovation Officer, Diagram Ventures
Marcos Carvalho: Co-Founder & Head of Demand Generation, Boundless Life
Marcus Daniels: Co-Founder & CEO, Highline VC
Mariah Lichtenstern: Founder-CEO, DiverseCity Ventures
Martin Sendyk: President & CEO, Lytica
Matt Smith: C-Level Tech Startup Expert, Consulting
Matthias Bedard: Co-Founder & CTO
Matthieu Houle: VP Digital Media, Yellow Pages Canada
Mauro Repacci: Co-Founder & CEO, Boundless Life
Mazen Elbawab: Project Lead Programmer - Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft
Mehdi Mehni: Co-Founder & Head of AI Engineering, INTO AI
Mehdi Merai Merai: CEO, Dataperformers
Melissa Belbeck: Senior Associate, Whitecap Venture Partners
Mercedes Bankston: Founder, Funderstar LTD
Meryeme Lahmami: Associate, Strategic Investments & Women in Tech, BDC Capital
Michael Katchen: Founder & CEO, WealthSimple
Michel Jamati: CTO, Lexop
Mike Silagadze: CEO, Top Hat
Mike Kirkup: CTO, enCircle
Mike Cegelski: Managing Partner & Angel Investor, Panache Ventures
Mike Apted: Principal Solutions Architect - Startups, AWS
Mohan Markandaier: Managing Partner, Good News Ventures
Mohannad El Barachi: Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, SweetIQ Analytics Corp.
Nadeem Ghafoor: VP, Canadensys Aerospace Corporation
Nancy Eperjesy: CEO & co-Founder, Mettle (acquired by Adobe Systems)
Naomi Goldapple: Head of AlayaLabs, AlayaCare
Narjes Boufaden: CEO & co-Founder, Keatext
Neha Khera: Venture Partner, 500 Startups
Pablo Srugo: Principal, Mistral Venture Partners
Paul D'souza: President and CEO, The D'Souza Group
Paul Ortchanian: Vice-President, Product Development, WatchMojo.com
Peggy Van De Plassche: Managing Partner & Board Member, Roar Growth & Invest Canada
Phil Rivard: Director of Ventures, NEXT Canada
Philip Cutler: President & CEO, GradeSlam
Pierre Luc Laparé: Co-Founder, Golf Avenue
Prathna Ramesh: Managing Director & Chief Compliance Officer, Maple Leaf Angels
Przemyslaw (Marco) Janeczek: Managing Partner, Infinite Venture Partners
Raff Paquin: Director, Data, LightSpeed
Raffi Tchakmakjian: CEO, LIFT session
Raymond Luk: CEO, Hockeystick
Rob Attwell: Founder, COO/CFO, Careteam Technologies Inc.
Russ Armstrong: Head of Business Development, Boast.AI (Boast Capital)
Sanjay Singhal: Co-Founder and CEO, 500 Startups
Sanjay Zimmermann: Investment Associate, White Star Capital
Sebastien Roy: Director, Data Science, Wheels Up
Sergio Escobar: CEO & Partner, BCF Ventures, Managing Director, Lalotte Ventures
Shahab Samimi: Senior Associate, 7 Gate Ventures
Shahzad Khan: CTO, Gnowit Inc
Shiva Bhardwaj: Founder, CEO, Pitstop
Siddharth Srivastava: Vice-President, McRock Capital
Sophie Boulanger: CEO, BonLook
Steven Abrams: Partner, IT Venture Fund, BDC Capital
Suzanne Grant: cofounder and ceo, iBIONICS
Taylor Sicard: Co-Founder, BVGrowth
Thomas Punch: VP Business Development, WatchMojo.com
Tim Jodoin: Founder - President, Edispin Inc.
Tom Lowden: Head of Labs, US East and Canada, WeWork Labs
Trevor Longino: Founder & CEO, CrowdTamers
Udit Bhatnagar: Investment Associate, McRock Capital
Ulrich Soeffing: Data Science Manager, MarketMuse
Vanessa Cherenfant: Managing Director, Sadax Technologies
Vaughn DiMarco: Director, INVEST-AI
Vicken Kanadjian: Co-Founder & Managing Director, Cesium Inc.
Yishel Khan: CEO & Founder, DOT Mind Unlocked
Yona Shtern: Founder/CEO, Beyond The Rack

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.