Build a Great Startup in 2026 with the FI Seattle 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 Seattle Spring 2026 program!

If you could use a structured process and a lifetime of support from Seattle's top investors and entrepreneurs to build a startup, then apply to the Seattle Spring 2026 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 Seattle, where you can learn from top entrepreneurs:

Seattle Events:

Meet the Seattle Startup Ecosystem (In-Person Networking Event): 4:00pm, Dec 12, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/384026

Global or Regional Events:

Founder Institute Online Information Session: https://FI.co/infosession
Hiring for Startups: How to Build Your Team Early: 10:00am, Dec 08, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385845
Founder Showcase: Startup Pitch & Networking Event, with Jenny Fielding (Everywhere Ventures): 9:00am, Dec 10, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385846
How to Create Sustainable Economic Growth through Capacity Building: 10:00am, Dec 18, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385847
Startup Funding AMA & FI Info Session, with Jonathan Greechan (CEO, FI / GP, Founder Capital): 10:00am, Dec 30, 2025 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385848
Co-Founder Networking: Find Your Perfect Match in 2026: 8:00am, Jan 06, 2026 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385849
Brainstorm a Great Startup Idea for 2026: Online Workshop: 5:00pm, Jan 20, 2026 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385850
Startup Pitch Practice: Share Your Idea and Get Expert Feedback: 10:00am, Jan 26, 2026 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385851
Meet Global Alumni from Founder Institute: 10:00am, Feb 02, 2026 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385852
How to Adopt an Entrepreneurial Mindset: 5:00pm, Feb 09, 2026 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385853
Founder’s Guide to AI: Working with AI as Your Partner: 10:00am, Feb 18, 2026 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385854
Founder’s Guide to AI: Building a Marketing Engine with AI: 10:00am, Feb 25, 2026 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385855
Founder’s Guide to AI: Converting Data into Business Value with AI: 10:00am, Mar 04, 2026 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/385856

See all upcoming events

The Seattle program is led by some of the region's top startup leaders, including Aniket Naravanekar (CEO & Co-founder, Skillsheet), Jewel Atuel, Nicole Doyle (Founder / CEO, Aspir).

