The Founder Institute (www.fi.co), the world’s largest entrepreneur training and startup launch program, announced today that it is exploring a new chapter launch in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
Throughout the next several months, the Founder Institute will host a series of free, beginner entrepreneurship events to gauge interest in an Spring 2015 program.
Anyone who is interested in making the leap from employee to entrepreneur in Sao Paolo is welcome to apply today at http://fi.co/apply/sao_paolo, or attend an upcoming event:
- Founder Institute Online Information Session: https://FI.co/infosession
Through the Founder Institute’s four-month program, promising entrepreneurs “learn by doing” and launch a company with structured training, expert feedback, and support from experienced startup CEOs. Since the program is part-time, it is also a great opportunity for talented professionals to test and build their ideas before making “the leap” from employee to entrepreneur and quitting their jobs.
Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across over 200 cities and 40 countries, the Founder Institute has helped aspiring technology entrepreneurs launch over 7,000 companies, which have created over 10,000 new jobs. Founder Institute Graduate companies include fast-rising startups across 6 continents like Udemy, Realty Mogul, iCarsClub, Itembase, goplaceit, Appota, and many more.
There are a ton of great startup accelerators, incubators, and investors in Sao Paolo, and we will work with aspiring entrepreneurs at an even earlier stage. Our goal is to strengthen the local startup ecosystem by working with talented employees and helping them launch enduring companies.”
- Adeo Ressi, Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute
Leading the Founder Institute’s efforts in Sao Paolo are two top local startup evangelists, Luis Novo, and Erik Cavalcante.
Luis Novo is the founder of SuperNova Labs, a product innovation studio based in Sao Paulo that helps startups and large companies create innovative products based on real user needs. He is also the CEO of Skore, an enterprise knowledge sharing platform that was born from within SuperNova’s prototyping sessions.
Erik Cavalcante is a seasoned entrepreneur with a depth of experience in startup management, and is currently a Partner at VoxCapital, a Brazilian Venture Capital fund manager. With more than 10 years of professional experience, Erik has extensive experience across all phases of the business lifecycle.
We have huge admiration for Brazilian founders since it’s so hard to start a business here. The Founder Institute initiative is an amazing opportunity for people that are waiting to jump in their own business because it gives them the knowledge, the motivation and the mentoring to go through the very hard initial stage besides forming a very valuable network to help them as they grow their business.”
- Luis Novo, Co-Director of the Sao Paolo Founder Institute
Other technology leaders who have signed on to mentor new entrepreneurs in a Sao Paolo Founder Institute program include top founders from Brazil and beyond;
- Aaron Patzer: Founder, Mint.com
- Adeo Ressi: CEO, Decile Group / VC Lab
- Alexandra Johnson: Managing Director, DFJ VTB Aurora
- Alexandra Wilson: Founder, Investor & Advisor, Gilt Group, Montage Ventures
- Alexis Beechen: Co-Founder & CEO, The Drop, Mangrove Estates
- Bob Richards: Founder & CEO, Moon Express
- Bram Cohen: Founder, BitTorrent, Chia Network
- Cheryl Yeoh: Founder, Investor & Advisor, Reclip.It, MaGIC
- Claire Mc Gregor: Co-Founder, Appbot
- David Sacks: Founder & Investor, Yammer, Paypal, Zenefits
- David Wu: General Partner, Maveron Ventures
- David Rose: Author & CEO, Gust, New York Angels
- Divya Gugnani: Co-Founder, Send the Trend, Wander Beauty
- Emna Ghariani: Global Director, Founder Institute MENA
- Eren Bali: Founder, Udemy, Carbon Health
- Eric Ries: Author & Founder, The Lean Startup, Long Term Stock Exchange
- Garrett Camp: Founder, Uber, Expa, StumbleUpon
- Gina Bianchini: Founder & CEO, Mighty Networks, Former CEO of Ning
- Heather Harde: CEO, TechCrunch
- Holly Liu: Co-Founder, Kabam
- Jason Calacanis: Author, Investor & Founder, Inside.com, LAUNCH Accelerator
- Jason Johnson: Founder & CEO, August
- Jeffrey Paine: Managing Partner, Golden Gate Ventures, Singapore
- Jessica Alter: Entrepreneur & Advisor, Tech for Campaigns, Social Capital
- Jessica Mah: Founder & CEO, inDinero, Impact Collective
- Jill Stelfox: Co-Founder, Graffiti Sports, Binary Group
- Jilliene Helman: CEO, RealtyMogul.com
- Joanna Lord: CMO, ClassPass
- Jonathan Greechan: Co-Founder & CEO, Founder Institute
- Jonathan Abrams: Founder, Nuzzel, Friendster
- Justin Moore: CEO & Investor, Axcient
- Kenneth Hogrefe: CEO and Founder, Tech Africa Pte. Ltd.
- Kirsten Rose: Head of Low Emissions, BHP, Clean Energy Entrepreneur
- Lucy Beard: Founder & CEO, feetZ
- Mark Pincus: Founder, Zynga
- Michael Seibel: CEO & Partner, Y Combinator
- Nitin Pachisia: Founding Partner, Unshackled Ventures
- Phil Libin: Founder, All Turtles, Former CEO of Evernote
- Rashmi Sinha: Co-Founder, SlideShare
- Robin Chase: Co-Founder & Former CEO, Zipcar
- Rosemarie Truman: Founder & General Partner, Gazelle Futures, Center for Advancing Innovation
- Sam Yagan: Co-Founder, OK Cupid, ShopRunner, Techstars Chicago
- Scott Heiferman: Co-Founder & CEO, Meetup
- Scott Painter: Founder, Fair.com, TrueCar, CarsDirect.com
- Sergio Maziano: Founder & CEO, NEXT Solutions
- Tim Ferriss: Angel Investor & Author, 4-Hour Workweek
- And many more to be announced.
If you'd like to help bring the Founder Institute to Sao Paolo, then fill out an Interest Form at http://fi.co/apply/sao_paolo. If enough people complete the form, then the Founder Institute will formally launch a Spring 2015 Chapter in Sao Paolo.
Learn more about the Founder Institute at http://FI.co.
