Build a Great Startup in 2023 with the FI San Diego Startup Accelerator

The Founder Institute, the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the San Diego program!

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

Since 2009, our highly-structured accelerator programs have helped entrepreneurs at the earliest stages grow quickly, know what to do next, and make connections with the largest community of startup advisors.

It all starts with our renowned ‘FI Core’ accelerator, which pushes founders at the idea and pre-seed stages to reach the milestones needed for investment and sustained growth. Alumni of FI Core then receive free access to our advanced ‘Founder Lab’ accelerators for years to come, and can get matched with prospective investors in the FI Venture Network, a collection of global funds actively investing in the earliest rounds of funding.

To celebrate the launch, the Founder Institute will host several free online startup events in San Diego, where you can learn from top entrepreneurs:

Ask an Investor Anything: Q&A with Nathan Beckord: 10:00am, May 12, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/368356
Founder Institute Online Information Session: https://FI.co/infosession
Future-proofing CPG Brands: Key Strategies for Sustainable Growth: 7:00am, May 15, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/371034
Lessons Learned Raising from Top Silicon Valley VCs: AMA with Rajeev Behera: 9:00am, May 29, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/371278
How to Come Up with Great Startup Ideas: 10:00am, Jun 02, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/370632
How to Build Your MVP Using Artificial Intelligence : 10:00am, Jun 04, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/371399
Startup Pitch Practice: Share Your Idea and Get Expert Feedback: 5:00pm, Jun 09, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/370809
FI Alumni Panel: Meet Portfolio Companies and Ask Questions: 10:00am, Jun 23, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/371826
Startup Finance & Banking Basics: AMA with Grasshopper Bank: 10:00am, Jun 25, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/372027
Co-Founder Networking: Find a Business Partner: 10:00am, Jun 30, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/371667
Startup Pitch Practice: Share Your Idea and Get Expert Feedback: 10:00am, Jul 07, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/370393

See all upcoming events

The San Diego program is led by one of the region's top startup leaders, Daniel Shires (-, -), Mike Sherbakov (General Partner, The Veteran Fund), Ryan Micheletti (Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute).

In addition, some of San Diego'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 San Diego Founder Institute includes:

