Program Schedule

Welcome to the Founder Institute Seattle Spring 2026 cohort! This is your first session — Reality Mapping + AI-First Program Orientation. In this session, you will meet your Local Leaders and fellow cohort founders, establish expectations for the 13-week program, and begin grounding your startup in reality. We will introduce the AI-first building approach that runs through the entire program and help you map where your startup actually stands today — not where you hope it is. What to expect: - Introductions and cohort norms - Program structure, milestones, and accountability framework - Reality Mapping exercise: assess your startup's current state honestly - AI-First orientation: how to leverage AI tools throughout the program - Setting your first weekly commitments Questions to bring: - What is the single biggest assumption my startup depends on right now? - Where am I spending time that is not moving my startup forward? - What does "progress" look like for me over the next 13 weeks? - What resources or connections do I need most right now? Come ready to be honest about where you are. The founders who get the most out of this program are the ones who start from reality, not aspiration.

This week's session focuses on Vision & Mission — the foundation everything else in your startup is built on. You will craft a one-sentence pitch that captures what your company does, who it serves, and why it matters, then pressure-test it using AI validation tools. A clear, compelling vision is not a nice-to-have — it is the filter for every decision you will make as a founder. If you cannot articulate it simply, neither can your customers, your team, or your investors. What to expect: - One-Sentence Pitch workshop: craft and refine your elevator pitch live - AI Validation exercise: use AI tools to stress-test your pitch for clarity, differentiation, and market resonance - Peer feedback rounds: hear how your pitch lands with other founders - Vision vs. mission distinction: understand the difference and why both matter at this stage Questions to bring: - Can I explain what my company does in one sentence that a stranger would understand? - What is the core problem I am solving, and for whom specifically? - How is my approach meaningfully different from what already exists? - If I had to choose one metric to prove my vision is working, what would it be? Preparation: Before this session, write down your current one-sentence pitch. Even if it is rough, bring something to work with. You will iterate on it live.

Is the thing I believe I'm building the right thing to build?

This is a Feedback Session where founders present their customer development progress to mentors. You'll share what you've learned from your customer discovery interviews — the patterns, surprises, and pivots — and get direct mentor feedback on whether you're pursuing a scalable business with a clear and actionable customer problem. Mentors will help you validate your key assumptions, sharpen your interview technique, and interpret the feedback you've received so far. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to present customer discovery findings clearly and concisely - Whether your problem hypothesis is validated by real customer evidence - How to distinguish actionable feedback from noise - Next steps for deepening customer relationships and moving toward commitment QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What are the top 3 patterns you've seen across your customer interviews? - Which of your initial assumptions have been validated or invalidated? - What's the strongest signal you've found that someone would pay for your solution? - Where are you getting stuck in conversations — and what's your plan to get unstuck? WHO THIS IS FOR: All founders — this is a core FI Anchor Session. Come prepared to present your customer development progress. FORMAT: 60-minute feedback session. Bring your interview notes, key quotes, and any data you've collected. Be ready to present and receive mentor feedback.

CORE QUESTION: What does real customer insight feel like vs. polite agreement? You've done your first round of customer discovery interviews. Some conversations felt great — people nodded, said "that's interesting," maybe even said "I'd use that." But how many of those responses were genuine signal vs. social politeness? This session is about learning to tell the difference. A seasoned founder who conducted 50+ customer conversations will share what real insight actually looks like — the uncomfortable moments, the surprising pivots, and the patterns that only emerge when you stop hearing what you want to hear. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to distinguish genuine customer pain from polite encouragement - The specific signals that indicate real demand vs. social agreement - How to structure follow-up conversations that cut through politeness - When to trust your interview data and when to dig deeper QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What patterns are you seeing across your customer interviews so far? - Which pieces of feedback have you acted on, and which have you ignored? Why? - Can you identify one conversation where you think you got polite agreement instead of truth? - What's the hardest question you're avoiding asking your potential customers? WHO THIS IS FOR: All founders — this is a core mentor talk. Especially relevant if you've completed your Week 1 customer discovery interviews. FORMAT: 60-minute core mentor talk. Bring your interview notes and be ready to share what you're hearing.

