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Philadelphia Fall 2026
Hybrid

Program Schedule

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

Jul 14

Early Application Deadline

Oct 06

Final Application Deadline

Oct 09

Join the Equity Collective

Oct 20 06:00 pm week 1

Kickoff

This week, you'll get familiar with the program, set up your AI toolkit, prove your AI proficiency, and prepare to introduce yourself to the cohort.

Date
Oct 20, 2026
Time
03:00pm PDT
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Oct 21 06:00 pm week 1

Vision

This week, you'll explore the biggest possible idea to pursue, validate real customer problems, define your personal purpose, and draft your first pitches.

Date
Oct 21, 2026
Time
03:00pm PDT

Sprints

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

Deliverables

The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

  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.
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Pitching
Customer Development
Leadership Development
Oct 28 06:00 pm week 2

Validation

This week, you'll select one business to focus on, validate it deeply through customer development, and build an initial mockup of your product.

Date
Oct 28, 2026
Time
03:00pm PDT
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Nov 04 06:00 pm week 3

Model

This week, you'll test pricing with real customers, build a revenue model that can scale, and map out the human and agent roles needed to run your business.

Date
Nov 04, 2026
Time
03:00pm PST
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Nov 11 06:00 pm week 4

Development

This week, you'll turn your mockup into a working prototype that customers can use, co-develop with a lead customer, and prepare for your first major review.

Date
Nov 11, 2026
Time
03:00pm PST
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Nov 18 06:00 pm week 5

Idea Review

This is your first major milestone. You'll present your business and product to a panel of mentors who will rate you on idea viability, presentation skill, and research thoroughness.

Date
Nov 18, 2026
Time
03:00pm PST

Sprints

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

Deliverables

The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Pitching
Customer Development
Leadership Development
Sales & Customer Acquisition
Product Development
Revenue Modeling
Legal & IP
Branding & Design
Nov 25 06:00 pm week 6

Formation

This week, you'll incorporate your company, set up the legal foundation, protect your intellectual property, and start building your advisory board.

Date
Nov 25, 2026
Time
03:00pm PST
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Dec 02 06:00 pm week 7

Launch

This week, you'll launch your go-to-market engine, get your product into the hands of paying customers, and set your victory conditions for the rest of the program.

Date
Dec 02, 2026
Time
03:00pm PST
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Dec 09 06:00 pm week 8

Traction

This week, you'll push for 10% weekly growth, track both your business and AI performance metrics, and discuss growth strategies.

Date
Dec 09, 2026
Time
03:00pm PST
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Dec 16 06:00 pm week 9

Fundraising

This week, you'll prepare for fundraising by organizing your materials, building your investor pipeline, and deciding on your funding strategy ahead of Demo Day.

Date
Dec 16, 2026
Time
03:00pm PST
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
Dec 23 06:00 pm week 10

Demo Day

This is your final milestone. You'll pitch a panel of angel investors and VCs with a five-minute pitch and a live demo for ratings, feedback, and potential investment.

Date
Dec 23, 2026
Time
03:00pm PST
The Agentic Track

Personalized by AI to your startup's needs — more advanced or more basic — with powerful free AI agents to help you complete the company building work.

Sprints
week 11+

Post Programs

The FI Core Program is just the beginning of a life long journey.

Founder Institute Alumni get access to a series of advanced accelerator programs, ongoing support from our Silicon Valley Team, valuable partner and service discounts, and more to continue building the business for years to come.

Continued Support
Continued Support
  • Dedicated Alumni Support Team in Silicon Valley

  • Access to the world's largest network of mentors and investors (40,000+)

  • Private Alumni mailing lists

  • $2.5M+ in partner discounts

  • Invites to FI sessions & network events

  • Potential introductions to investors

Structured Post-Programs
Structured Post-Programs
  • A series of virtual advisory programs where you work with our Silicon Valley HQ team to reach next milestones

  • Funding Lab helps get your lead investor within 6 months

  • The FI Venture Network matches Alumni ready for funding with a massive pool of investors that specialize in writing 'first or second checks' of funding

  • Exclusive for FI Alumni

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The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, our AI-native company-building programs have helped over 9,000 entrepreneurs raise over 2BN in funding. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 100 countries, our mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.


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