The Founder Institute's four-month curriculum covers everything you would expect from an early-stage startup program, including topics like "Startup Legal and IP” towards the beginning, to “Fundraising” near the end. What makes the curriculum special is the Mentors that teach it, whose passion, feedback and support helps our companies avoid rookie mistakes and set the foundation for a meaningful and enduring company.
The Founder Institute carefully recruits approximately 25 Mentors per Semester, who are normally the CEO or founder of a successful startup. Rather than specialists or consultants, we prefer Founders and CEOs to give our companies "the entrepreneur's perspective." The mentors share their experiences, best practices, and mistakes, while also providing specific guidance and feedback on the Founder companies.
In addition, the Founder Institute's unique Graduate Liquidity Pool allows our mentors to share in the equity of companies formed in each program - and, their share is based solely on the anonymous ratings they receive from the Founders both during, and after the program. In this way, the Founder Institute incentivizes mentors to take a special interest in our startups, and provide as much assistance as possible after the program.
We have a great lineup of Mentors confirmed for the Winter 2013 Barcelona Founder Institute, including many from out of town. See the full list below.
Adeo Ressi
Founder/CEO, Founder Institute
Adeo Ressi is the founder and CEO of the Founder Institute, the worlds largest startup-technology company accelerator. The Institute is the eighth startup that Mr. Ressi has founded or built, four of which were acquired and three of which are still operating. Mr. Ressi was also a Founding Member of TheFunded.com, an online community of 17,000 CEOs to research, rate, and review funding sources worldwide.
Alberto Sanz
Founder & CEO, neventum
Alberto is the CEO and founder of neventum.com, a global websites network, specialized in industry events and tradeshows. His company helps exhibitors, event organizers, suppliers and visitors meet each other and make business, in a smooth, beautiful and multilingual web environment. His past experience includes: CEO at Sawyer and Lamstrung, a Studio Design and TV Production company, Sales and Marketing Manager at PM (A3 TV). He has a degree in Economics and a Masters degree in Sales.
Antonio Rami
Co-Founder & COO, Kantox
Graduated at ESADE majoring in Finance, experience in Venture Capital at Inveready Seed Capital and 2 years in strategic consultancy at Deloitte. In 2011 he co-founded Kantox, a disruptive business in the financial industry.
Carlos Puigjaner
Founder and CEO, Organic Advanced Company
Carlos is Founder & CEO of Organic Advanced Company a daily deal company offering restaurant, service, and activity deals throughout Spain. The company includes dooplan.com, elgrupazo.com and salirenfamilia.com. Carlos is also an investor & member of the board of Trace Ventures, an investment company specialized in innovative companies like Verbio, a company focused in speech technologies.
Charles Ehredt
Group Director - New Ventures, ODIGEO Group
Charles (Chuck) Ehredt - Group Director of New Ventures and Innovation team at ODIGEO. Founder of RaceFansTV.com and former Managing Director of Bernaldez y Asociados and Nucleus Consulting. PDG at IESE in 2005 and 25+ years experience helping companies align business processes, teams, and technology with clearly defined business strategy. Private Equity investor in 23 entities including financial services, technology development, ecommerce, and manufacturing.
David Tomás
Founder and General Manager, Cyberclick
En 1999 David fundó Cyberclick, una de las primeras empresas de publicidad interactiva, de la que hoy es Director General. La compañía, presente en Barcelona y Madrid, ha sido destacada por ACC1Ó y el jurado del GSMA como una de las 13 empresas catalanas más innovadoras. Siempre pioneros en el sector de la publicidad online, ya en 2002 se especializaron en la generación de leads de calidad, y en 2003 crearon Cyberclick Mobile, para crear y gestionar campañas de mobile marketing. El objetivo de la empresa es mejorar la conversión de las campañas de sus clientes. Son especialistas en captación online de clientes potenciales mediante acciones de search marketing, la generación de bases de datos por medio del sistema de coregistro, así como los leads de calidad, al mismo tiempo que crean y gestionan campañas de mobile marketing, optimizando así el coste de búsqueda de clientes a través de Publicidad Online. Cyberclick trabaja en la actualidad para compañías tanto españolas como internacionales de distintos sectores: formación, ONG’s, venta a distancia, comercio electrónico o B2B, entre otros.