CORE QUESTION: How do I move a B2B conversation from discovery to specific commitment without losing the deal? You've had the discovery calls. You've identified the pain. But how do you actually move from "that's interesting" to "let's do this" — without being pushy, losing trust, or letting the deal drift into silence? This session tackles the hardest transition in early-stage B2B sales. A founder who has navigated this transition repeatedly will share exactly how they structure the conversation, when to ask for commitment, and what "commitment" actually looks like at different stages. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to structure a sales conversation that naturally leads to commitment - The difference between interest, intent, and commitment — and how to test for each - Specific language and frameworks for asking for the next step - How to handle objections without derailing the relationship QUESTIONS TO BRING: - Where in your sales conversations do deals tend to stall or go quiet? - What's your current ask at the end of a discovery call — and is it working? - Have you lost a deal you thought was going well? What happened? - What does "commitment" look like for your product at this stage — a pilot, a letter of intent, a payment? WHO THIS IS FOR: All founders — this is a core mentor talk. Especially relevant if you're actively in B2B sales conversations. FORMAT: 60-minute core mentor talk. Bring your sales pipeline notes and be ready to share where you're getting stuck.

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.

This is the session where your customer development work becomes your fundraising story. Most founders treat pitching as a separate skill from selling — but the best investor narratives are built directly from real sales conversations, customer evidence, and market signals you've already gathered. In Weeks 2–3 you ran customer interviews and had your first sales conversations. This session teaches you to translate that raw evidence into a compelling investor pitch — not by learning "pitch frameworks" in the abstract, but by constructing your narrative from the specific proof points you've collected. NOTE: Completion of Weeks 2–3 (Customer Development and First Sales Conversation sessions) is required for this session. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to build a pitch narrative directly from customer interview data and sales conversations - The difference between a "story pitch" and an "evidence pitch" — and why investors respond to the latter - How to structure your ask around traction signals rather than projections - Techniques for handling investor objections using real customer evidence - How to present unit economics and market sizing grounded in actual data QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What's the strongest signal from your customer conversations that proves demand? - What objection have you heard most from potential customers — and how did you address it? - What's the one number from your sales process that would make an investor lean in? - Where are the gaps in your evidence that an investor will probe? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders. This is a required FI Anchor Session building on your Weeks 2–3 customer development and sales work. FORMAT: 60-minute working session. You'll workshop your pitch narrative using real evidence from your customer development work. Bring your interview notes and sales conversation summaries.

CORE QUESTION: What does my pitch signal about me as a founder beyond the content? Your pitch says more than your words do. Investors, mentors, and potential partners are reading your body language, your confidence level, your ability to handle questions, and how deeply you understand your own business. Most founders never get honest feedback on these signals. This is a live, hot-format pitch teardown. Founders volunteer to pitch, and experienced mentors provide real-time, candid feedback on what works, what doesn't, and what the pitch communicates beyond the slides. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - What your pitch unconsciously communicates about your confidence and readiness - How to identify and fix the gap between what you say and what investors hear - Common body language and delivery mistakes that undermine strong content - How to handle tough questions without losing composure - What makes a pitch memorable vs. forgettable QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What's the one thing you most want feedback on in your pitch? - What question from an investor would throw you off the most? - If you could only keep 2 slides, which would they be and why? WHO THIS IS FOR: Any cohort founder willing to pitch live and receive candid feedback. Even if you don't pitch, watching the teardowns is one of the highest-value learning experiences in the program. FORMAT: 60-minute optional mentor talk. Live volunteer pitches with real-time mentor feedback. Come ready to pitch or learn from others who do.

CORE QUESTION: Is my idea strong enough to survive honest scrutiny from experienced operators? This is one of the defining sessions of the program. You will present your startup idea to a panel of mentors — experienced founders, operators, and investors — and receive real-time feedback. This is not a pitch competition. It is a structured pressure test designed to surface blind spots, validate assumptions, and sharpen your thinking before you invest more time and resources. Expect direct questions. Expect contradictory advice. The goal is not to "win" the panel — it is to learn what you cannot see on your own. The founders who get the most out of this session are the ones who prepare specific questions, listen for patterns across feedback, and resist the urge to defend instead of absorb. After the panel, you will receive your Epic Sprint assignment — a focused execution challenge designed to turn panel feedback into measurable progress over the next two weeks. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How experienced operators evaluate early-stage ideas in real time - Which assumptions in your business are weakest and need immediate testing - How to distinguish between subjective mentor preferences and genuine market signals - What your Epic Sprint focus should be based on panel feedback QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What is the single biggest risk in my business right now? - What part of my plan am I least confident about? - If I could only validate one thing in the next two weeks, what should it be? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders. This is a required anchor session and one of the highest-value experiences in the program. FORMAT: 60-minute anchor session (Office Hours, 12:00 PM). Structured mentor panels with real-time feedback, followed by Epic Sprint assignment.