Aaron Keith: CEO, Buildify Systems
Aaron Stetson: Former Director of Solution Innovation, Army Applications Laboratory (AAL)
Abdellah Aouf: Chief Executive Officer, GO PLATFORM
Adam Spector: CEO & Founder, levy
Adam Montgomery: Fundraising Manager, Wefunder
A.J. Noronha, Greener Faster Fund
Al Bsharah: Interlock Capital, Managing Partner
Albert Chow: Principal, Anabatic LLC
Alex Bard: Founder & CEO, Assistly
Alex Green: Founder, Kanshi LLC
Alexa Ramos: Marketing, Individual
Amar Harrag: CEO, Allied Green Realty
Amir Emadi: CEO, Airwai
Andrew Gottlieb: Founder & CEO, No Typical Moments
Andy White: Startup Operations, Keshif Ventures
Angel Gambino: Founder, Angel Club
Annie Brown: Founder, Lips
Anshul Shah: Head of Accounting and CFO Partnerships, Brex
Anton Monk: Co-Founder/ VP of Technology , Entropic Communications
Austin Neudecker: Managing Partner, Weave Growth Partners
Aviv Shalgi: CEO, Solar Simplified
Bardia Moayedi: Partner, Snell & Wilmer
Ben Stacey: CEO, Pitchverk
Ben Cote: Mentor, Founder Institute
Bill Fields: NC Market Leader for Venture Debt, Bridge Bank
Bill Nelson: President & Technical Advisor, Targeted Performance
Bow Rodgers: CEO
Brad Feld: Managing Director, Foundry Group
Brandon Noel: Entrpreneur, Data Droplets Inc.
Brandon Noel: CEO, Droplets
Brendan Aronson: CEO, The Military Veteran
Brian Storms: no title, No company
Brian Ford: Partnership Director, Founder Institute San Diego
Brian Olearczyk: CRO, RevCult
Bryant Walker: Founder & CEO, TAVO Media Group
Carl Thomas: Chief Revenue and Business Development Officer, Hookit
Carlo Rivis: CEO & Founder, Innovation Discovery
Carlos Romero: Florida Director, Founder Institute
Caroline Arzoo: Partnerships, TurboSBIR
Cassius Kiani: Founder & Head of Product , Mora.com
Chad Cazel: Managing Partner, Blackwing VC
Chase Harmer: CEO, Wishes
Chelsea Glaser: Brand & Creative Strategist, www.chelseaglaser.com
Chintan Oza: Founder, Anantam Ecosystems
Chris Capdevila: Founder & Former CEO, LogicalApps
Chris Carter: CEO & Co Founder, VideoFort
Chris Foltz: Global Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Founder Institute
Chris Stott: Founder and CEO, Lonestar Data
Christina Adams, Innovation and Frontier Technologies
Christine "Chrissy" McDannell: Principle, The Magnolia Firm
Cleve Adams: Principal
Coco Sellman: Entrepreneur & Angel Investor, Remarkable Ventures
Court Lorenzini: Co-founder, CEO, DocuSign
Courtney Gant: CEO & Co-Founder, Skooltopia
Craig Swiatek: Investment Advisor
Craig Cummings: General Partner, Moonshots Captial
Dan O'neill: VP Engineering, Certona
Dan Chapman: Founder, Dan Chapman Consulting
Dane Drotts: CoFounder, TangoCode
Daniel O'neil: Executive Director, Smart Chicago Collaborative
Daniel Obodovski: Co-founder, Managing Partner, Diosys Technologies LLC
Daniel Arroyo: President & CTO, AstroPrint
Daniel Shires: Consultant, Independent
Darryl Rettig: Co Founder & CTO, DonationMatch
Dave Tompkins: Founder, 550 Capital Partners
Dave Saxton
David Stevens: Founder & CEO, Hydroponic Creations
David Metzler: Managing Director, Serenity Ventures
David Steel: CEO, EveryoneLinked
David Baird, MySALT AI, Inc.
David Reid: CEO, Terra Arma
DC Palter: Angel Investor, Tech Coast Angels
Dennis Volpe: Partner, Leadership Research Institute
Derren Burrell: Venture Capitalist, Veteran Ventures
Derrick Oien: CEO & Founder
Dr. Raashid Saiyed: Founder , Centre for Research in Human Nature
Ed Cleary: Principal, Root Strategy Group
Ellen Chang: Partner, Lightspeed Innovations
Emily McMahan: Partner, Academy Investor Network
Eric Grab: Aspiring Explorer, Technologist, Advisor, and Coach, Formerly: Amazon, Booz Allen, DivX, Jaunt, San Diego State
Eric Weiss: Executive Coach, Full Cycle Executive Coaching
Erik Smolinski
Ernestine Fu: General Partner, Brave Capital
Fabian Geyrhalter: Founder and Principal, FINIEN
Farooq Anjum, Ph D: Co Founder & CEO, Gro Guru
Florent Groberg: Azure Global Government Expansion, Microsoft
