Program Schedule

This is where it all begins. During Orientation, we will review the Founder Institute program structure, curriculum, tools, and requirements. You will review why you have pursued entrepreneurship, and how you or your team will use the program to push your business or business idea forward.

Assignments

During Orientation, Founders and teams will be segmented into the “Standard Founder” or “Advanced Founder” assignment tracks, depending on the stage of their business or business idea.

These assignments are in addition to any custom "Special Assignments" Founders receive based on their specific challenges, and below is a small sample of the assignments you’ll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:

Standard Founder Assignments

1. Progress - If you have started working on one or more ideas before the program, outline each of your 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 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.

Advanced Founder Assignments

1. Program Goals - Outline the monthly objectives you or your team want to achieve with your business while participating in Founder Institute, including the specific support you feel that we can give you to succeed beyond the curriculum.
2. Key Performance Indicators - Outline the specific metrics or key performance indicators (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 Directors 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 sessions. Start with our one-sentence pitch template, followed by why you are uniquely qualified to pursue the idea, and any progress that you’ve made to date.

This is the first big checkpoint in the program to determine each Founder’s progress. During the Mentor Idea Review, every founder will present their customer problem and progress to a panel of FI Mentors for extensive review. Founders will receive a rating, and receive feedback on the validity of their idea, their customer problem, market size, the soundness of their revenue model, and more. 

Assignments

After the Mentor Idea Review, all assignments are Standard, and Founders receive a larger number of custom "Special Assignments" based on their specific challenges. 

1. Corporate Materials - Update your 3 minute pitch deck based on the Mentor Idea Review Feedback, and include a new and updated one page executive summary using our template.
2. Law Firm Identification - If you don’t already have a law firm, identify at least two local law firm candidates that have experience working with startups, and recruit one for your startup using our process and guidelines.
3. Advisor Candidates - You will create an advisory board in the next 5 weeks, so start by developing a target list of new advisor candidates based off you identified needs and gaps in knowledge/ connections. 
4. 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.  
5. Sales Follow-up - Continue to work on securing sales or commitments for revenue. For B2B solutions, get as many contracts or letters of intent as possible. For B2C solutions, aggressively your revenue (or submitted information indicating they will pay you).
6. Sales Plan - Based on the needs of your financial model and sales follow-up research, develop a plan to build and grow your revenues over the next three months.
7. Financial Model - Develop a simple financial model based on our template that focuses on expenses (“burn”) to understand your cash needs. Develop a revenue forecast for 12 months and factor in timing considerations from your sales follow-up work.
8. Business Calendar - Create a calendar to track all of your relevant business due dates, regulatory filings, and other obligations and related events.

In this session, startup lawyers and CEOs will explain various legal agreements, startup legal components (such as equity), how to protect intellectual property, the best practices for managing a law firm, and more. As usual, Mentors will also provide Founders feedback on their startup pitch and progress, ensuring that you can better explain what your company is to your growing audience.

Assignments

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

1. Legal Concepts - Review our Legal Guide in detail to fully understand all critical startup legal components, including granting equity, vesting equity, granting options and issuing common stock versus preferred stock.
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.
4. Advisor Interviews - Meet with or call each of your advisor candidates for at least 15 minutes, discuss the customer problem and progress, and narrow down to a few top advisor candidates. 
5. 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. 
6. Corporate Formation Agreements - If you don’t already have a suitable corporation, secure all of your corporate formation agreements, including bylaws or similar documents, which govern how the business conducts itself.
7. Legal Templates - Secure standard legal templates from your law firm, including a mutual non-disclosure agreement, an intellectual property assignment agreement, a basic employment agreement, a basic freelancer agreement, and a basic advisor agreement (such as https://fi.co/FAST).
8. Bonus Pool - Prepare to join the Bonus Pool, and send your law firm the necessary agreements and request their help to properly fill out the required fields.