CORE QUESTION: How do I process conflicting mentor advice without being derailed? Mentor panels are one of the most valuable — and most disorienting — parts of the accelerator. You will hear contradictory advice from experienced operators who are all trying to help. Some will love your idea. Others will challenge your entire premise. The skill is not in picking the "right" mentor — it is in learning how to extract signal from noise, hold your conviction where it matters, and adapt where the evidence demands it. This pre-panel session is designed to prepare you for the Mentor Idea Review. A founder who has been through the process shares what actually happened — the advice that helped, the advice that almost derailed them, and how they learned to tell the difference. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to listen for patterns across conflicting mentor feedback - When to hold your ground and when to pivot based on mentor input - How to extract actionable insight from advice that feels contradictory - The difference between mentor opinions and market evidence - How to prepare so you get the most out of your panel QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What part of my business am I most defensive about — and why? - If three mentors disagree on my strategy, how will I decide what to do? - What specific questions do I want answered by my panel? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders preparing for the Mentor Idea Review Panel. This session is especially valuable if you have never presented to a panel of experienced operators before. FORMAT: 60-minute core mentor talk. One founder shares their real mentor panel experience, followed by Q&A and preparation strategies for your upcoming panel.

CORE QUESTION: What legal and equity decisions do I need to get right now — and what can wait? Most founders either over-invest in legal work too early or ignore it until a deal falls apart. This session covers the legal and equity essentials that matter at the pre-seed stage: how cap tables actually work, what IP protection looks like in practice, and which agreements you need in place before bringing on co-founders, advisors, or investors. You will learn the difference between decisions that are easy to fix later and decisions that create permanent structural problems. The goal is not to make you a legal expert — it is to give you enough fluency to make informed decisions, ask the right questions, and avoid the mistakes that cost founders equity, time, and relationships. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How cap tables work and the most common mistakes founders make with equity allocation - What IP assignment and protection looks like at the earliest stages - Which legal agreements you need now (operating agreements, CIIAAs, advisor agreements) vs. later - How SAFEs, convertible notes, and priced rounds differ — and when each makes sense - The equity conversations you need to have with co-founders before they become conflicts QUESTIONS TO BRING: - Have I assigned IP to the company yet — and does it matter at my stage? - How should I think about splitting equity with a co-founder or early contributor? - What legal work is truly urgent vs. what am I being told is urgent by people selling legal services? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders. This is a required anchor session essential for anyone planning to raise capital, add co-founders, or bring on advisors. FORMAT: 60-minute anchor session (Office Hours, 12:00 PM). Structured instruction on legal and equity fundamentals with real-world examples and Q&A.

CORE QUESTION: Which early equity decisions are hardest to fix? Equity is the most expensive currency a founder has — and the decisions you make about it in the first year are often the ones you live with for the life of the company. Giving too much equity too early, structuring agreements without vesting, or making handshake deals with co-founders are mistakes that compound over time and become exponentially harder to fix. In this session, a founder shares the equity decision they cannot undo — what they gave away, why it seemed right at the time, and what they would do differently with the benefit of hindsight. This is not a theoretical legal session. It is a real story about the human dynamics of equity: the conversations that feel awkward, the assumptions that go unspoken, and the structural decisions that seem small but determine who controls the company. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - Which equity decisions are truly irreversible vs. which can be renegotiated - How vesting schedules protect founders and why skipping them is dangerous - The real cost of advisor shares, friend-and-family equity, and early employee grants - How to have honest equity conversations before they become conflicts - What a clean cap table looks like and why investors care QUESTIONS TO BRING: - Have I made any equity commitments — formal or informal — that I have not documented? - If my co-founder and I split today, what would happen to the equity? - What is the minimum equity I need to retain to maintain control through a Series A? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders, especially those with co-founders, early advisors, or anyone considering equity splits. FORMAT: 60-minute core mentor talk. One founder shares their real equity story, followed by structured Q&A on cap table decisions, vesting, and early equity mistakes.

