Partners

Winter 2009 Seattle Area

Local Partners:

The Institute identifies corporate supporters to reduce both the time and the costs of setting up a high tech business.

Hosting & Company Formation Sponsor

•  Garvey Schubert Barer represents emerging technology companies at every stage of development and across industry sectors, including software, internet media, hardware, peripherals, gaming, medical devices, and clean technology.  Their experienced corporate lawyers serve as a single point of contact for the legal needs of their clients, including specialized areas such as executive compensation, immigration, intellectual property, labor and employment, real estate, technology licensing, and tax. They regularly represent companies and investors in company formation, private placements of equity and debt, joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings. 

Hosting Sponsor

•  The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Michael G. Foster School of Business promotes entrepreneurial learning and discovery to students­from undergraduates to PhD candidates­across the University of Washington.  The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship also supports innovative research and curriculum, working closely with faculty to prepare students for the real-life, complex challenges of entrepreneurship.  These students become leaders who challenge the status quo and change the way we do business.

Association / Networking Sponsors

• Northwest Entrepreneur Network is a non-profit organization, is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed. Our activities and programs are focused on building the entrepreneurial and venture community in the Northwest and enabling entrepreneurs to access resources and funding to accelerate their business growth.
  
• Washington Technology Industry Association is the largest state-wide association of technology companies and executives in the world. With more than 1,000 member companies representing more than 100,000 technology sector employees in Washington State, Washington Technology Industry Association is a catalyst for setting new industry directions, sharing expertise, fostering collaboration, delivering key business services, and advancing the economic value and global impact of technology companies doing business in Washington.  Founder companies enjoy discounted membership rates.
• Washington Interactive Network is a program funded by enterpriseSeattle to promote and grow the interactive media industry in Washington State, thereby increasing its contributions to the economic development of the region.  The program is dedicated to serving the needs of companies involved in or supporting interactive media software, hardware, video game, digital media, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet.

Global Partners:

Please note that partnerships are subject to change.

Ideation

• LegalZoom - LegalZoom, the nation's leading online legal service, merges innovative technology with personalized service to deliver a simple, cost-effective way to take care of common legal needs. They are offering Founders an exclusive 25% discount on business formation.
• Northwest Registered Agent Service  - Northwest Registered Agent is the fastest national registered agent service, offering a flat yearly rate and easy to use online forms. They also offer extensive online resources and tools, such as scans of all documents you receive without any forwarding fees. They are offering Founders 30% off Registered Agent services. 

• 99Designs - Waiver of logo design contest listing fees, plus free credits for premium listing upgrades ($47 total discount). 

• Patent Express - 40% off ALL services offered - including affordable patent, trademark, copyright, international, and IP consultation services.

Product Planning

• Microsoft BizSpark - Offering free/ discounted software, support, and visibility to help your startup grow.

• Elance - Unlimited premium listings for 1 year to Elance - the leading place to hire expert freelancers, consultants, and outsourcers to do your work.
• MediaTemple - This premier hosting company is giving Founders 35% off their entire line of dedicated virtual private server offerings ("dv") - for both monthly and yearly packages.
• Wrike - Offering all Founders a free 12-month subscription to Wrike's award-winning project management software (5 licenses per company/ team).
• Weebly - Offering all Founders a free 12-month subscription to Weebly Pro - the web's leading drag-and-drop website creation service.
• nResult - nResult is an innovative software testing company, where they act as an extension of your team. They are providing discounts on any offered testing service, as well as a free consultation.
• The Outsourcing Company - 35% off their leading Web Development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay per Click (PPC), Conversion Optimization, and Social Media Marketing (SMM) services to help your company attract more clients.
• PlanHQ - PlanHQ is a web based business plan tool that turns your static document and spreadsheet into a dynamic and up-to-date overview of where you’re going and how you’re tracking. They are giving us 50% off all PlanHQ accounts for 12 months.
• Mixpanel - Mixpanel is a real-time analytics platform that tracks how users interact and engage with web applications. Mixpanel goes way beyond Google Analytics and provides extremely detailed analysis that companies generally have to do all in-house. They are offering Founders 2MM free event credits (a $200 value).
• PBworks - Over 50,000 businesses have chosen PBworks to implement knowledge management, extranets, project management, and a host of other business processes and workflows. They are offering Founders a 50% discount off all their packages.
• Project Locker - ProjectLocker is a leading provider of on-demand development tools for software developers. They are offering Founders a free one-year subscription to ProjectLocker Venture edition ($99 value).
• New Relic - New Relic is the leading provider of on-demand application performance management solutions. They are offering Founders 50% off any subscription to their premier SaaS product, New Relic RPM, for a full year.
• Protoshare - ProtoShare is a collaborative, web-based tool for prototyping web applications and sites. With ProtoShare's easy but powerful drag and drop components, anyone can quickly build a rich interactive prototype. They are offering Founders a free 60 day trial plus a 20% discount on annual plans. 
• Balsamiq - Balsamiq Mockups is the fastest and easiest wireframing tool on the market. They are offering Founders a 50% discount on a single-user license, and a 33% discount on a volume license.
• BrowserMob - Ensure your website can handle heavy user loads with BrowserMob's low-cost on-demand load testing service. They are offering Founders $300 worth of tokens for load testing.
• Codesion - Codesion (formerly CVSDude) is the leading provider of Subversion and CVS hosting, making web-based collaborative development safe, affordable and easy. They are offering Founders one year of Team Edition at 50% off - a $175 value.
• Kontagent - Kontagent is a Facebook-funded viral analytics platform for social network applications. They are offering Founders access to 3 free months of Kontagent Premium Services, with support for up to 1 Million Monthly Active Users ($3,000 Value).
• UserTesting.com - UserTesting.com enables you to quickly and inexpensively discover where and why users get confused on your website, by utilizing a large panel of users who record their screen and voice as they use your site. They are offering Founders 2 free user tests - a $48 value.
• UserVoice.com - UserVoice is the premier user feedback system for websites. They are giving Founders 12 months of the UserVoice Gold plan for a very special price.
• TaskPoint - TaskPoint (formerly PMP HQ) is an easy to use web-based online project management and collaboration tool. They are offering all Founders a free 6-month subscription.
• Twilio - Twilio is a simple, pay-as-you-go web service that empowers developers to build voice and SMS applications. 8,000+ developers use Twilio - including start ups, Fortune 100 companies, and both major political parties.They are offering Founders a $133.70 credit.

