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 Autumn 2013 Seattle 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.
Andy Liu
CEO, BuddyTV
Andy is the founder and CEO of BuddyTV, an entertainment and media centered online community. Prior to BuddyTV, Andy was the vice president and general manager at Atlas DTM, and previously the president and CEO of NetConversions, Inc. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Seattle Pacific University and a MBA from Wharton Business School.
Bryan Starbuck
CEO & Founder, Empower.me
Bryan Starbuck is the Founder & CEO of Empower.me, a B2C education startup for 5th to 12th grade students. Empower.me brings online learning videos from sources like Khan Academy, TED Conferences, PBS and many more to teens. Empower.me allows teens to earn extra spending money from their parents when they reach learning goals from the video learning lessons. Bryan Starbuck was the CEO/Founder of TalentSpring, a B2B Enterprise SaaS company acquired in 2010.
Bryan Rutberg
Partner, AG Consulting Partners
Bryan Rutberg is a Partner with AG Consulting Partners, where he manages the Communications Practice. Bryan and his team help leaders reach key audiences to persuade, inform, inspire, and drive action. His experience includes management and leadership at tech giants Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft, and global strategy consulting firm McKinsey & Company. He managed Microsoft’s world-renowned Executive Briefing Center, was Executive Communcations Director for a Microsoft Corporate VP, has managed global alliances from sales and technical front-lines through to the boardroom, and has been an award-winning salesperson. Today his personal work is primarily working with public speakers, preparing for conferences, internal presentations, video shoots, and other high-stakes events such as funding pitches. Bryan is a graduate of Georgetown University and earned his Master’s in Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler School at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Chris Dishman
Founder, Denali Financial Consulting
Chris Dishman is a serial entrepreneur who founded Denali Financial Consulting in January 2008 after 25 years of serving the Seattle tech community as a Big-4 auditor (PwC, E&Y), a CFO of a venture capital firm, a co-founder of a SOX consulting firm, and a financial executive for numerous venture capital-backed technology companies. Chris has enjoyed leadership roles in local organizations such as the MIT Enterprise Forum, WTIA , Junior Achievement, Rite of Passage Journeys, and is currently on the Board of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network (NWEN) and a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Chris is a CPA (license inactive), and has a BA in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of Washington.
Dan Shapiro
Board of Directors, Photobucket
Dan Shapiro sold his most recent company, Sparkbuy, to Google where he is CEO of the Google Comparison subsidary. Previously he founded Ontela (now Photobucket) and worked at RealNetworks, Microsoft, and Wildseed (acquired by AOL). His companies have been named Dow Jones Top 10 in Wireless, CTIA Best Social Networking Application, WTIA Breakthrough Startup of the Year, and Shapiro himself has been named CEO of the Year by MobileBeat. Shapiros articles have been published in publications including The Washington Post, Wireless Week, and the Seattle PI, and he is a frequent speaker at conferences and events. He blogs at www.danshapiro.com and tweets at @danshapiro.
Dan Fine
Managing Partner, Fine Solutions
Dan Fine is the Managing Partner of Fine Solutions, the leading Microsoft Dynamics partner in the Pacific Northwest. Dan has a varied past, from working in advertising agencies in New York City, to founding one of the first dot coms and taking it public on NASDAQ, to growing a leading Microsoft partnership. Dan has been awarded the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the SBAs Small Business Person of the Year, and has been on the Incs Fastest Growing Private Companies three times, including 2009 and 2010.
Daniel Rossi
Chief Business Officer, GeekWire
Daniel Rossi is the Chief Business Officer at Geekwire. Previously, he was the Executive Director of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network where he helped startups with ideation, business model validation, research and writing business plans as well as pitching investors. Prior to NWEN Daniel was Co-Founder of a University of Washington based technology startup called Nanocel which won the 2009 University of Washington Business Plan Competition and was named one of the 2010 Innovators of the Year by Seattle Business Magazine. Daniel is a judge and coach for the University of Washington and Seattle University business plan competitions. Daniel holds an MBA from the University of Washington and BA from the Ohio State University.
Dave Parker
Serial Entrepreneur, VP, UP Global
Dave is serial entrepreneur and Director of the Founder Institute Seattle. Hes on the Board of Directors for five mid-market companies including OneAccord Partners, a consulting firm he co-founded in 2005. Hes on the advisory board of more then a dozen company and hes always incubating new various tech projects. Over the last 20 years Daves career success has included both product and service industries, selling both tangible and intangible products predominantly in the technology market, including hardware, software, and wireless. For the last 13 years he has held founder and executive positions in services, software distribution and hardware development companies as well as developing joint ventures in Japan and China. He has also served as an Entrepreneur in Residence for Mitsui & Companys $250M technology fund.