In this session, Mentors will discuss prioritizing your go-to market initiatives, evaluating different models for growing your startup, developing marketing messages that resonate with your target customers, and more. Mentors will also provide Founders with feedback on their go-to-market plans and progress. 

Assignments

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

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. Marketing Tools - If you have not already, implement standard marketing tools on your site and channels (including analytics, email management, and A/B testing solutions).
4. 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. 
5. Customer Acquisition Channels - Identify at least five initial or new major marketing channels to acquire customers that are appropriate for your solution.
6. 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. 
7. 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. 
8. Growth Goals - Set ambitious customer acquisition goals for both during and after the program, which should include a quantifiable increase in the top of the funnel from the Steps to Revenue, as well as an increase in the bottom of the funnel, which are paying customers.

Nesta sessão, os Mentores discutirão as melhores práticas em desenvolvimento de produtos e gerenciamento de equipes para lançar uma solução de classe mundial, prototipando sua solução, falando com seus clientes-alvo e obtendo feedback e muito mais. Os mentores também fornecerão aos Fundadores feedback sobre o desenvolvimento e o progresso de seus produtos.

atribuições

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

1. Intellectual Property - If you have not already, secure and protect the intellectual property for all of the work done to date. Examine the need for patents, if applicable, following our guidelines. 
2. Solution Goals - Evaluate the current state of your solution, and outline the three solution goals that you would like the next product release to solve for your target customers over the next year.
3. Project Team - If you have not already, organize the skills and roles needed to execute on your solution goals, whether using existing team members or supplementing through hiring or outsourcing. 
4. Product Roadmap - Develop a first or updated product roadmap, using our guidelines, in order to meet your solution goals with your project team.
5. Project Plan - Fine tune the schedule of releases in your product roadmap to be as simple as possible to each test one hypothesis of the business, using our guidelines.
6. Development Tools - Research and secure any development tools, technologies, or systems that you will need to create your solution and to manage the process.
7. Next Release Plan - Record the details about your next release, and describe the timing for its completion in a way that can be easily communicated to team members, partners, and other stakeholders in the business. 
8. Hotseat Pitch - Prepare uma apresentação de cinco minutos para o Mentor Progress Review, que inclui informações suficientes para permitir que os Mentors avaliem seu progresso e seus planos.

Semelhante ao Mentor Idea Review, o Mentor Progress Review é o segundo grande teste do programa. Nesta sessão, os Fundadores se concentrarão em apresentar seu progresso e tração a um painel de Mentores para uma revisão detalhada. Os mentores avaliarão os Fundadores com base em seu progresso, seu plano de entrada no mercado, a escalabilidade da empresa e muito mais.

atribuições

Abaixo estão apenas algumas das 10 a 15 tarefas que você concluirá por meio de Grupos de Trabalho e Horário comercial: 

1. Convés do passo do investidor - Crie um convés expandido de 12 slides, incorporando qualquer feedback da Mentor Progress Review, usando nossos modelos. 
2. Crescimento - Faça progresso em suas metas de crescimento e examine ou ajuste como sua estratégia e o sistema para se manter responsável estão se saindo.
3. Product - Make progress on your next product release, and outline and address any of the setbacks that you have faced with your project team.
4. Hiring Needs - Score the progress of each member of your project team on a 1 to 10 scale, including yourself, and set up plans to improve those that are struggling. 
5. Finalize Advisory Board - Set up your advisory board with startup, industry, technology or marketing advisors, and set up a one hour conference call with all of the them, which will be your first quarterly advisory board meeting.
6. Bookkeeping - Start regular bookkeeping processes if you have not already, and implement tools, accounts, and monthly processes to manage it moving forward.
7. Entrevistas com Contadores - Se você não tiver um contador, comece entrevistando organizações em potencial usando nossos processos. Você precisará de um contador amigável para startups para entender suas necessidades exclusivas.
8. Atualização do Modelo Financeiro - Revise e atualize seu modelo financeiro com o trabalho realizado até o momento. Ajuste as projeções de receita com base no seu crescimento até o momento e avalie a necessidade e os requisitos de financiamento externo. 

