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.
That's why we are excited to announce today that applications are now open for the Seattle Fall 2026 program.
If you could use a structured process and a lifetime of support from Oregon and Washington state's top investors and entrepreneurs to build something meaningful, then apply to the Seattle Fall 2026 Founder Institute today.
We will be hosting several free startup online events with experts from Seattle and Portland over the coming weeks, where you can learn from top entrepreneurs from the comfort of your home:
- How Anyone Can Become a Solo Founder with AI: 9:00am, May 05, 2026 (America/Los_Angeles): https://FI.co/e/397849
- Founder Institute Online Information Session: https://FI.co/infosession
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.
The Seattle / Portland Virtual 2020 program is led by some of the region's top startup leaders, including Jeremy Zaretzky (Managing Director, FI Seattle), Levi Velez Reed (Director, FI Seattle), and Lainey Lee (Program Manager, FI Seattle).
In addition, some of Washington and Oregon'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 Fall 2026 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
- Ali Sidki: Investment Consultant, Sidki.com.
- Allison Byers: Founder & CEO, Scroobious
- Amber Fehrenbacher: Growth Marketing Director & Venture Fellow at Material Change Institute , Condoit
- Amit Gupta: Sys Dev Manager, Amazon
- Amit Bhanot: Venture Partner, Loyal VC
- 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
- Ankit Srivastav: Angel Investor / Product Leader, Family Office
- Apurva Bhargava, TrusTrace
- Aracelis Nass: Senior Business Program Manager, Microsoft
- Aspen White: Cofounder and CEO, AerwareAI
- 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
- Carmela Fortin: CEO, Seattle Startup Coaches
- Caroline Frost: Product Manager, Amazon Web Services
- Carson Nye: Investor, Two Ravens
- 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
- Craig Guarraci: Founder, Tech PM Career Path, LLC
- 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
- Dave Cotter: Owner, Kelsor Ventures LLC
- David Anderson: GM, Kilby Silicon Valley Labs at Texas Instruments
- David Jorjani: Founder, Qatalyst Labs
- David Abu: Snr PM, Microsoft
- Dean P: President and CEO (retired), Switchboard Incorporated
- Diane Najm: CEO/Founder, PhotoPad
- Divyanshu Sharma: Software Engineer 3, Platform Security (Authentication & Authorization), CrowdStrike
- Dominique Simmons: Founder and CEO, CX UX Spark
- 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
- Gabriela Camilli: Investor, Act One Ventures
- Garrett Gross: Sr. Director of Growth, Xemelgo
- Gary Gaessler: SaaS Community Builder, Nylas, Co-Founder of CloudElements
- Gaurav Malhotra: CMO, PickMyCar USA
- 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
- James Jenkins: Engineering Manager, Andrews Cooper
- 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
- Jephte Ioudom Foubi: Data & AI engineer - solution architect, FoubsLabs
- 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
- Kayla Kroot: Fundraising & Storytelling Consultant, Kayla Kroot LLC
- Kelly Lawton Abbott: Partner, SSM Law
- Ken Kranseler: Managing Director, Kabuki Strategy
- Ken Horenstein: Founder, GP, Pack Ventures
- Kerra Melvin: Partner, DLA Piper
- Kevin Yu: Co-founder & CTO, Socedo Inc.
- Kevin Chan: Director, Product Marketing, Fleetio
- Khurram Agha: Founder, Aghaz Investments
- Kristopher Alford: Venture Capital, Cercano Management
- Kt Mc Bratney: Head of Community , Renew Venture Capital
- Lainey Lee: Director, Founder Institute
- La Jolla Jantaraamornkul
- Laura Malcolm: Founder/CEO, Give InKind
- Leila Ergul 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
- Marc Krejci: Founder, Pathfinder Foundry
- Mark Landay: Managing Director, Dynamic Synergy
- Matt Mandell: Principal, PayCard.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
- Michael Dryja: Principal and Registered Patent Attorney, Law Offices of Michael Dryja
- 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
- Mohana Sudhan Gandhi: Principal Engineer, Amazon Web Services
- My Le Goel: Founder & CEO, Flight Live, Inc.
- Nelly Yusupova: Founder, TechSpeak.co
- Nick Hughes: Founder & CEO, Founders Live
- Nicole Doyle: Founder, CEO, Aspir
- Nishanth Lingamneni: Angel Investor, Family Office
- 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 Bristol, Bristol Advisory
- Richard Shaw: Senior Lead Product Manager, Shopify
- Rick Graham, Radd Studio Inc.
- Rob Hillas: Founder, PlainVanilla
- Robert Le: Director, FI Seattle
- Robert Prasher: Mr. , Notifi
- Rohre Titcomb: COO, Female Founders Alliance
- Ron Gentile: Founder, Moodfit
- Ruth Becke: Founder & CEO, Plantmatch
- Ryan Micheletti: Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute
- Ryan McRobert: 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
- Temitope Dawodu: Growth Strategist , Amazon
- Terri Richardson: CEO, Accelerate Consulting Group, LLC
- Thibaut Labarre: Founding Engineer, SingleFile.io
- Tony Nguyen: Founding Partner, TKN Tyson LLP
- 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
- And many more to be announced.
Since 2009, the Founder Institute has helped over 9,000 Alumni raise over 2BN 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).
Join us in Seattle and Portland to help build the future.
Apply to the Seattle Fall 2026 Founder Institute today, or learn more at FI.co/overview.
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