David Bluhm
Founder & CEO, Z2Live
David has spent the past twenty-five years starting and growing technology companies. In a variety of founder, director and senior operational roles, David has help guide companies through 2 IPOs and 7 company acquisitions. In addition to being the Founder & CEO of Z2Live, David is also a co-founder of Medio Systems, a mobile search and advertising company that is pioneering better access to information, content and consumer transactions from mobile devices. Prior to Z2Live, David was CEO of NextMedium, CEO and Chairman of GoTV Networks, CEO at WUF Networks, Co-founder and President of (M)Forma (now HandsOn Mobile), and CEO of NearMe. Davids other start up accomplishments includes developing the business plan and securing the initial funding for Realtor.com (now Move.com, an Internet real estate listings site, NASDAQ: MOVE) as well as co-founding BondHub.com (an Internet bond trading exchange) and WorldVoice (natural language understanding).
David Nilssen
Co-Founder & CEO, Guidant Financial Group
David Nilssen is the co-founder of Guidant Financial Group, Inc. Nilssen is regularly invited to speak at top venues throughout the country as a leading expert in small business financing. He pioneered the concept of “one-stop shopping” in small business financing and, along with his 50+ employees, he has helped more than 5,000 individuals invest in a small business or franchise. In 2007, the Small Business Administration (SBA) named Nilssen the National Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the Puget Sound Business Journal named him one of the top 40 businesspeople under 40 years of age. In both 2008 & 2009, Ernst and Young named him a finalist for their coveted Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Derrick Morton
CEO, FlowPlay
Derrick is the CEO of FlowPlay - a creator of online game technology and consumer products. He has been a games and online entertainment executive for over 16 years. Over the course of the past 11 years he has been a key executive at the top online game websites - iWin, Uproar, Flipside, Virtual Vegas and GameHouse. Most recently he was General Manager of Mobile Games for RealNetworks, a business unit he founded. Derrick was a key executive at GameHouse which was acquired in 2004 by RealNetworks. Mr. Morton received a BA, magna cum laude, from USC Film School and an MBA from UCLAs Anderson School.
Enrique Godreau III
Co-Founder, Voyager Capital
Enrique has been active in the information technology industry for 30 years. His experience includes 15 years in research, product development, and business management and 15 years in venture capital investing. He cofounded Voyager Capital in 1996, a Seattle-based early-stage venture capital firm with $365 million under management, where as an active director and champion of select entrepreneur’s and start-ups, he funded several market leaders that created substantial value. Professionally, he values the relationship between people, technology, and business above all else. His expertise in entrepreneurism ranges from new business formation to value realization.
Joanna Lord
VP of Growth Marketing, SEOmoz
Joanna Lord is the VP of Growth Marketing at SEOmoz.org, a leading SEO software company out of Seattle, WA. While she currently heads up SEOmozs lifecycle marketing efforts for Mozs 22,000 member customer base and 300,000+ member community, she is also a well-known social media enthusiast and frequent conference speaker. Her diverse experience in data analysis, performance marketing, inbound marketing and retention programs enables her to provide tactical strategies that work.
Joel Espelien
Chief Business Officer and EVP of Strategy
Joel Espelien is a Seattle angel and entrepreneur. He is currently the CEO of Cart Blanche, a mobile shopping app. He has served as angel, mentor and advisor to multiple startups including IQ Engines, Balance Financial, Savelli Ltd., and 640 labs. Joel is the former Chief Business Officer and EVP of Strategy at PacketVideo Corporation www.pv.com. Joel was a co-founder of PV in 1998 and helped lead the sale of the Company to NTT DoCoMo in October 2010. Previously, Joel was a corporate attorney at Cooley Godward LLP. Joel is a graduate of Duke Law School and St. Olaf College. He is bilingual in English and Spanish and lives on Mercer Island with his wife, Magdalena, and three boys.
Ken Myer
Interim Executive/Early Stage Advisor, Vantage Point
Ken just completed his most recent projects including serving as interim President & CEO of Yapta and participating as an Enterpeneur In Residence at the University of Washington Center for Commercialization. Ken has worked in the Technology industry for 25+ years ---- 15 at IBM where he successfuly led a variety of sales, marketing, and finance organizations including a $500M business focused on the software industry in North America. Ken was also Exec. VP at Active Voice, Sr. VP at TeleSym, co-founder of Interval Systems, and for 3 1/2 years President & CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association. Ken has led companies that have three times been recognized as one of the best to work for and in 2009 was named by Seattle Magazine as one of Seattles most influential leaders. He currently is on the board of Data I/O, Esna Technologies, and Forterra --- and is an advisor to PetHub and Transformative Med.
Mary Baker Anderson
CEO, Calipa Partners
Hi, I am Mary Baker Anderson, a serial entrepreneur. As CEO of Calipa Partners, I invest in, create and work with a portfolio of startup companies, 2-4 at any time. Prior to Calipa, I have been fortunate to work with some incredible entrepreneurs doing really cool stuff--- putting the first browser on a cell phone, the early stages of commerce in a big and scalable way, heading a wireless app company when that space was an evolving concept. My passion is to take an idea and turn it into a profitable, successful business with an effective processes and a model at the foundation. I dont have many educational merits or awards (it was all a very long time ago) but lots of interests--- too many to mention here.
