Founder Institute CEO, Adeo Ressi, recently sat down for an interview with Forbes writer, John Greathouse. During their discussion, Adeo offered insight into the premise behind TheFunded.com, and what's in store for the Founder Institute in the year to come.
After launching TheFunded.com in 2007, Adeo Ressi felt compelled to go a step further and not only give entrepreneurs insight to investors, but actually help them launch a company. In 2009, the Founder Institute was born.
Below, a portion of This Entrepreneur Publicly Spanked America's Most Arrogant VCs... And Lived To Tell The Tale has been republished;
"Once The Funded was firmly established and effectively keeping venture capitalists (relatively) in check, Adeo turned his attention toward educating emerging entrepreneurs. To this end, he created The Founder Institute in order to, “globalize Silicon Valley.” In Adeo’s words,"… in 2008 and 2009, we had at that point righted many of the wrongs in the venture capital industry, but that didn’t mean that entrepreneurship was all of a sudden healthy. If you take away the prison guard that beats you, it doesn’t mean that you’re out of prison. It just means that you’re in prison and you’re just not getting beaten as much.
Entrepreneurship Ain’t No Fantasy Camp
Adeo believes that the program benefits all of the participants, even those who do not graduate, as it provides a safe environment for people to determine whether they are entrepreneurs or wantrepreneurs. “Right now, the program is pretty good at separating out the serious founders from the people who are in founder fantasy camp, right. A lot of people come in and they’re like, ‘But I want to build a startup, I think it’s going to be the most amazing thing in the world’ and once they try their hand at it a little bit through the program, in a structured environment, they realize ‘Wow, this is a lot harder than I expected. I don’t know if it’s the right move for me.’
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. If we can help you realize that, that’s a win for you, that’s a win for the institute, it’s a win for everyone. I would say that about 2% of the population has many of the core attributes to be a successful entrepreneur and… at any one time a subset of those are thinking of starting a business.
Eventually what I want to be able to say… if you enroll in The Founder Institute and make it through, your chances of success will be as high as humanly possible."
Click here to continue reading, This Entrepreneur Publicly Spanked America's Most Arrogant VCs... And Lived To Tell The Tale on Forbes, and to hear more from John Greathouse, check out his startup blog johngreathouse.com.
The Founder Institute is currently accepting applications in over 20 cities worldwide. If you could benefit from expert training and feedback to launch a technology startup, click here to learn more.
Like this article?