Nesta sessão, os Mentores discutirão como identificar os papéis necessários para construir uma empresa de classe mundial, como desenvolver uma estratégia para recrutar, integrar e reter as melhores pessoas para os papéis e muito mais. Os fundadores também receberão feedback dos Mentores sobre os planos de sua equipe e o progresso do produto. 

atribuições

Abaixo estão apenas algumas das 10 a 15 tarefas que você concluirá por meio de Grupos de Trabalho e Horário comercial: 

1. Terceirização - identifique quais funções você deve terceirizar e use o trabalho recente de liberação, vendas e trabalho do programa para atualizar ou executar suas necessidades de contratação.
2. Candidatos - pesquise candidatos a contratar (incluindo co-fundadores), identificando todos que você conhece, ou aproveitando a rede FI, para preencher as duas ou três funções principais que você não planeja terceirizar.
3. Processo de contratação - desenvolva um processo de contratação e integração usando nossas diretrizes para adicionar membros da equipe à sua organização e comece a executar o processo.
4. Projetos de teste - desenvolva pelo menos um projeto de teste para cada uma das suas duas ou três principais funções, o que deve criar oportunidades para um candidato credível demonstrar suas habilidades.
5. Revisão do consultor - organize uma reunião ou telefonema com pelo menos um de seus consultores para discutir seu trabalho de terceirização e contratação. Apresente tudo o que você fez e incorpore o feedback deles ao seu planejamento.
6. Divulgação de recrutamento - Com base nos comentários de seus consultores, crie uma lista de eventos e atividades que você participará ou realizará semanalmente nos próximos três meses para identificar novos candidatos para as duas ou três principais funções.
7. Alocação de tempo - defina meticulosamente a “agenda do fundador”, alocando blocos semanais de tempo para abordar suas principais atividades de negócios, proporcionando um tempo ininterrupto para trabalhar em cada atividade.
8. (Opcional) Configuração da rodada de fundação - Se você não tiver capital suficiente para administrar a empresa nos próximos meses, siga nossos guias para iniciar a documentação e a pesquisa de preparação para uma “rodada de fundação”.  

Nesta sessão, os Mentores discutirão tópicos como a definição de sucesso para sua empresa, as várias táticas para o crescimento de um negócio, o estabelecimento de metas e marcos de crescimento, comunicando o progresso e os contratempos de crescimento de sua startup com as partes interessadas e consultores e muito mais. Os mentores também fornecerão aos Fundadores feedback sobre seu atual crescimento e estratégia de crescimento. 

atribuições

Abaixo estão apenas algumas das 10 a 15 tarefas que você concluirá por meio de Grupos de Trabalho e Horário comercial:

1. Atualização do plano de crescimento - analise o desempenho de suas metas de crescimento e ajuste seu plano de crescimento para melhorar seu desempenho e responsabilidade.
2. Sales - Push yourself for a second week to close new revenue or users, which may be signups, payments, a signed contract, a pre-payment or a signed letter of intent.
3. Growth Tactics - Work with your working group and advisors to brainstorm 15 new ideas to increase the top of your funnel and to accelerate the closing of sales, and provide a bulleted list of these Growth Tactics.
4. Pivot - Consider a pivot if you are not meeting your growth goals, sales, product or hiring progress targets. If you decide to Pivot, schedule a call with one of your Directors to discuss your proposed pivot in the business and do the same with your advisors.
5. Produto - trabalhe em estreita colaboração com sua equipe de projeto para obter um progresso substancial em sua próxima versão e trabalhe para garantir que cada versão leve cerca de duas semanas para ser concluída.
6. Contratação - Revise todos os candidatos que passaram pelos vários canais de divulgação de recrutamento e outras atividades e identifique os canais mais eficazes.
7. Programação pós-programa - Trabalhe com sua coorte em uma programação mensal de reuniões, onde você continuará a se reunir, fornecer atualizações e compartilhar o aprendizado sobre seu progresso. 
8. (Opcional) Acompanhamento da Rodada de Fundação - Crie seu pipeline de potenciais investidores da "Rodada de Fundação", cumprindo e assegurando compromissos de pelo menos uma pessoa. 