Matt Shobe
Design Advisor, BigDoor
Matt Shobe is a Design Advisor with BigDoor, a Seattle startup that powers gamified loyalty programs for web content providers. Matt was a co-founder of FeedBurner, a Chicago-based company that provides media distribution and audience engagement services for blogs and RSS feeds. Feedburner was acquired by Google in 2007. Prior to FeedBurner, he was principal at Burning Door, and co-founder at Spyonit.com. Matt graduated with a B.A. in English and economics from Purdue University and an M.S. in Human Centered Design & Engineering from the University of Washington.
Nick Huzar
CEO, OfferUp
Nick Huzar is the CEO of OfferUp, a platform that empowers everyday people to securely offer up items instantly using their smartphone. Prior to OfferUp, Nick was at iDeal Technologies, where he lead corporate vision, product UI/UX, team building and financing efforts for the company. In May 2010 Deal Springer was born as a way for merchants to post offers instantly to their followers. Earlier in his Career Nick held positions at T-Mobile and Microsoft.
Robert Bergquist
CEO (former), Widemile
Robert managed Widemile, a leading website testing, targeting and optimization company based in Seattle, which developed products to help online advertisers realize higher returns from digital marketing by optimizing the performance of key content. Acquired by Webtrends, the products are now sold globally as Webtrends Optimize. He previously managed DealPlanner, a software development company serving the legal and financial services industries and acquired by H-P. He also worked as a corporate attorney at Graham & Dunn and an investment banker at Bankers Trust (now Deutsche Bank). His industry knowledge includes digital and search marketing, interactive media and advertising, broadcasting, business process management, hospitality, real estate, product manufacturing and distribution, and software.
Roy Leban
Founder & CTO , Puzzazz, Inc.
Roy is Founder and CTO of Puzzazz, which is building the future of puzzles and puzzle games for the digital world, with a goal of making sure that every solver has fun and gets challenged through high-quality puzzles and a great solving experience. A serial entrepreneur, Roy is a veteran of seven previous startup companies, including ones sold to Ashton-Tate, AT&T, and the Charter Fund. Roy has shipped more than twenty commercial products and services, including groundbreaking products in desktop productivity, word processing, tablet computers, web publishing, and educational software. An expert at building highly usable and highly scalable software and technology-based systems, Roys experience and expertise encompass everything from user experience and user interface design to architecture, algorithms, and implementation.
Scott Warner
Owner - IP/Technology Law, Garvey Schubert Barer
Scott Warner is an IP/Technology attorney at Garvey Schubert Barer in Seattle where he represents a diverse array of clients, including software and hardware companies, chip manufacturers, video game companies, content providers, hospitals and biotech companies, medical device manufacturers, alternative energy and clean tech companies, museums, social networking and new media companies, and others. Scott has been recognized by his peers and clients as an AV Peer Review Rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell, as a SuperLawyer by Washington Law & Politics magazine, and one of Washingtons Most Amazing Lawyers by Washington CEO Magazine. Scott is a frequent speaker and lecturer on intellectual property, high technology, technology transfer, and arts and entertainment law issues. He currently serves on the advisory board for LOGIN Conference, the premiere online game development conference, and is involved with various organizations that promote technology.
Shannon Swift
Founder/CEO, Swift HR Solutions, Inc.
Shannon Swift is the Founder/CEO of Swift HR Solutions, providing stage and culturally fitting outsourced HR products (SwiftHR-in-a-Box; SwiftLeadership-in-a-box) and services (SwiftHR Onsite and SwiftTalent). Shannon has held the top HR positions at Zillow, GoAhead Software, Nastech, and Health Team Northwest, along with executive roles in outsourcing firms TriNet VCO (Managing Director) and PMSI (Director, Business Development). Shannon is a proud UW graduate, is lifetime certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), former President/Board Member and Member of the Year of Lake Washington HR Association (LWHRA), and Past Chair and current Board Member of NWEN. She was named "Best Service Provider to Start Ups" by Seattle 2.0 and recognized as one of the Top 100 Women in Seattle Tech by Tech Flash in 2009.
T.A. Mccann
CEO, Gist
T.A. McCann serves as Founder and CEO of Gist. His past experience includes entrepreneur-in-residence roles at both Vulcan Capital and Polaris Venture Partners. He also held senior positions at Microsoft, leading product planning for the Exchange Server Group and developing the Service Delivery Platforms group focused on mobile applications development. In addition, he is a founder of Jump2Go, HelpShare, and Soft Labour. He currently serves on the board of Art with Heart and is an advisor to Wishpot, Asset Archives, and Notary One. In addition to his technology background, T.A. has won sailings Americas Cup and sailed around the world.
Todd Hooper
CEO and founder, Zipline Games
Todd Hooper is an experienced startup executive who has founded and lead software, hardware and services companies including Momentum, Trillium Lane Labs, Napera Networks and Zipline Games. Todd was part of the executive team at WatchGuard Technologies prior to its IPO. In addition, he has advised a wide range of early stage startups. He is passionate about building compelling products for customers large and small.