David Boronat
Founder and CEO, Multiplica
David Boronat is the founder and CEO of Multiplica. He is the co-author of Vender más en Internet (Selling more on the Internet) and Cómo convertir un Me gusta en una compra (How to get a purchase from a Like). For the past few years, he has been leading the international expansion of Multiplica into Latin America and the US. He is a regular speaker at business schools and Internet conferences. He is currently running the new office of Multiplica in New York City.
Dídac Lee 
Founder & CEO, Inspirit
Dídac has a degree in Computer Science as well as Management and is PDG at IESE. He created his first company at age 21 and has not ceased to innovate and to tackle new business opportunities in the new technologies sector. Today he is the Founder & CEO of Inspirit, a holding company composed of clear technology based innovative profile and operating in different sectors: Spamina, Fhios, The etailers, Hotelerum, Zyncro, Leadzer, Alpify and Intercomgi Argentina. Dídac also founded Scubastore in 1998, a seed of the present-day group Tradeinn, the first network of online stores specialized in sports equipment and European e-commerce leader in its sector. Currently he is executive of Futbol Club Barcelona, where he is responsible for the Technology area.
Elena Gómez Del Pozuelo
Founder & CEO, La Cigueña del bebé and Encesta.com
Licenciada en Derecho por la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Emprendedora nata, con amplia experiencia. Empresas como La cigüeña del bebé, o comunidades online como Secretariaplus y Directivosplus, agrupadas en Profesionalia, llevan su firma. También ha fundado Womenalia.com, Inesdi e Incipy. Además es Presidenta de Adigital, la Asociación Española de la Economía Digital, y consejera en Meta4.
Francesc Saldaña
Founder & CEO, Optimiza.com
Francesc Saldaña is founder and CEO of Experienzia (M&A and financial consultancy), Optimiza (SCR and diversity consultancy), Maximiza (Marketing and sales), and General Manager at DisCert España. Francesc supervises business projects at ESADE Buiness School for more than 10 years and is member of BBVA Momentum Project, the first social entrepreneurship program in Spain and Chile. Francesc holds an ESADE MBA, a Bachelor in Business Administration by UPC and is a ROAC member since 1996. After having the opportunity to meet many companies from inside at AGBAR Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers, in 1996 Francesc founded Net-Translations, one of the first localization & translation companies on the internet, bought by Union Fenosa in 2003.
Ignacio Fonts
Founder & CEO, Inveready
Ignacio Fonts, Managing Partner at Inveready has worked 25 years in Hewlett Packard (Barcelona Spain and Palo Alto, US) where he became Vice president for the Inkjet Supplies Division. In 2010 he joined Inveready First Capital as CEO and General Partner, focused in TIC projects in seed phase with the capability to internationalize quickly.
Joana Sánchez
Founder & CEO, inesdi
Joana Sánchez is the Founder and CEO of Inesdi, Vice President of íncipy, and Founder of Womenalia. She is also the former chairman and former CEO of Muchoviaje.com, a division of e-commerce and distance selling for Metro Group. She has over 20 years of experience with managing teams and individuals as well as with the development and management of new businesses in the Internet, publishing, communication, finance, leisure, tourism, and e-commerce industries. Extremely results-driven, Sánchez is passionate about providing guidance and mentorships for people their businesses.
Juan Margenat
co-founder and COO, Marfeel
Co-Founder and COO at MArfeel Currently investing in several technology startups and founding a new technology company. Former founder of Barcelo Experience and Weekendesk Iberia, the largest gift-experience companies in Spain, marketing the brands Bongo, Smartbox and PlanB!