Modeling and Finance

• Liquid Scenarios - Providing The Institute with Liquid Scenarios software for real time capitalization table and investment scenario modeling.

• Intuit - 30% off Quickbooks Online Plus - the #1 small business financial software.

• Total Merchant Services - The leader in the merchant bankcard business is offering our companies an "Interchange-Plus" pricing model on merchant transactions - a cheaper and more transparent pricing structure typically available only to high-volume businesses.
• FusionCharts - FusionCharts v3 helps you create animated and interactive Flash charts for web and desktop applications, and works with all databases. They are offering Founders a 25% discount on all purchases from their site.

Team Development

• Jobnob - Jobnob connects start-ups and job seekers both online and through events, seeking both traditional and alternative compensation. Jobnob.com has over 7,000 talented job seekers from Ivy plus schools, and they also hold in-person networking job fairs across the country. They are offering Founders 20% off.
• NeoHire - The premier online media and technology recruiting agency is offering Founders 75% off their services (or the hard cost, whichever is less) and free consultation.
• The Resumator - 6 months of Grow Plan access (up to 10 open jobs) to the leading applicant management and job listing software.
• vSee - vSee is one of the most powerful and easy to use video/remote collaboration tools available, used by leading companies like IBM, Intel, and NASA. They are offering Founders one free year of 20 Professional licenses for their teams ($12,000 value).

• Salesconx - 3 months platform access to the largest network of sales professionals in the US for the price of 1 month (approximate $5,000 value - sales based commission still applies).

Publ icity and Awareness

• MailChimp - MailChimp provides email marketing for more than 350,000 subscribers that range from small startups to Fortune 500 companies. They are offering Founder Institute companies a 10% discount on all services, as well as 5 free Inbox Inspections ($23 value) and free advanced reports ($49 value). 
• DEMO - The DEMO conference is the launchpad for emerging technology. This company launch event has helped introduce over 1,500 companies over the last 19 years, including WebEx, Tivo, SalesForce, and more. They are offering 20% off AlphaPitch Launches and Demonstrator Launches.
• SeisMK - A division of The Morris + King Company (MKC), SeisMK expands MKC’s already renowned digital PR and social media services to benefit brands seeking to engage in resonant conversations with media, users and other influencers. They are offering Founders a free 2-hour consultation from SeisMK principals.
• Conference Guru - 50% off already discounted conference and event tickets.
• MyPRGenie - Offering 3 months free of press access and release postings ($900 value).
• PRNewswire - Free 12-month membership, plus over $2,000 in free and discounted services.
• SEOMoz - SEOmoz is the web’s premier destination for SEO education, tools and information. They are offering Founders an exclusive 40% discount on SEOmoz PRO, their award-winning suite of SEO tools and utilities.
• UpRight Marketing - UpRight Marketing consultancy helps you win repeatable sales so you can scale your business and develop trusted customer relationships. They are offering Founders a 50% discount on a 2-day coaching session to design your strategic marketing plan - and a 30% discount on sales messaging services - both are a $1500 value.
• Portal A Interactive - Portal A Interactive creates tutorial and marketing videos to help companies articulate their core services while promoting their brand. They are offering our Founders 20% off, along with a free consultation.
• RestEngine - RestEngine is a social application messaging platform that provides email-based notifications, requests and viral techniques for social apps. They are offering our Founders free setup, and 10,000 free monthly emails (for the first 6 months - $500 value).
• Grasshopper- Sound professional and stay connected with Grasshopper, the Virtual Phone System for entrepreneurs. Get an 800 or local number, create employee extensions, forward calls, and get voicemails via email for only $9.95 a month. They are offering Founders a $25 credit after your first month of service.

Fundraising

• Lightserve - This leading technology consulting firm is providing Founders with three free months of service and extended discounts on Lightserve's banking-grade Virtual Data Room software.
• Roebling Partners - Roebling Partners is an expert valuation firm that helps startups comply with the newly-mandated IRC 409A and FAS 123R regu lations for stock options. They are offering Founders $1,000 off their already low $3,000 compliance package for Series A and earlier companies.
• CureCRM - CureCRM provides the leading software that enables you to access relevant sales conversations anywhere. They are offering Founders one free year of their Pro Service ($199 value).
• SVASE - The Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs is the largest and fastest growing nonprofit in Northern CA dedicated exclusively to helping entrepreneurs across all technology sectors find VCs. They are offering Founders a 25% discount for membership.
• TheFunded.com - Offering premium Membership for all participating Founders.