CORE QUESTION: What legal work can safely wait until later? Every startup attorney has a list of things founders should do — and most of those lists are too long for a company with no revenue and no funding. The challenge is knowing which legal tasks are genuinely urgent, which are important but can wait, and which are being sold to you by people who benefit from your urgency. In this session, an attorney who works with pre-seed founders shares their honest priority list — what actually matters at your stage, what can safely wait until you raise or hit revenue milestones, and what founders waste money on that provides no real protection. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - The attorney's honest priority list for pre-seed startups: what to do now vs. what can wait - Which legal protections are essential before your first hire, co-founder agreement, or investor conversation - How to avoid overspending on legal work that provides minimal protection at your stage - When to use templates vs. when to pay for custom legal work - How to find and evaluate attorneys who understand early-stage economics QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What legal work have I already done — and was it the right priority? - Am I spending money on legal protection I do not need yet? - What is the one legal task I have been avoiding that I actually need to do? WHO THIS IS FOR: Any cohort founder navigating legal decisions at the pre-seed stage. Pairs well with the Legal & Equity anchor session. FORMAT: 60-minute optional mentor talk. An attorney shares their pre-seed priority framework, followed by Q&A on legal strategy and cost management.

CORE QUESTION: How do I get my product to market in a way that is repeatable, measurable, and scalable? Having a great product is not enough. Most startups fail not because the product is bad but because the go-to-market strategy is unclear, untested, or unsustainable. This session covers the three pillars of GTM at the pre-seed stage: messaging that resonates with a specific buyer, unit economics that prove the business can scale, and channel selection based on where your customers actually are — not where you hope they are. You will work through frameworks for crafting positioning that differentiates, calculating whether your acquisition costs make sense, and identifying the one or two channels worth investing in before you have a marketing budget. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to craft positioning and messaging that speaks directly to your target buyer - Unit economics fundamentals: CAC, LTV, payback period, and why they matter now - How to identify and test go-to-market channels with minimal spend - The difference between channels that feel productive and channels that actually convert - When to go narrow (one channel, one segment) vs. when to expand QUESTIONS TO BRING: - Can I describe my ideal customer and their buying process in two sentences? - What is my current cost to acquire one paying customer — and is that sustainable? - Which channel has produced my best results so far, and can it scale? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders. This is a required anchor session critical for anyone preparing to launch, scale, or raise capital. FORMAT: 60-minute anchor session (Office Hours, 12:00 PM). Structured instruction on go-to-market strategy with frameworks, examples, and Q&A.

CORE QUESTION: What did the customer acquisition process look like before product-market fit? Every successful company has a story about their first hundred customers — and it almost never looks like the polished case study you read later. The first customers are found through hustle, personal networks, cold outreach, manual onboarding, and doing things that do not scale. Understanding what this process actually looks like is essential for any founder still in the early stages of customer acquisition. In this session, a founder walks through exactly how they acquired their first hundred customers — the channels that worked, the ones that did not, the metrics they tracked, and the moments they almost gave up. This is a tactical, honest account of early-stage customer acquisition designed to give you a realistic roadmap for your own first hundred. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - What the first 10, 50, and 100 customer milestones actually looked like for a real startup - Which acquisition channels worked at each stage and why they changed over time - How to tell the difference between early traction and noise - The manual, unscalable things founders do to get their first customers - When to start investing in scalable acquisition vs. continuing to do things by hand QUESTIONS TO BRING: - How did I get my last 5 customers — and can I repeat that process 20 more times? - What is the single biggest bottleneck in my current acquisition process? - Am I spending time on channels because they are working or because they are comfortable? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders, especially those with fewer than 50 customers or still searching for repeatable acquisition. FORMAT: 60-minute core mentor talk. One founder shares their detailed customer acquisition journey, followed by Q&A focused on practical early-stage tactics.

CORE QUESTION: Can content or building in public actually drive customer acquisition? Most founders hear they should "create content" or "build in public" but have no idea whether it actually works at their stage — or whether it is just a distraction from the real work of selling. The truth is that content can be a powerful acquisition channel, but only if it is done with intention, consistency, and a clear connection to business outcomes. In this session, a founder shares the specific content bet they made — what they created, where they published it, how long it took to see results, and what they would skip if they did it again. This is not a social media strategy session. It is an honest account of whether investing time in content actually moved the needle on customers, revenue, or fundraising. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - What "building in public" actually looks like in practice and whether it drives results - How to evaluate whether content is the right acquisition channel for your business - The difference between content that builds an audience and content that drives revenue - How long content takes to produce results and what to measure along the way - When content is a distraction and when it is a legitimate competitive advantage QUESTIONS TO BRING: - Is my target customer someone who discovers products through content? - Do I have something genuinely useful or interesting to share — or am I just creating noise? - What would I measure to know whether content is working for my business? WHO THIS IS FOR: Any cohort founder considering content marketing, building in public, or thought leadership as part of their go-to-market strategy. FORMAT: 60-minute optional mentor talk. One founder shares their content journey with specific metrics, followed by Q&A on content strategy for early-stage startups.