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

Abdellah Aouf: Chief Executive Officer, GO PLATFORM
Adam Mangone: CEO , Mangone Ventures
Adeo Ressi: CEO, Decile Group / VC Lab
Ahmed Muzmmal: VP of Engineering (Cofounder), Gaper
Alain Raynaud: CEO, FairSoftware
Alan Gonzalez: Founder & CEO, DevMatch
Albert Lam: Partner, Dorm Room Fund
Aleksandra Manuilova: Senior Portfolio Development Manager, Microsoft
Alex Katzman: Founding Partner, Growth Inflection
Amber Fehrenbacher: Growth Marketing Director & Venture Fellow at Material Change Institute , Condoit
Amit Gupta: Sys Dev Manager, Amazon
Amy Hutchins: Founder, Chief Product Officer, Unearth Technologies, Inc.
Amy Swanson: CEO & Co-Founder, Ultropia
Andrew Lee: CEO, Esper
Andrew Klein: Founder, Zccounting
Andy Herman: Founder, Signtag Corp.
Angie Parker: Executive Director, Alliance of Angels (AoA)
Aniket Naravanekar, Skillsheet
Anisha Vinjamuri: Founder & President , boza
Aracelis Nass: Senior Business Program Manager, Microsoft
Aswin Pranam: Sr. Product Manager, UVC Partners
Audrea Fink: Sales Coach & Strategist, mConnexions
Aviv Shalgi: CEO, Solar Simplified
BARRET NEWBERRY: CEO, Leasera
Ben Stacey: CEO, Pitchverk
Ben Rush: Business, Pioneer Square Labs
Ben Hallen: Neal and Jan Dempsey Endowed Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, University of Washington - Michael G. Foster School of Business
Bill Bromfield: Partner, Fenwick & West
Bill Bryant: General Partner, Threshold Ventures
Bob Crimmins: General Partner, Startup Haven Ventures
Brandon Zhang: Business Analyst II, Amazon.com Services Llc
Brian M Pasalich: Chief Executive Officer | Co-Founder, Behave Technologies (Formerly Syntoniq, Inc.)
Bryan Rutberg: Partner, AG Consulting Partners
Cairen Cheese
Candice Dietz: Founder, Givespace
Caroline Frost: Product Manager, Amazon Web Services
Chandler Lewis: Founder, 360 Social Impact Studios
Charles Kwon: Managing Partner, Concitor
Cheale Villa: Founder, CEO + Visionary Rabbit, Visual Caffeine
Chinara Askerzade: Managing Partner at PocketVC early-stage VC, PocketVC Studio and PocketVC Technologies Inc
Chloe Feingold: Financial Advisor, Edward Jones
Chris Kelley: Principal, DFJ
Chris Haberle: Principal Product Marketing Manager, AWS
Chris Bruno: Owner, X2Y Strategic Advisors
Christina Lomasney: Director of Commercialization, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Christy Johnson: CEO, Artemis Connection, Inc
Cindy Engstrom: CEO and Founder, Solomomo
Claire Mc Taggart: Founder & CEO, Square Peg Hires
Clare Gould: Founder & CEO, Your Vesa
Claudius Mbemba: Venture Investment Director, Startup Haven
Cody Birkland, Ultropia
Colleen Hilton: CEO, Alli Connect
Collin Dayley: Founder, Collin Dayley Coaching
Connor Gray: CEO, Stealth
Dan Fine: Managing Partner, Fine Solutions
Dan Kihanya: Director, REI Path Ahead Ventures, REI
Dan Moore: Cofounder, Tarka
Dana Sather Robinson: Pitch Trainer, Pitch Coach, Angel Investor, Pitch 4 Impact Inc
Danl Kasow: Principal, Sorted Solution
Daria Boldyreva: Founder, Wunderdogs
David Anderson: GM, Kilby Silicon Valley Labs at Texas Instruments
David Jorjani: Founder, Qatalyst Labs
Diane Najm: CEO/Founder, PhotoPad
Divyanshu Sharma: Software Engineer 3, Platform Security (Authentication & Authorization), CrowdStrike
Edmond Sanctis: Partner, REASON Venture Partners
Elisa La Cava: Investor, Madrona Venture Group
Emeka Alozie: Director, IntuitiveX
Evan Poncelet: evan@dreamward.vc, Dreamward Group / Venture Black
Fabian Geyrhalter: Founder and Principal, FINIEN
Fredrick Tsang: IP Attorney, Fenwick & West
Garrett Gross: Director of Growth, Xemelgo
Gary Gaessler: SaaS Community Builder, Nylas, Co-Founder of CloudElements
Gillian Muessig: Co-Founder, Moz
Gira Wieczorek: Managing Partner / Co-Founder, Aleberry
Gira Wieczorek: Founder
Glenn Wisegarver: CEO, Sigma IQ
Graciela Perez: Founder & Lean Start Up Coach, Lean Sigma Tech, LLC
Hiroki Kudo: Founder, CEO, Easy Proposal
Huba Rostonics: CEO, System & Soul
Ian Lurie: EVP, Clearlink
Irina Menn: CEO, Hopela
Jake Hite: CTO, Compete to Create
James Hu: CEO, Jobscan
Jana Krystofova Mike: Assistant Professor, Division of Pediatric Critical Care at University of California, San Francisco
Janiece Jenkins: Associate, Fenwick & West
Janis Machala: Corporate Director, Paladin Partners
Jay Goyal: President, Actively Learn
Jaya Venkata Sravani Potturi: Senior Product Manager - Technical, Amazon
Jeff Croft: CRO, Kurvv
Jeffrey McIntosh: Founder, McIntosh Tea
Jen Haller: Chief of staff, Ascend VC.
Jenn Steele
Jennifer Azapian: Former Venture Partner and Advisor , Loyal VC | Mighty Capital
Jeremy Zaretzky: Managing Director, Founder Institute Seattle
Jeremy Bruck: Managing Partner, Data Valuation & Monetization, Gulp Data
Jesse Posey: Co-Founder, COO, Managing Partner, Dreamward Group
Jewel Atuel, Dash Foundry
Jim Poss: CEO, Modifi
Joe Bezdek: Co-founder, DivX, Inc.
John Borofka: Founder, Walnut+Oak
John Kinsella: Senior Engineering Leader, AWS
John Robinson: Founder and Owner, Resolution Photomatching