Justin Wilcox
CTO, Nimbus Health
Justin Wilcox started his first company at the age of 10, and hasn’t been able to stop. Graduating from Cal Poly’s Computer Science program, Justin worked at Microsoft for five years before leaving to start Nimbus Health – an electronic medical record company. In addition to running Nimbus, he’s launched a couple mobile apps in his spare time, including a top seller in the Travel Category and Bounce on Android. When Justin’s not entrepreneuring, he’s blogging at CustomerDevLabs.com about entrepreneuring or maybe doin’ a little dancing.
Luis Martín Cabiedes
Partner, Cabiedes & Partners
Martin Luis Cabiedes is one of the most well known early stage investors in Spain and founding partner of CABIEDES & PARTNERS. Ex-CEO of Europa Press and lecturer at the Entrepreneurship program of IESE Business School. He specialieses in seed and early stage investments in Internet and Technology Ventures in Spain. He is currently invested in Printcolor, Bubok, Trovit, Nvivo, Coguan, Habitissimo, Blablacar, Rockola, Offerum, Uvinum, Parabebes, Bankimia, Mbaandcompany, Zyncro, Ulabox, Tiendeo, Deporvillage, Gigas, Comunitae, Nonabox, Deskidea, Ducksboard, Stopandwalk, Kantox, Nubelo and Hazloposible. Former investments include Ole, Myalert, Acceso or Privalia.
Manuel Matés
Founder & CEO, Necotium
Manuel has been involved in the Internet for more than 18 years as an entrepreneur and professor, being pioneer in the Internet sector in Spain: Cofounder at Cinet (first B2B ISP in Spain) and Olé (first Hispanic portal). Both companies were sold to Retevisión (nowadays Ono) and Telefónica. His professional, lecturer, teaching and research activity focus in entrepreneurship, startups, business angels and entrepreneurial financing (Business Angels, VC, public equity and soft loan). In 1998 he became a partner of BellMore, where he does Management consulting in Strategy and Fund Raising. Back in 2004 he founded ESADEBAN, the Business Angels Network of ESADE and in 2011 he founded Necotium.org, a platform that supports and assess in the process of creation, growth, sale and investment of a company.
Marc Serra Oller
Founder and CEO, Bonacuista BGS SL (Acuista, BGSsl)
Marc has several degrees from UC Berkeley where he spent more than seven years as a college and graduate student and as an entrepeneur in the nanotechnology space back in 88. He was at the onset of Lotus Development (now part of IBM) in Spain and launched and managed Zeta Multimedia, the pioneer of educational multimedia publishing and distribution in Spain and Latinamerica. In 2000 he founded Bonacuista BGS a company with two business divisions - ecommerce (Acuista.com, Acuista.it, Acuista.pt, GourmetGlobalMarket.com, SexShopUniverse.com, TiendasComprar.com ...) and BGS (bgssl.com; field and trade marketing services, loyalty programs, POS audit ...). Acuista has been rated as the #1 etailer by several magazines and independent consumer unions. Marc speaks several languages and has a strong international experience.
Marcos Aubeso
Investment Analyst, Caixa Capital Risc
Investment Analyst for the early stage fund of Caixa Capital Risc, the Venture Capital of CaixaBank and one of the biggest VC in Spain. Responsabilities in dealflow, analysis of new investment opportunities, due diligence process, portfolio management and new investment rounds. The investment range amount is between €50K to €3M.
Marion Chevalier
Founder & CEO, Entrepreneurs Speaking
Marion Chevalier is a public speaking coach for entrepreneurs. Her mission is nothing less than changing the World. She believes in entrepreneurship to be THE solution. However, too many entrepreneurs neglect their public speaking skills and often fail to convince investors, prospects and collaborators. This is why she created Entrepreneurs Speaking, a coaching business to help all those innovators turn their professional presentations into memorable speeches. She has been working with founders, several incubators and TED speakers in Barcelona.
Martí Manent
CEO and Founder, Derecho.com
Martí is the founder and CEO of Derecho.com (Online legal content, products and services provider) and elAbogado.com the largest law firm directory in Spanish. Martí is cofounder of Playbutton and has invested or funded more than 10 companies. Prior to this Martí worked as an attorney at law in the corporate and financial department at Garrigues Abogados (Garrigues Abogados is the largest law firm in Europe ). He also has experience in internationalization and strategic in Europe, USA and LATAM. Martí Manent has a JD (Legal Master) degree from Instituto de Empresa (Madrid), ranked Nº.1 program in the country and 10th in the World by Financial Times.
