Today, the Founder Institute, the world's premier idea-stage accelerator and startup launch program, is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the Toronto Spring 2025 Semester!
If you want to build a startup in Toronto and could use expert training and feedback, then apply to the Toronto Founder Institute today, or attend a free event.
Those who apply by the Early Admissions Deadline (Feb 16, 2025) will have their application fees waived (typically $50), and if you enroll by the Early Deadline you are also eligible for Founder Institute Fellowships.
Since launching in Toronto in 2014, the Founder Institute has helped launch several promising companies in the region, and our efforts in Toronto have also been profiled by several high profile media channels.
To celebrate the launch, the Toronto Founder Institute will several free startup events for the general public, where you can meet top entrepreneurs and learn more about the program:
Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to transition from employee to entrepreneur, test their startup ideas, build a team, get their first customers, raise funding, and more - like Udemy, Realty Mogul, iCarsClub, Itembase, goplaceit, and Appota. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200 cities and 100 countries, the Founder Institute's mission is to "Globalize Silicon Valley" and create sustainable startup ecosystems that will create one million new jobs worldwide.
Running the Founder Institute's efforts in Toronto are local startup leaders Danielle Graham (Program Manager, Ontario Centres of Excellence), Sean Stanleigh (Managing Editor, Globe Edge Content Studio, The Globe and Mail), and Sunil Sharma (Managing Director, Techstars Toronto).
In addition, some of Toronto's top entrepreneurs will mentor founders in the program, providing them with expert training, feedback, and evaluation. The list of mentors for the Toronto Spring 2025 includes:
- Aamer Siddiqui: CFO, Treefrog Accelerator
- Aaron Baer: Partner, Renno & Co
- Aaron Albert: CEO and Co-Founder, Mine'd
- Abdel Ali: Investment Analyst, Relay Ventures and Alate Partners
- Adeo Ressi: CEO, Decile Group / VC Lab
- Alan Trieu: Senior Director, Sales , Cinchy
- Alexander Mc Isaac: Principal, Strategic Investments and Women in Tech, BDC Venture Capital
- Alexander Jager: Founding Partner, Amplifier Advisors
- Ambles Kwok: Head of Engineering (Toronto) / Co-Founder, Thumbtack / Therapia
- Amir Alikhanzadeh: CEO and Co-Founder, Madlipz
- Andrei Poliakov: CEO, APX Lending
- Andrew D'Souza: Founder and CEO, Boardy
- Anna Hu: CEO and Co-Founder, Brizi
- Aran Hamilton: President & Co-Founder, Vantage
- Ashley Martis: Co-Founder & CEO, StartupFuel
- Ashley Hahn: Head of Startup Developer Ecosystem, Canada, Google
- Aurélio Araújo: CEO, Leadfy
- Ayhan K. Isaacs: Head of Global Growth, Founder Institute
- Balaji Gopalan: Independent Product Management Educator, Mentor, Consultant and Advisor, self
- Ben Sanders: CEO and Co-Founder, Davispier.ca
- Ben Baldwin: Founder, Upteaming.com
- Ben Su: Co-Founder & COO, Capita
- Bilal Tariq: Technical Talent Connoisseur , GuruLink
- Bob Kyryliuk (CEO-P2P): CEO & Founder, CEO-P2P.com
- Brice Scheschuk: CEO, Globalive Capital
- Bryan Gold: Co-Founder and CEO, #paid
- Bryan Smith: Co-Founder & CEO, ThinkData Works Inc.
- Callum Travaglini: Strategy & Program Manager, Office of the CEO, Wealthsimple
- Chevonae Walcott: Associate, Relay Ventures
- Chris Ye: Co-Founder, Uken Games
- Chris Hobbs: President, TTT Studios
- Chris Adams: Founder and Managing Partner, Adams Hamilton
- Chris Greenfield: Founder, Greenfield
- Christopher Leacock: Founder , Jillionaire LLC
- Cici Wang: Director, Snaplii
- Corey Gross: CEO, Sensibill
- Cory York: CEO and co-Founder, PowerStores
- Craig Asano: CEO, National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada
- Dan De Mers: CEO and Co-Founder, Cinchy
- Daniel Bishun: Economic Development Officer , City of Brampton
- David Winterstein: CEO, Velocia
- David Jorjani: Founder, Qatalyst Labs
- Derrick Fung: CEO, Drop
- Dinah Davis: Founder, Code Like A Girl
- Don Samoil: Managing Partner, Trusted Scale
- Drew Lindsay: Co-Founder, GuruLink
- Duncan Brown: Partner, Penrose Partners
- Dustin Betz: Director of Operations, White Rose Ventures
- Edmundas Balčikonis: CEO and Co-Founder, Eddy Travels Inc.