Jonathan Greechan: Co-Founder & CEO, Founder Institute, GP Founder Capital
Jonathan G. Blanco, Niftmint
Jordan Hopson: Venture GM and Principle, BCG X
Jordan Syms: Group Account Director, Prophet
Joseph Horsman: Investor, Madrona
Josh Trujillo: Entrepreneurship Consultant, Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc. / Center on Rural Innovation
Josh Dougherty: Co-Founder & CEO, A Brave New
Julian Fung: Solutions Architect, Real Estate Investor, Qualtrics, Avalanche Assets
Julie Pham: CEO, CuriosityBased
June W Choi: Managing Partner, Serval Ventures
Karin Kidder: Executive Director, E8 Angels
Kate Loose: Investment Director, Capria Ventures
Kate Edwards: AWS Startup BD/Co-Founder at Heartbeat , Heartbeat
Kathleen Baxley: Interim CFO / Strategic Venture Advisor
Kelly Lawton Abbott: Partner, SSM Law
Ken Kranseler: Managing Director, Kabuki Strategy
Ken Horenstein: Founder, GP, Pack Ventures
Kevin Yu: Co-founder & CTO, Socedo Inc.
Kevin Chan: Director, Product Marketing, Fleetio
Khurram Agha: Founder, Aghaz Investments
Kristopher Alford: Venture Capital, Cercano Management
Lainey Lee: Director, Founder Institute
La Jolla Jantaraamornkul
Laura Malcolm: Founder/CEO, Give InKind
Leila Demir: Founder, Partner UP
Levi Velez Reed: Venture Partner, Startup425
Lewis Lin: CEO, ManageBetter
Lindsay Randall: Sr. Program Manager, Moonbeam
Lisa Fernow: President, Fernow Consulting
Loren Kosloske: Head of New Verticals - Mobility, Uber
Louis Newkirk: Co-Founder / City Leader, Venture Black / Founders Live
Luke Arrigoni: Founder / CEO, Loti
Madhu Singh: Chief Legal Officer, Foundry Law Group
Mark Landay: Managing Director, Dynamic Synergy
Matt Mandell: Principal, PayNerd.com
Matt Paulin: Founder , zCrowd
Matt Rubright: VP of Early and Growth Stage Tech, Silicon Valley Bank
Matthew Lickwar: Co-Founder | Growth | Operations | Product, Ynomia
Maureen Ezekwugo: Chief Customer Officer, RealSelf
Maximilian Von Poelnitz: Investment Director, DSM Venturing
Melissa Li: Managing Partner and Head of Community, Dorm Room Fund
Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition
Mercedes Bankston: Founder, Funderstar LTD
Meredith Felton: Senior Product Marketing Manager, Enable
Michael Goldman: CFO, EN 360 Holdings
Michael Avent: Partner, Perkins Coie LLP
Mikaela Kiner: CEO & Founder, Reverb
Mike Vandenbos
Mike Cozart: Angel Investor and Startup Advisor, Relumin
Milkana Brace: CEO, Jargon
Minda Brusse: Founding Partner, First Row Partners
My Le Goel: Founder & CEO, Flight Live, Inc.
Nelly Yusupova: Founder, TechSpeak.co
Nick Hughes: Founder & CEO, Founders Live
Nicole Doyle: Founder, CEO, Aspir
Noah Wallach: Founder, Hope OS
Noemi Ceapa: Founder / CEO, The Consulting Studio
Omi Iyamu: Product Manager, Google Austria
Pablo Casilimas, OneSixOne Ventures
Pascha Scott: Partner and Co-founder, VERTETUDE
Paul Watt: Global Business Manager, Google
Paul Adams: CEO & Founder, Sound Financial Group
Peter Leonard: CEO, Meddle
Peter Crawford: Co-Founder & COO, Eduvero
Pilar Fernandez Hermida: Founder i-Expand (We help Health Tech companies go global), i-expand
Pooria Arab: Managing Partner, Beeloud
Pradeep UN: Founder, CEO, Seerflix Inc
Puneet Kohli: CEO, Careerflow.ai
Rachel Kroft: Fractional CPO, Happy Warriors
Raja Mawad: Founder, Thrv.health
Rebecca Lovell: Director, Create33
Rich Minice: Corporate Associate, Fenwick & West
Richard Shaw: Senior Lead Product Manager, Shopify
Rick Graham, Radd Studio Inc.
Rob Hillas: Founder, PlainVanilla
Robert Le: Director, FI Seattle
Rohre Titcomb: COO, Female Founders Alliance
Ron Gentile: Founder, Moodfit
Ruth Becke: Founder & CEO, Plantmatch
Ryan Micheletti: Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute
Ryan Mc Robert: Partner, Fenwick & West
Saaniya Ekram Shaikh
Saikiran Chandha: CEO, SciSpace (Formerly Typeset.io)
Sanjit Singh: COO, Various Companies
Santosh Khare: Founder & CEO, Touchbase, Inc.
Sarah Studer: Program Manager, University Of Washington, WE Lead
Scott Weller: President, Radian Labs
Shaahin Cheyene: Founder and President, Podcastcola Inc.
Shama Keskar: Cofounder & CEO, VoxAI
Shilpa Sharma: Co-founder & CEO, Flyte (flyteai.com)
Sneha Lundia Agrawal: Founder & CEO, Step2Growth
Sri Kasam: Director of Engineering, Nfinity
Stacy Saal: Managing Director, Jelly Collective
Steve Cherewaty: Founder & Creative Director, Abacus
Steve Carver
Suzanne Mills: Biz Dev & GTM - Retail & Fintech, Stealth Startup
Symon Perriman: CEO & Founder, FanWide
Tai Rattigan: Global Head of Partnerships & Alliances, Deel
Tarun Gulati: Founder & CEO, Contemplate
Taylor Black: Principal Program Manager, Office of the CTO Incubator , Microsoft
Terri Richardson: CEO, Accelerate Consulting Group, LLC
Thibaut Labarre: Founding Engineer, SingleFile.io
Travis Murdock: Executive Vice President, Ruder Finn
Vladimir Pletyukhin: Founder and Creative Director, Launch Deck
Will Barrett
Yemi Oluseun: Growth & GTM For FinTechs, The Change Hive
Yoko Okano: Co-founder, First Row Partners
Zac Corker: Sales & GTM Consultant, Private
Zorrawa Jefferson: Zorrawa Jefferson , True Start Ventures