Flossie Hall: Director Of Community Relations, Stella Labs
Frank Peters: Founder & Host, Frank Peters Show
Frank Mastronuzzi: Founding Partner, Punch Financial
Fred Morrison: CEO, Simplexity
Gary Raju
Gary Peterson: CEO, AllSeater
Gaurav Bhattacharya: CEO, Jeeva. AI
Gaurav Bhattacharya: CEO & Co-Founder , Involve.ai
Genevieve Le Marchal: Managing Partner, Suncoast Ventures
George Stepancich: CEO, Invisionate
George Ploss
Gina Campbell: Strategy & Demand Gen (Direct to Consumer Group), SONY, Formerly DivX, MP3.com.
Grant Creighton: CEO & Founder, LooperLink - LOOPER Golf
Grant Winns: CEO, Yuna
Greg Call, The Veteran Fund
Greg Moser: President & CTO, ShipCalm
Hayley Evans: Co Founder, Women Making Waves
Ian Suttle: Engineering Director, Google
Irina Kukuyeva PhD: AI due diligence, Kukuyeva Consulting
Iva Teixeira: CEO, The Good Face Project
Jacob Sapochnick: CEO, Sapochnick Law Firm
Jacques Chirazi: Director of Student Entrepreneurship , UC San Diego
James Schmachtenberger: CEO, Neurohacker Collective
James Africano: General Partner, Regolith Ventures
James Hereford: Co-Founder, Launch Factory
James Wilson
Jason Pang: COO, Bodymatter, Inc.
Jason Liebrecht: CTO, Radicle Science
Jason Zinn: Partner, Emerged, Inc.
Jay Velasco: Venture Outreach Manager, The Alliance for SoCal Innovation
Jaye Pharrell
Jeff Smith: CEO, Growth Catalyst
Jeff Balka: Business Growth & Entrepreneurship Lead - Military & Veterans Affairs, JP Morgan Chase
Jeffrey Martinez
Jenni Wu
Jennifer Pilcher: Founder & CEO , Strategic Military Communications, LLC
Jenny Rodriguez: CEO & Founder, IVOREEZ
Jerome Soucy: People & Operations, Hykso FightCamp
Jess Ewart: Senior Partner, New World Ventures
Jesse S: Principal, Terra Legacy
Jessica Pratt: Senior Vice President of Sales, Pop & Bottle
Jessica Chew
Jim Carlson: Founder, DFL Technology
Joe Bezdek: Co-founder, DivX, Inc.
John Zdanowski: Co-Founder, Assembled Brands
John Stilo: CFO, Peerlogic Inc
Jon Carder: CoFounder and CEO , Empyr
Jon Carder: CEO, Vessel Health
Jon Turdiev: Senior Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services
Jonah Peake: Founder, the Social Coyote
Joris Delanoue
Jose Doval: CEO & Founder , XBand Sports
Joshua Awad, eGateway Vapital
Joshua Pacheco: Associate, Military & Veteran Affairs, JP Morgan Chase
Juan Toledano: CoFounder, Sundaze
Judy Tsuei: Founder, Wild Hearted Words
Justin Renfro: Director of Partnerships, WeFunder
Justin Nahama: Founding Partner, Pierson Ferdinand
Kelly Perdew: Cofounder, Moonshots Capital
Kelly Conkright: Founder, The Brand Terminal
Ken Wahlster: Founder & CEO, BikeBandit.com
Ken Davenport: CEO, Mission Edge
Kim Walpole: Co-Founder / CEO, Trials.ai
Lance Cottrell: Founder, Feel the Boot
Larry Kesslin: Founder, Libr8
Lauren Postler: Founder & Managing Partner, Solution Focused
Lauren Rowley: Director of Investor Relations, Stella Impact Capital
Lee Mills: CEO, Pixly
Leo Spiegel: Managing Partner, Mission Ventures
Leonor Cogneau: UX Consultant & Founder, Clario Consulting
Lisa Song Sutton: General Partner, The Veteran Fund
Louie Balasny: Director of Tech and VC, First Republic Bank
Lucas Root: Founder, CEO, SGIC Consulting
Mara Rada: Chief Operations and Strategy, Loon (loonbio.com)
Marc Spencer: Founder, The Recharge Group
Marcos Polanco: CEO, Deedit
Marcus Haney: CEO, Allegiant Vets
Maria Pope: Community Manager, Republic
Mario Mitchell: Ecosystem Developer / Scout Fund Developer, Dear Mama Fund
Mark Haney: CEO , HaneyBiz
Mark How: CEO, NewGrowth & Origins eCommerce
Mark Schmid: CEO, Art Function
Mark Divine: Navy SEAL, Author and CEO, Unbeatable, LLC
Martín Martinez: Founding & Executive Director, Founder Institute Texas
Matthew Hedayat: CEO and COO, Stanford Technical Group
Melissa Li: Managing Partner and Head of Community, Dorm Room Fund
Merrin Muxlow: Executive Director, TiE South Coast
Michael Davidovich: Founder, Direct EDI, Inc.
Michael Floyd: Founder, CTO, CPO, Freelance
Michael Segal: Managing Attorney, Eagle Law Group, P.C.