Ricard Bonastre
Director General, eMagister
Ricard Bonastre es accionista y director general de emagister.com. finixer.com. En los últimos años ha realizado una amplia actividad vinculada a la emprendeduria como director de proyectos en el Master de Emprendeduria de proyectos en ESADE y otros programas de creación y aceleración de empresas. Es Licenciado en Filosofía por la UB y tiene un MBA en la Salle Ricard Bonastre es accionista y director general de emagister.com. Es co-founder del proyecto En los últimos años ha realizado una amplia actividad vinculada a la emprendeduria como director de proyectos en el Master de Emprendeduria de la UPF, tutor de proyectos en ESADE y otros programas de creación y aceleración de empresas. Es Licenciado en Filosofía por la UB y tiene un MBA en la Salle-URL.
Roger Yee
Investor/LP, Fortify Ventures
Roger is a veteran of start-ups, having founded three companies that included investor-backed funding and successful exits through acquisitions and IPOs. His previous companies and executive roles include ShadowLogic, Inc. (CEO), a cybersecurity services company; LaunchFuel, Inc. (CTO), a technology venture accelerator; and AppNet, Inc. (VP) an Internet and electronic commerce solutions firm acquired by CommerceOne for $2.1B. Most recently, Roger was Vice President at BAE Systems responsible for global defense and security programs and was an executive with DigitalNet, Inc. which was acquired by BAE Systems for $600M in 2004. Rogers work has been featured in The Washington Post, Federal Computing Week, Washington Technology, Government Security News and is a frequent invited speaker at government and industry events. He is currently an angel investor and LP with Fortify Ventures and mentor with Founder Institute and The Fort.
Tania Sagaste
Directora Ejecutiva, La Salle Technova
Directora Ejecutiva de La Salle Technova Barcelona Nacida en Barcelona, es Ingeniera Superior y Técnica de Telecomunicaciones y Máster MPM por La Salle – Universidad Ramon Llull. Ha trabajado 5 años en La Salle Technova dirigiendo la oficina de proyectos, el clúster en tecnologías médicas MedLab y el área de Tech Market Research. A finales del 2012 asume la dirección de La Salle Technova, centrando sus esfuerzos en la ampliación de servicios de valor añadido para los emprendedores y en la diferenciación de su modelo. Anteriormente, trabajó como técnico de continuidad en Televisió de Catalunya y como técnico de control central en Mediapro.
Teresa Cristobal
Cofounder & CEO, Comunitats.org
I3 years ago, I sold my house and start to focus my energy and motivation in Comunitats, with my husband Alvaro, I would like to say that we have a shared dream: MAKE COMUNITATS A REAL OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE THE WAY WE DO THINGS! I was born in Mardrid in 1972. Entrepreneur since 2010. Mother of 4 children. Long and great experience managing losgistic and purchaising departments at companys from automotive, pharmacy, air conditioner and retail. I love traveling and like the big challenges. Comunitats is my 5th child, Im trying to develop a project that can have big impact in the society and open a door to change the way we do.
Vicens Marti
CEO, Akamon Entertainment
CEO and Co-founder of Akamon Entertainment, Vicenç Martí is an expert in the specifics of the gaming industry, where he had previously worked as Managing Director at Cirsa Gaming Corporation. His professional record also includes being Chief Marketing Officer at Spanish low-cost airline Vueling, where he succeeded in turning the start-up into a cool and reputable million-euro brand, and CEO at fashion label Custo Barcelona, where he ha direct responsibility over finance, marketing, sales, operations and product functions. He graduated in communications from Saint Louis University, and earned an MBA from IESE Business School, University of Navarra, completed with an Executive program at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Vicenç prides himself on his excellent communication skills in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Catalan.
