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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 the Accelerator Kickoff, you will meet the Local Leaders and your cohort of Founders, 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 "Validate Track", "Launch Track" or "Growth Track", depending on each Founder's stage and existing progress.

The below deliverables are in addition to any custom "Epic Sprints" you may receive based on your specific challenges, and are just high-level previews of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Validate Track
  1. Introductions - Prepare concise introductions on your background, skillset, and goals in FI to share with the cohort.
  2. Office Hours - Book your first Office Hours with Local Leaders and Mentors to get guidance on the next steps for your business.
Launch Track
  1. Office Hours - Book your first Office Hours with Local Leaders and Mentors to get guidance on the next steps for your business.
  2. Hotseat Pitch - Prepare a one sentence verbal pitch for the weekly "Founder Hotseat", where you present to Mentors during the Feedback Sessions.
Traction track
  1. Hotseat Pitch - Book your first Office Hours with Local Leaders and Mentors to get guidance on the next steps for your business.
  2. Vision Statement - Create a 3-5 sentence "Why Statement" that tells a cohesive story about why your company exists, in preparation for Mentor Feedback during the next session.
Sprints
Oct 05 06:00 pm week 1

Vision & Mission

In each weekly Feedback Session, Founders will pitch and outline their strategies/ progress to the Mentors for feedback, get tips and insights on the week's topic, and have multiple opportunities to ask questions. 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 high-level previews of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Validate Track
  1. Education - Undergo a crash-course in popular startup and venture capital methodologies, metrics, and terms/ lingo.
  2. Tracking - Research and start tracking the communities surrounding your local and vertical startup ecosystems.
Launch Track
  1. Market Research - Utilize our market research template to collect accurate and available market information on the customer problems you are analyzing.
  2. Personas - Build an initial Buyer Persona to better understand your target customer's needs, challenges, and buying process.
Traction 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.
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

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 high-level previews of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Validate Track
  1. Market Research - Utilize our market research template to collect accurate and available market information on the customer problems you are analyzing.
  2. Competitive Analysis - 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.
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. Revenue Modeling - 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.
Traction 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.
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 high-level previews of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables

Validate Track
  1. One 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. Founder-Product Fit - Assess which of your current ideas align best with your unique capabilities and passions.
Launch Track
  1. Revenue Models - Narrow down that problem to three potential revenue models, and thoroughly analyze the positives and negatives of each model.
  2. 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.
Traction 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.
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 high-level previews of the 10-15 deliverables you'll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Deliverables