- Erich Ko: CEO, Hop In Technologies
- Eropa Stein: CEO, Hyre
- Favour Ori: Founder, CEO, Payday
- Fion Lee-Madan: Technical Co-Founder, COO and Customer Success, Fairly AI Inc.
- Garnet Delsey: Co-Founder, Aview
- George Bordianu: Co-founder & CEO, Balance
- Gilberto Gandra: Founder, Gandra & Co
- Graeme Millen: Director, Technology Banking, Silicon Valley Bank
- Hamid Akbari: CEO, BlancLink
- Hamoun Karami: CEO and Co-Founder, Smartbin.io
- Haoyang Liang: Director of Product Development, Orbiseed
- Harsh Pujara: Co-Founder, Actuality
- Hussam Ayyad: Chief Accelerator Officer , Highline Beta
- Idowu Akinde: MD/CEO, Impact Hub Lagos
- Ignacio Castro: Managing Partner, 128vc
- Ilya Brotzky: Founder and CEO, VanHack
- Jack Liu: CEO and Co-Founder, Orbiseed (Techstars 2020)
- Jafar Owainati: Co-Founder, Loopio
- James Meier: CTO, Synervoz Communications
- James Shen: Managing Director, Pioneer Ventures
- Jason Atkins: General Partner, 360insights
- Jeff Hohner: President, Tecumseh Capital Ltd.
- Jelmer Stegink: Program Director, DMZ Innisfil
- Jennifer Turliuk: CEO and Founder, MakerKids
- Jeremy Potvin: Founder, World of Angus
- Jeremy Glassenberg: Product Management, APIs, Developer Experiences, Marketplaces, API Strategist
- Jeremy Kuo: CEO, Ever
- Joe Parenteau: CEO and Co-Founder, Fable (Techstars 2020)
- Jonah Midanik: COO & General Partner, Forum Ventures
- Jonathan Ip: Founder, Iterative Law
- Jordan Jocius: Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Founder Institute
- Joseph Dales: Co-Founder & Director, RHA Partners
- Juanita Lee Garcia: Executive Director, The Upside Foundation of Canada
- Kanchan Kumar: CEO, Truly Financial
- Kayla Isabelle: Executive Director, Startup Canada
- Kesem Frank: Founder, Mavennet and AION
- Kevin Gervais: CTO @ Touchless, Co-Founder @ Auto Genius, Statflo, Touchless
- Konata Lake: Partner
- Kristine Beese
- Kweku Essien
- Kyle Collier: Co-founder and CEO, Phaze
- Lance Cottrell: Founder, Feel the Boot
- Le Mar Vandusen: CEO , PFG Financial
- Lucas Porter-Bakker: Head of Product and Design, PDS
- Luke DeCoste: Entrepreneur in Residence, Davispier.ca
- Maarij Rehman: CEO, Envoi
- Maher Santarissy: Managing Partner, Founder Capital
- Majdi Alnabih: CEO, ZipLunch Inc
- Mara Rada: Chief Operations and Strategy, Loon (loonbio.com)
- Marat Mukhamedyarov: Managing Partner, Good News Ventures
- Marcello Tommasi: Co-Founder & COO, Envoi
- Mark Smith: Canada Startup Ecosystem Lead, Amazon AWS
- Maryam Nabavi: Founder and CEO, Babbly (Techstars 2020)
- Matt O'Leary: CEO and Co-Founder, Treasure Financial
- Matt Lee: Investor, Dr. Matt Lee Family Office
- Matthew Lombardi, Telus Global Ventures
- Mellie Chow: Venture Partner, Axion Fund
- Mercedes Bankston: Venture Partner, Loyal VC
- Michael Young: CTO, Reuters News and Media
- Michael Kosic: Founding Partner, Loyal VC
- Michael Collins: Founder | CEO, Periculum
- Michele Romanow: Co-Founder, Sfoundation
- Mike Suprovici: Head of Acceleration, VC Lab
- Mike Hollinger, Dentons LLP
- Mike Apted: Principal Solutions Architect - Startups, AWS
- Milad Zabihi: CEO & Cofounder, Peekage
- Mohan Markandaier: Managing Partner, Good News Ventures
- Moshe Mikanovsky: Product Director, Rootquotient
- Nabil Fahel: Head of Partnerships and Community, Terminal, Inc.
