Silicon Valley Fall 2023
Virtual First

Program Schedule

Our flagship 'FI Core' program combines structured sprints with constant feedback to help you reach the milestones needed for investment and growth.

Aug 20

Early Application Deadline
Sep 24

Final Application Deadline
Oct 04 06:00 pm week 1

Orientation

During Orientation, we will review the Founder Institute program structure, methodology, tools, and requirements. You will meet the cohort and establish how your startup will use the program to push your business forward.

Date
Oct 04, 2023
Time
09:00pm EDT

Sprints

Your cohort will be split up into the "Launch Track" or "Growth Track", depending on the stage your business. The "Launch Track" focuses earlier Founders and teams on validation and go-to-markets, while the "Growth Track" focuses teams with a live product and customers on traction and funding.

The below deliverables are in addition to any custom "Epic Sprints" you may receive based on your specific challenges, and below is a small sample of the deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Launch Track
  1. Progress - Outline your business ideas and any testing or progress made to date.
  2. Hotseat Pitch - Prepare a one minute verbal pitch for the weekly "Founder Hotseat", where you present to Mentors during the Feedback Sessions. Start with our one-sentence pitch template, and if you do not have a final idea yet, describe yourself and a field that you are passionate about and uniquely qualified to build a business around.
  3. Co-Founders - If you are looking for a Co-Founder, create a basic description of what you are looking for, and this will be shared with the rest of your cohort.
Growth track
  1. Program Goals - Outline the monthly objectives your team wants to achieve during the four month Core Program.
  2. Key Performance Indicators - Outline the KPIs that you are currently using to track success. Analyze the validity of these metrics, and create a plan to share updated metrics and progress with your Local Leaders every week in the program.
  3. Hotseat Pitch - Prepare a one minute verbal pitch for the weekly "Founder Hotseat", where you present to Mentors during the Feedback Sessions. Start with our one-sentence pitch template, followed by why your team is uniquely qualified to execute your business and the progress that you've made to date.
Sprints
Oct 05 06:00 pm week 1

Vision & Mission

In each weekly Feedback Session, Founders will pitch and outline their progress to the Mentors for feedback, and get tips and insights on the week's topic. This week you'll get tips on how to develop a strong vision for your business.

Date
Oct 05, 2023
Time
09:00pm EDT

Sprints

Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Launch Track
  1. Ideation - Catalogue the ideas that you are interested in pursuing, or examine different variations of the current business you are pursuing.
  2. Initial Interviews - Using our templates, interview at least 15 people that have knowledge of the customer problems or may be potential customers themselves.
  3. Market Research - Utilize our market research template to collect accurate and available market information on the customer problems you are analyzing.
Growth track
  1. Customer Interviews - Using our templates, interview at least 15 customers. If you already have done extensive customer development then outline your current findings and identify areas that require deeper understanding.
  2. Identify Unknowns - Document a detailed understanding of the main customer problem, and fill any required gaps in your customer knowledge.
  3. Visioneering - Describe what your business will look like when it has $100 million in annual revenues, including the vision, culture, and main revenue stream, and outline at least 5 steps that need to happen for your company to reach that goal.
Sprints
Oct 10 09:00 am week 1

(Bonus Session) Validate and Conduct Customer Research Ft. Luke Willoughby at Prolific

Date
Oct 10, 2023
Time
12:00pm EDT
Sprints
Oct 12 06:00 pm week 2

Customer Development Sprint

In this Feedback Session, Founders will present any customer development progress to the Mentors to examine if they are pursuing a scalable business with a clear and actionable customer problem. The Mentors will also provide tips on how to validate your key assumptions, interview potential customers effectively, and best interpret the feedback you receive.

Date
Oct 12, 2023
Time
09:00pm EDT

Sprints

Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Launch Track
  1. Customer Interviews - Develop a longer series of customer interview questions based on your initial interviews and key assumptions, with at least ten open-ended customer interview questions for each customer problem.
  2. Customer Archetype - Use our guidelines to develop or improve an initial customer archetype for your ideal target customer.
  3. Landing Pages - For each remaining customer problem, develop or improve a professional landing page targeted to your initial customer archetype, and quickly build up a mailing list to receive customer feedback.
Growth track
  1. Customer Archetype - Use our guidelines to create or update a detailed customer archetype of your target customer, based on either your existing customers or improved research.
  2. Revenue Interviews - Interview customers about the pricing of your revenue model, using three different revenue models/ pricing schemes. Confirm your existing model or select a new one based off these interviews.
  3. Interview Competitor Customers - Identify customers of competing products or solutions and encourage them to switch to your solution, ideally securing a letter of intent ("LOI"), or developing an ongoing relationship for feedback.
Sprints
Oct 13 12:00 pm week 2

Fast Track to Funding Lab and Post-Grad Support with Ryan Micheletti, Head of Operations at FI

After graduating the Core Accelerator, FI Alumni receive a plethora of post graduate support and continued education through free events and programs.