Michaela Keady: Michaela Keady, Zendesk
Michel Kripalani: CEO, Oceanhouse Media
Mike Sherbakov: General Partner, The Veteran Fund
Mike Steadman: CEO, IRONBOUND Media
Moaz Hamid: founding partner, mvmt ventures
Mohammed Kashif: Senior Quality Assurance Automation Engineer, Department of Motor Vehicles
Mysty Rusk: Executive Director, USD School of Business
Nate Mason: VC, Starburst Aero
Nate Parsons: Limited Partner, The Veteran Fund
Nathan Gray
Neal Bloom: Managing Partner, Interlock Capital
Neil Senturia: CEO, Blackbird Ventures
Nektar Baziotis: Founder, ICARUS
Nelly Yusupova: Founder, TechSpeak.co
Noah Wallach: Founder, Hope OS
Oliver Muoto
Pablo A. Fernandez: CEO, Secret Table
Parker Harris: CEO, Junto Global
Pat Walsh: Co-Founder / Chief Impact Officer
Paula Sweis: Principal, SILVERWEISS International
Pete Biggam: Director / Mentor / Advisor, Founder Institute
Pete DiSalvo: Founding Partner, Blackwing Ventures
Peter Shaw: Managing Director , Procopio Business Advisors
Rachel Rodriguez: Speaker Coach, Executive Communication & Leadership Coach, Rachel Rodriguez Consulting
Rafael Kartaszynski: CEO, TechEdge Dynamics
Ramesh Dontha
Rebeca Hwang: GP, Kalei Ventures
Regina Bernal: CEO, Trailblazer
Reid Carr: CEO & Founder, Red Door Interactive
Rhana Pytell Kozak: CEO & Founder , BRIGHTERSTEP
Rhett Jeppson: Military and Veterans Affairs - Director of External Programs, JP Morgan Chase
Ricardo Dos Santos: Sr Director of New Business Development , Biological Dynamics
Rick Valencia: Founder, ProfitLine
Rishi Sharma: West Coast Lead , Newlin VC
Robert Pruter: Chief Revenue Officer/Co-Founder, SPHER, Inc.
Rocco Cortese: President, Entrepreneurs Organization (E.O.)
Rod Loges: CEO, One Degree Financial
Roger Rappoport: Partner, Procopio
Rosie Arango: COO, Bright App
Rupak Doshi: CEO, TurboSBIR
Russell Brand: CEO & Founder, Responsible Solutions Limited
Russell Wardhaugh: PEO Consultant, TriNet
Ryan Tseng: Co Founder, Warehouse Innovations
Ryan Micheletti: Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute
Saba Karim: Entrepreneur & Investor, Techstars
Safa Aliabadi: Managing Director- Innovation & Tech Banking , Citizens Private Bank
Sagar Pande: Co-founder, Blaze Power
Sameer Sortur: Founding Partner, SquareCircle Ventures
Samuel Riehn: Chief Executive Officer, SBIR Advisors Inc.
Sanjaykumar Patel: Founder & Principal IP Attorney, EXCELON IP - Patent & Trademark Attorneys
Sara Ledterman: General Partner, 3+ Ventures
Sarah Apsel: Angel Investor, 37 Angels
Scot Chisholm: CEO & Chairman, StayClassy
Scott Davis: Director of Veteran Entrepreneuership, PenFed Foundation
Sean O'brien
Shahi Ghanem: Managing Director, WI Harper Group
Shahin Enayati: Managing Director, Made Noble Corporation
Shaiwal Priyadarshi: CTO, Co-Founder, MetaMedia
Sharia Huda
Shaun Alger: CRO, Volohaus
Stacey Cooper: Partner, Stacey Cooper Law
Stanley McChrystal: CEO and CoFounder, McChrystal Group
Steven Morley: Business Advisor, Success4Execs
Stuart Volkow: COO, Pulse Space
Tai Hutchinson
Taj Adhav: Founder, Leasecake
Tanaka Mawindi
Tarun Gulati: Founder & CEO, Contemplate
Tay Nguyen: Owner, Gate Consulting
Taylor Mc Lemore: Managing Director, Techstars
Tim Hsia: Managing Partner, Context VC
Tim Poydenis: Co-Head of Emerging Companies and Venture Capital, Holland & Knight
Tirrell Payton: Tirrell Payton - Founder & CEO, Kaliki (San Diego FI), Kaliki
Todd Goldstein: EVP, Global Partnerships & Business Development, Talent Inc.
Tom Walpole: CTO, TrialsAi
Tony Murphy: Founder & Principal, Ask Tony
Trevor Longino: Founder & CEO, CrowdTamers
Troy Hazard: Global President, Entrepreneurs Organization
Tucker Hamilton: Commander, F-35 Integrated Test Force, US Air Force
Ty Vachon: CEO, ORA Informatics
Tyson Mc Dowell: President, Avadyne Health
Vern Chan: Certified Startup Coach, Your Pivot
Vladimir Pletyukhin: Founder and Creative Director, Launch Deck
Wellington Pak
Yann Deredec: CEO, Yama Group
Yemi Oluseun: Growth & GTM For FinTechs, The Change Hive