CORE QUESTION: How do I make smart product decisions when I have limited resources and no product team? At the pre-seed stage, every feature you build is a bet — and most founders build too much, too early, without enough evidence. This session covers the fundamentals of product development for early-stage founders: how to create a roadmap that is driven by customer evidence rather than assumptions, how to prioritize ruthlessly, and how to apply product management best practices even when you are the entire product team. You will learn frameworks for deciding what to build next, how to structure development sprints, and how to avoid the most common product mistakes founders make in the first year. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to build a product roadmap grounded in customer evidence and business goals - Prioritization frameworks that work when everything feels urgent - The MVP trap: how to scope a first version that is small enough to ship but valuable enough to learn from - Product management basics for founders who are also the PM, designer, and sometimes the developer - How to work with contractors, agencies, or AI tools to build product without a full-time team QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What is the smallest thing I could build that would test my most important assumption? - How do I decide between the features my customers are asking for and the ones I think they need? - Am I building based on evidence or based on what I find technically interesting? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders. This is a required anchor session essential for anyone actively building product. FORMAT: 60-minute anchor session (Office Hours, 12:00 PM). Structured instruction on product development with frameworks, real-world examples, and Q&A.

CORE QUESTION: How do I make build decisions under severe resource constraint? At the pre-seed stage, you will always have more ideas than capacity. The skill that separates founders who ship from founders who stall is not what they build — it is what they choose NOT to build. Every feature you add, every integration you pursue, every "nice to have" you include is time and energy taken from the thing that matters most. In this session, a founder shares what they deleted — features they cut, products they killed, and entire directions they abandoned. They explain how they made those decisions, what it felt like to throw away work they had invested in, and how cutting ruthlessly turned out to be the single most important product decision they made. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to evaluate what to build vs. what to cut when everything feels important - The sunk cost trap and how to recognize when you are keeping something because you built it, not because it matters - Frameworks for ruthless prioritization under resource constraints - How to communicate scope cuts to users, team members, and investors without losing confidence - What "minimum viable" actually means in practice — and why most MVPs are not minimum enough QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What feature or initiative am I keeping alive that I know does not matter? - If I could only ship one thing in the next 30 days, what would it be? - Am I building what customers need or what I want to build? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders, especially those actively building product and struggling with scope decisions. FORMAT: 60-minute core mentor talk. One founder shares their deletion story with specific examples, followed by Q&A on prioritization and scope management.

CORE QUESTION: Am I ready to raise — and what do investors need to see from me? This is the second major panel of the program. You will present your progress — traction metrics, business model evolution, and scalability evidence — to a panel that includes active investors and experienced operators. Unlike the Mentor Idea Review, this panel evaluates execution and momentum, not just the idea. The feedback you receive here will directly inform whether you are ready to start fundraising conversations, what gaps investors will notice, and what you need to strengthen in the final weeks of the program. Founders who prepare specific metrics, honest assessments of their progress, and clear questions for the panel get the most value from this session. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How investors evaluate traction at the pre-seed stage and what counts as meaningful progress - Whether your business model and unit economics story is compelling enough for a raise - What scalability means to investors and how to demonstrate it before you have scale - Specific gaps in your fundraising readiness and how to address them in the remaining program weeks QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What is the strongest evidence I have that this business can scale? - If an investor asked me for my three most important metrics, what would I show them? - What is the honest answer to "why now" for my business? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders. This is a required anchor session and a critical checkpoint before the fundraising and graduation phases. FORMAT: 60-minute anchor session (Office Hours, 12:00 PM). Structured investor-style panel with real-time feedback on traction, scalability, and fundraise readiness.