- Naqui Shaikh: Co-Founder, Doksi
- Neha Khera: Venture Partner, 500 Startups
- Nicole Verkindt: Founder and CEO, OMX
- Noah Dolgoy: CEO, Tread
- Noah Wallach: Founder, Hope OS
- Onyeka Akumah: CEO, Treepz
- Pamela Draper: CEO, Bitvo
- Parthasarathi Raghavan, Root Quotient
- Paul Parsons: Partner, Metaii
- Peter Ma: Co-Founder, MixPose
- Philippe LeBlanc: CEO, Flixel Photos Inc
- Phillip Gales: CEO, inate.ai
- Pooja Viswanathan: CEO, Braze Mobility
- Preet Singh: Founder, Designx
- Rain Takahashi: Founder and CEO, Jauntin
- Ravin Shah: Co-CEO & Founder, QuickTapSurvey
- Raymond Luk: CEO, Hockeystick
- Reuven Cohen: Managing Director, Alystic Holdings
- Richard Hyatt: Co-founder, BlueCat Networks
- Robert Whiteside: Director, Founding Partner, Treemark Capital
- Ron Gentile: Founder, Moodfit
- Ron Benegbi: CEO, Uplinq Financial Technologies
- Roy Pereira: CEO and Founder, Zoom.ai
- Russell Brand: CEO & Founder, Responsible Solutions Limited
- Ryan Micheletti: Head of Global Operations, Founder Institute
- Ryan Perera: CEO and Co-Founder
- Sameer Sortur: Founding Partner, SquareCircle Ventures
- Sameer Khan: Sameer Ahmed Khan, Social Champ, Inc
- Sami Dalati: Cofounder, Brizi
- Sanjay Nediyara: Founder and CEO
- Sara Bentham: Director, Georgian College Entrepreneurship Centre
- Saroop Bharwani: CEO and Co-Founder, Senso (Techstars 2018)
- Sean Yo: Product Management Fellow, ISPMA
- Sergey Kalnish: CEO, SmartHire
- Seun Sanni: COO, PayFi
- Sharoon Thomas: CEO and Founder, Fulfil.io
- Shibin Muhammed: Portfolio Manager, Techstars Canada
- Sina Roshan: Cofounder & CPO, Peekage (Techstars 2020)
- Slawek Potasz: CEO, CarScanner
- Sodruldeen Mustapha: Co-founder and CTO, Raenest
- Steve Dixon: SMB Leader (Canada), Apple
- Sunil Sharma: Managing Director, Founder Institute Toronto
- Tarun Sachdeva: GM, Wattpad
- Tauseef Riaz: Cofounder ConsidraCare, Stock Target Advisor and Mashkraft, ConsidraCare.com
- Thomas Park: Partner, BDC Deep Tech Fund
- Tom Lowden: Head of Labs, US East and Canada, WeWork Labs
- Tony Sabeta: Partner / Patent Agent, Aird & McBurney LP
- Tovit Neizer: Chief Storyteller and communication strategist, Yellow Bricks
- Tracy Leparulo: Founder, Untraceable
- Trevor Longino: Founder & CEO, CrowdTamers
- Tyler Bryden
- Uchi Uchibeke, Chimoney
- Vatsal Shah: Co-founder, CTO , Speak Ai
- Victor Wong: Managing Director, Operations, Flipp
- Vikas Gupta: CEO, AVARA
- Will Greenblatt: Co-Founder & Managing Director, OutLoud Speakers School
- Yemi Oluseun: Growth & GTM For FinTechs, The Change Hive
- And many more to be announced.
The Founder Institute is the most challenging and effective step-by-step startup launch program for talented and motivated aspiring entrepreneurs. If you are serious about launching a startup, the Founder Institute can give you the structured process, constant feedback and evaluation from expert mentors, and global network of entrepreneurs you need to start an enduring company. In addition, the Founder Institute is the only program of its kind that focuses on people versus ideas, accepts founders with day jobs, and shares equity with all participants.
We hope you will join us in Toronto and launch a company in 2018.