Nesta sessão, os Mentores abordarão vários tópicos relacionados à captação de recursos, incluindo diferentes opções de captação de recursos, o que os diferentes tipos de investidores esperam ver com relação ao progresso em equipe, produto e tração, entre outros. Os mentores também fornecerão aos Fundadores feedback sobre seu discurso de inicialização que eles podem esperar ouvir dos investidores. 

atribuições

Abaixo estão apenas algumas das 10 a 15 tarefas que você concluirá por meio de Grupos de Trabalho e Horário comercial:

1. Condição Mínima de Vitória - Trabalhe com seus Diretores para configurar uma “Condição de Vitória” a ser alcançada antes do “Prazo de Impacto” (três meses após a graduação) e adicione-a ao seu calendário comercial.
2. Estratégia do consultor - faça uma ligação com cada um de seus consultores e analise brevemente sua “Condição de vitória”, a estratégia de financiamento, plano de contratação, plano de vendas e plano de produto.
3. Uso dos recursos - examine as necessidades de capital dos negócios e estenda seu modelo financeiro para projetar receitas e despesas por um total de 24 meses a partir de agora.
4. Baralho final do investidor - refine o baralho do investidor e atualize-o com todo o seu trabalho até o momento, incluindo detalhes de seus vários planos. Teste a apresentação em pares e diretores e faça o upload no site da FI para revisão. 
5. Deal Room - Create a Deal Room for future investors that includes relevant files like 'Company' documents with legal, 'Pitch Deck', 'Team' bios, 'Board Materials,' 'Financials,' 'Sales' information, 'Marketing' materials and 'Intellectual Property.'
6. Target List - Identify local Angel Investors and Seed Accelerators, ignoring Venture Capitalists and Seed Funds. The Target List should include at least 100 local angels, 25 regional and 50 global seed accelerators, using our guidelines.
7. Event List - List upcoming pitch events, including events where angel investors will be attendance that you identified for the target list, and during the events, look to make connections with these angel investors for future use.
8. (Opcional) Início da rodada de fechamento - trabalhe com o seu pipeline de investidores, certificando-se de que cada parte interessada seja “circulada suave” (comprometida verbalmente com o investimento) ou “circulada dura” (o investimento foi recebido). Comece a encher e fechar a Rodada de Fundação.

Graduating from the Founder Institute is an honor. The program is challenging, and the curriculum is demanding. In this final session, you will celebrate graduating with your peers, friends and family, as well as select Mentors who will discuss the important leadership qualities needed to run a successful company. You will also learn about all of the post-program resources and assistance that the Founder Institute provides.

Assignments

1. Accountability - Create a plan to keep yourself and the business accountable to your graduation plan and growth goals after the program.
2. Leadership - Analyze how you have grown as a startup leader during the program, highlighting the positives, negatives, and in which aspects you need to grow in the future. 
3. Vision - Review your original vision for the business, and describe why you are still excited to pursue the vision, and why your team and strategy are aligned to achieve it. 
4. Perseverance - Develop a system to press forward, stay focused and deliver value in the dark times inevitable to building a lasting business. 
5. Prioritization - Finalize your system to prioritize complex projects in equally complex situations, as well as your weekly routine and “Founder’s Schedule”.
6. Celebration - In addition to the FI celebration, plan a private group celebration with your peers. As a startup leader, it is important to celebrate all milestones and successes. 

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.

There are no hidden costs, additional contracts or surprise subscription fees: all our post-program support is free and exclusive to FI Alumni companies, for life.