CORE QUESTION: What does fundraising really look like at my stage in this market? Fundraising advice is everywhere, but most of it is written for companies that are further along than you are. At the pre-seed stage, the process looks different — smaller checks, different investor expectations, and a much greater emphasis on the founder's story and traction signals over polished metrics. This pre-panel session prepares you for the Investor Progress Review by giving you an honest picture of what fundraising actually looks like right now. A founder who has recently closed a round shares the full story — how many conversations it took, what investors actually asked, what almost killed the deal, and what they wish they had known before they started. This is not fundraising theory. It is a specific, detailed account of one founder's capital raise. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - What the fundraising process looks like from first conversation to closed round - How many meetings, follow-ups, and rejections to realistically expect - What investors at the pre-seed and seed stage are actually evaluating - How to build momentum in a raise and avoid common stalling patterns - What to prepare before your Investor Progress Review panel QUESTIONS TO BRING: - Am I ready to fundraise — or am I raising because I think I should be? - What traction signals do I have that would be compelling to an investor today? - What is the one question an investor could ask that I cannot answer well yet? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders preparing for the Investor Progress Review Panel. Essential context for anyone considering fundraising in the next 6 months. FORMAT: 60-minute core mentor talk. One founder shares their fundraising journey in detail, followed by Q&A and panel preparation strategies.

CORE QUESTION: How do I build a team when I cannot afford to get the people decisions wrong? The team you build in the first year determines the trajectory of your company more than almost any other decision. Whether you are navigating a co-founder relationship, making your first hire, or trying to attract talent before you can pay market rate, the stakes are high and the margin for error is thin. This session covers the human side of team building at the earliest stage: how to define roles before you have job descriptions, how to evaluate whether you need a co-founder, how to hire when you have no budget, and how to retain people when equity is your primary currency. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to evaluate whether you need a co-founder and what to look for if you do - Role definition at the founding stage — who does what when everyone does everything - How to make your first hire without a recruiting budget or employer brand - Retention strategies that work when you cannot compete on salary - The co-founder conversations you need to have early to prevent conflicts later QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What is the most critical skill gap on my team right now? - If I am a solo founder, do I actually need a co-founder — or do I need a key hire? - What would I do if my co-founder or key team member left tomorrow? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders. This is a required anchor session particularly relevant for solo founders considering co-founders and teams preparing for first hires. FORMAT: 60-minute anchor session (Office Hours, 12:00 PM). Structured instruction on team building with frameworks, case studies, and Q&A.

CORE QUESTION: What warning signs will I rationalize past when making my first hire? Your first hire will be one of the most consequential decisions you make as a founder — and one of the easiest to get wrong. When you are desperate for help, exhausted from doing everything yourself, and excited about someone who seems willing to join, it is remarkably easy to ignore red flags. The cost of a bad early hire is not just the salary — it is the months of lost momentum, the culture damage, and the emotional toll of a separation. In this session, a founder shares the hire they regret — who they brought on, why it seemed right, what they missed, and what the real cost turned out to be. This is a candid conversation about the human side of hiring at a stage when you cannot afford mistakes. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - The most common hiring mistakes founders make in the first year - Red flags that are easy to rationalize when you are desperate for help - How to evaluate culture fit, skill fit, and stage fit simultaneously - The real cost of a bad hire beyond salary — time, culture, and founder energy - How to structure early roles, set expectations, and create clean exit paths QUESTIONS TO BRING: - Am I hiring because I need this specific skill — or because I am overwhelmed? - What would a 90-day success criteria look like for my next hire? - Have I been honest about what working at my company actually looks like right now? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders, especially those considering their first hire or currently working with early team members. FORMAT: 60-minute core mentor talk. One founder shares their hiring mistake in detail, followed by Q&A on early-stage hiring, evaluation, and team dynamics.

CORE QUESTION: What can I honestly offer a talented person to join a company with no money? Every early-stage founder faces the same paradox: you need great people to build the company, but you cannot afford to pay them what they are worth. The conventional answer is equity, but equity alone is rarely enough — and poorly structured equity offers can create more problems than they solve. In this session, a founder shares how they attracted talented people before they could pay market rate — what they offered, how they pitched the opportunity, what worked, and what backfired. This is a practical conversation about the creative and honest ways to build a team when your primary assets are vision, equity, and the quality of the work itself. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - What talented people actually value when evaluating an early-stage opportunity - How to pitch your startup as a career opportunity when you cannot compete on salary - Creative compensation structures beyond equity: advisory roles, project-based work, milestone-based pay - How to be honest about risk without scaring away the people you want - When to use contractors, advisors, and part-time arrangements vs. full-time hires QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What is the honest pitch for joining my company right now? - Am I asking someone to take a bet — and have I clearly explained what that bet looks like? - What non-financial value can I offer that a larger company cannot? WHO THIS IS FOR: Any cohort founder looking to bring on team members, advisors, or contractors without a hiring budget. FORMAT: 60-minute optional mentor talk. One founder shares their talent attraction story, followed by Q&A on creative hiring and team building at the pre-seed stage.