Join this session to learn about the post-graduate support resources, led by Ryan Micheletti, Head of Global Operations for FI.

Founder Institute Alumni Benefits
* Lifetime Support from Silicon Valley Based Alumni Success Team: http://fi.co/scale
* Access to FI Venture Network: http://fi.co/venture
* Free Fundraising Accelerator for Alumni: http://fi.co/fundinglab
* Largest Mentor Network in the World: http://fi.co/mentors
* Access the Global Network: http://fi.co/global
* $2mm+ in Partner Perks like AWS, Google Cloud: http://fi.co/partners
* FIHQ Marketing will syndicate your content and promote your news through FI's Social Channels or newsletters.

Date
Oct 13, 2023
Time
03:00pm EDT
Sprints
Oct 19

Refund Deadline
Oct 19 06:00 pm week 3

Revenue & Business Models

In this Feedback Session, Founders will share their pitch and revenue model with Mentors for feedback and continued refinement. You will also get tips on how to sustain your startup before receiving financing or revenue, identifying the most lucrative revenue source for your business, testing different revenue sources with your target customers, and more.

Date
Oct 19, 2023
Time
09:00pm EDT

Sprints

Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Launch Track
  1. Customer Problem - Based on your research, select one customer problem to pursue in the program that has the greatest chance to generate significant revenue.
  2. Revenue Models - Narrow down that problem to three potential revenue models, and thoroughly analyze the positives and negatives of each model.
  3. Professional Pitch Deck - Use our templates to develop a professional three minute long pitch deck, based on the feedback, concepts and flow that have resonated from your Hotseat pitches.
Growth track
  1. Expert Interviews - Speak with three financial people who have experience in a similar industry to your customer problem, and get their insights and opinion on the scalability of your revenue model.
  2. Key Performance Indicators - Based on your research thus far, identify the final key metrics that will impact your ability to secure revenue (and funding). Discuss these with your Local Leaders, and finalize a tracking system for these metrics.
  3. Product Development - Refactor your plans to prioritize the release of a solution that will generate initial customer revenue and validate your riskiest assumptions.
Sprints
Oct 26 06:00 pm week 4

Pitch Mastery

An entrepreneur never stops pitching, so this session focuses 100% on helping you build a great pitch. First, the mentors will share the latest best practices for pitching your startup - whether the pitch is for investors, team members, customers, partners, or otherwise. Then, you'll share your most recent pitch and receive constructive feedback on how to improve.

Date
Oct 26, 2023
Time
09:00pm EDT

Sprints

Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Launch Track
  1. Choose a Pitch Narrative - The best fundraisers craft a story about where the world is headed, and why their business will benefit. Review other similar company pitches, and then utilize our guidelines to pick the right narrative pitch structure for you.
  2. Build your Pitch Script - Practice makes perfect, especially with an early version of your pitch. The average 3 minute pitch consists of 450 words at normal talking speed. Create the written version of your script and get feedback from your peers.
  3. Idea Review Pitch Deck - Finalize your 3-minute pitch deck for the Mentor Idea Review, using our templates and guidelines. Practice the pitch at least five times with your peers, and revise it based on feedback. Upload a final video on the deliverables page.
Growth track
  1. Expand Your Customer List - Consolidate the data from your interviews to expand your customer list, and get into the habit of having at a minimum 5 Customer Interviews on a weekly basis to get feedback on your problem, on your revenue model, solution, and pitch.
  2. Close Sales - Follow-up on your previous sales activities, and measure the time allocated, conversion rates, financial spending and other metrics for each activity. Your goal is to convert new sales and/or show quantifiable traction before the Mentor Idea Review.
  3. Idea Review Pitch Deck - Finalize your 3-minute pitch deck for the Mentor Idea Review, using our templates and guidelines. Practice the pitch at least five times with your peers, and revise it based on feedback. Upload a final video on the deliverables page.
Sprints
Nov 09 06:00 pm week 6

Mentor Idea Review

This is the first big checkpoint in the program to determine your progress. During the Mentor Idea Review, you will present a longer presentation to a panel of FI Mentors for extensive review. You will receive a rating, as well as feedback on the long-term viability of your offering, revenue model, growth strategy, and more.

Date
Nov 09, 2023
Time
09:00pm EST

Sprints

After the Mentor Idea Review, Founders receive a larger number of custom "Epic Sprints" with deliverables based on their specific challenges. Below are examples of some of the standard deliverables.

Deliverables

Launch Track
  1. Corporate Materials - Immediately update your 3 minute pitch deck and video based on the Mentor Idea Review feedback, and develop a new and updated Executive Summary using our template.
  2. Advisor Candidates - You will create (or fill out) an Advisory Board in the next 5 weeks, so develop a target list of new advisor candidates based off your identified needs and gaps in knowledge/ connections.
  3. Advisor Outreach - Leverage the FI network to get introductions to your targets where necessary, and follow our templated process to make progress on your advisory board.
Growth track
  1. Sales Follow-up - Continue to work on securing sales or commitments for revenue, growing the rate month over month. For B2B solutions, get as many contracts or letters of intent as possible. For B2C solutions, aggressively increase your revenue (or submitted information indicating they will pay you). Document all lessons learned.
  2. Financial Model - Develop or professionalize your financial model based on our template that focuses on expenses ("burn") to understand your cash needs. Develop a revenue forecast for 12-18 months and factor in timing considerations from your sales follow-up work.
  3. Legal - Identify your short to medium term legal needs, and if you don't already have a law firm, identify at least two local law candidates that have experience working with startups. Begin vetting new or existing law firms using our guidelines.
Sprints
Nov 14 09:00 am week 6

SV MIR Repitch

Date
Nov 14, 2023
Time
12:00pm EST
Sprints
Nov 16 06:00 pm week 7

Accounting

Date
Nov 16, 2023
Time
09:00pm EST
Sprints
Nov 30 06:00 pm week 9

Legal & Equity

In this Feedback Session, startup lawyers and CEOs will explain various legal agreements, startup legal components (such as equity), cap tables, how to protect intellectual property, the best practices for managing a law firm, and more. As usual, Mentors will also provide Founders with ratings and feedback on their startup pitch and progress.

Date
Nov 30, 2023
Time
09:00pm EST

Sprints

Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Launch Track
  1. Legal Review - Review our Legal Guide to fully understand all critical startup legal components, including granting equity, vesting equity, granting options, issuing common stock versus preferred stock, and more. If any of your existing legal structure is in conflict with these best practices, then create a plan for resolution.
  2. Capitalization Table - Develop or improve your capitalization table ("Cap Table") that shows the ownership structure of the business, using our template and guidelines.
  3. Finalize Co-Founder Legal (if any) - Create a list of any co-founders, co-founder candidates or founding Team Members that you have for your Founder Institute company, and begin the next steps in formalizing the relationship.
Growth track
  1. Law Firm Engagement - If you don't already have a law firm, meet with your law firm candidates and sign an "engagement letter" with your chosen firm.
  2. Corporate Formation Agreements - If you don't already have a suitable corporation, secure all of your corporate formation agreements which govern how the business conducts itself.
  3. Equity Collective - Prepare to join the Equity Collective, and send your law firm the necessary agreements and request their help to properly fill out the required fields.
Sprints
Dec 07 06:00 pm week 10

Go-to-Market & Scale

In this Feedback Session, Mentors will provide Founders with feedback on their current go-to-market plans and progress, and cover topics like marketing messaging, unit economics, customer acquisition, and more.

Date
Dec 07, 2023
Time
09:00pm EST

Sprints

Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Launch Track
  1. Alternatives - Identify two alternative models (markets or "pivots") for your go-to-market solution to discover the most lucrative market opportunity. Interview at least 2 customers for each alternative.
  2. Advisor Follow-Up - In the next Step you will finalize advisors, so begin finalization meetings with your top candidates, and set up test Advisor Test Projects where necessary following our templates.
  3. Test Marketing Messaging - Write at least three separate marketing messages for your solution, and A/B test them using landing pages with at least 100 engagements each.
Growth track
  1. Customer Acquisition Channels - Identify at least five initial or new major marketing channels to acquire customers that are appropriate for your solution.
  2. Conversion Rate - Begin testing at least three of your new customer acquisition channels, pushing as much traffic through them as possible to evaluate their comparative conversion rates.
  3. Unit Economics - Research any data on the standard Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC) and standard Lifetime Value (LTV) for your industry and segment, and compare and analyze against the metrics you have collected thus far.
Sprints