CORE QUESTION: How do I keep an enterprise or institutional deal alive over a 6-18 month sales cycle without a sales team? If you are selling to enterprises, institutions, or government, your sales cycle will be measured in months — sometimes more than a year. The challenge is not just getting the first meeting. It is maintaining momentum through procurement processes, stakeholder changes, budget cycles, and the inevitable periods of silence where you have no idea if the deal is alive or dead. In this session, a founder shares the deal that took 14 months to close — every stage, every setback, every moment they almost gave up, and the specific tactics they used to keep it moving. This is a tactical deep-dive into long-cycle B2B sales for founders who do not have a sales team. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - What a 6-18 month enterprise sales cycle actually looks like from the founder's seat - How to maintain deal momentum through procurement, legal review, and budget cycles - Tactics for staying top-of-mind without being annoying - How to manage your own psychology during a long sales cycle - When a deal is actually dead vs. when it is just slow QUESTIONS TO BRING: - Do I have any deals in progress that I have let go quiet — and should I re-engage? - How do I plan my cash flow around deals that may not close for 6+ months? - What is my follow-up cadence and is it working? WHO THIS IS FOR: Any cohort founder selling to enterprises, institutions, or large organizations with complex procurement processes. FORMAT: 60-minute optional mentor talk (12:00 PM). One founder walks through a real long-cycle deal from first contact to close, followed by tactical Q&A.

CORE QUESTION: How do I build a growth engine that is measurable, repeatable, and scalable? Growth is not just getting more customers — it is building a system that reliably turns inputs (time, money, effort) into outputs (users, revenue, brand equity) at a rate that improves over time. At the pre-seed stage, most founders are still figuring out what growth even looks like for their business. This session covers the fundamentals: which metrics actually matter, how branding compounds over time, and how to identify and invest in scalable acquisition channels. You will learn frameworks for measuring growth honestly, building a brand that supports acquisition, and distinguishing between activity that feels like progress and activity that actually moves the business forward. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - Which growth metrics matter at the pre-seed stage and how to track them - How branding works as a growth lever and when to invest in it - The difference between scalable and non-scalable acquisition channels - How to build a growth model that connects inputs to outputs - Common growth traps: vanity metrics, premature scaling, and channel addiction QUESTIONS TO BRING: - What are my three most important growth metrics right now — and are they improving? - Do I have a brand or just a logo? What do people say about my company when I am not in the room? - Which of my current growth activities would break if I stopped doing them personally? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders. This is a required anchor session essential for anyone building toward repeatable, scalable growth. FORMAT: 60-minute anchor session (Office Hours, 12:00 PM). Structured instruction on growth metrics, branding, and acquisition with frameworks and Q&A.

CORE QUESTION: What does a real growth signal look like vs. activity that feels like growth? Most founders try multiple growth channels simultaneously and mistake activity for results. Social media feels productive. Networking events feel productive. But the question that matters is: which channel is actually converting into customers, revenue, or meaningful traction? Often the answer is surprising — the channel that works is not the one that felt most exciting. In this session, a founder shares the one channel that actually worked for their business — how they found it, how long it took to recognize the signal, what they killed to focus on it, and how they scaled it. This is a tactical, honest conversation about growth channel selection for founders who cannot afford to spread their effort across everything. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: - How to distinguish between channels that generate activity and channels that generate results - What a real growth signal looks like at the earliest stages - How to run cheap, fast experiments to identify your best channel - When to double down on a working channel vs. diversify - The psychological traps that keep founders investing in channels that are not working QUESTIONS TO BRING: - Which of my current channels has the best conversion rate — and do I even know? - Am I spreading effort across too many channels because I am afraid to commit to one? - What would I stop doing tomorrow if I had to cut my growth activities in half? WHO THIS IS FOR: All cohort founders, especially those actively acquiring customers and trying to identify their most effective growth channel. FORMAT: 60-minute core mentor talk. One founder shares their channel discovery story with specific metrics, followed by Q&A on growth channel strategy.