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or Apply to be a Founder

Microsoft BizSpark has thrown support behind the Institute as our first charter sponsor. Microsoft has an excellent, Founder-centeric offering:

  • Founders will have access to the full suite of Microsoft products for development purposes,
  • Founders will gain access to the BizSpark network for investor, vendor, and advisor contacts,
  • Five Founders will be BizSpark Fellows, receiving a scholarship to the institute,
  • Microsoft will make facilities available for Summer 2009 sessions.

The Founders Fund is looking for strong teams who believe their companies can transform an industry or create a new one. Successful founders not only articulate their vision with passion, but build a roster with expertise in engineering, product design, and business development. We want to meet both new entrepreneurs with fresh vision and seasoned veterans who've learned from experience. We value innovation and inspiration, but also the attention to detail and hard work needed to operate a company that will realize its value for employees and shareholders.

Charles River Ventures has a clear investment focus: seek out visionary entrepreneurs, and give them the support they need to build great companies from the ground up. Since 1970, Charles River Ventures has helped startups turn ideas into real businesses. Companies like Cascade, CIENA, ChipCom, NetGenesis, Parametric Technology, Sonus, Speechworks, Stratus Computer, Sybase, Vignette and dozens more have realized stunning success with the backing and support of CRV.

See some other partners here.


Sessions from 2009-05-18 to 2009-09-07

The Founder Institute is a four month program that trains new and seasoned founders on the current best practices for building the next generation of companies. The program facilitiates weekly sessions where experienced entrepreneurs help other Founders develop and launch their new businesses. The program offers a founder-friendly startup environment, mentorship from renowned CEOs, fundraising opportunities at fair market value, and shared equity upside among all participants in the companies formed.

Institute News

The Founder Institute on Entrepreneur.com

2009-06-28: by Jonathan Greechan

Public:

Thanks to Entrepreneur.com's Amy Reinink for featuring both TheFunded.com and The Founder Institute in her latest article, "5 Lifelines for Your Startup."  It reads;

"The Funded is an online networking group for startups seeking venture capital, following the same entrepreneurs-helping-entrepreneurs model as Ultra Light, with a focus on sharing information about investors. Founder Adeo Ressi says the free networking site lets its more than 12,000 members dish about specific investors anonymously. Ressi adds that a thorough application process ensures members are actually business owners.

'Who better to ask about how good an investor is to work with than an entrepreneur who's already working with one?' Ressi says.

The Funded's sister company, the Founder Institute, offers a four-month, $450 program with classes on topics such as fundraising, branding and intellectual property. There's also a $50 application fee. Classes, taught by experienced CEOs, are held both in the San Francisco area and online.

'I don't think starting a company will ever be easy," Ressi says. "But I'd like to make all the mundane and bureaucratic aspects secondary to executing the vision.'"

See the full article here.

New Partners to help sell your company story

2009-06-24: by Jonathan Greechan

Public:

Evangelizing and selling your company 'story' in a cost-effective way is crucial for any bootstrapping startup. We've partnered with 2 great services to help you do just that;

  • PR Newswire - PR Newswire is the global leader in news and information distribution services for professional communicators.  They are giving founders a free 12-month membership ($195 value), plus over $2,000 in free and discounted services.
  • MyPRGenie - MyPRGenie is a social media-based, PR delivery platform that allows you to build traffic, access over 500,000 journalist/blog contacts, and track your results. They are giving our Founders 3 months of service for free ($900 value).

Details in the private section.

Two New Partners

2009-06-23: by Jonathan Greechan

Public:

The title of the post says it all...

  • nResult - nResult is a innovative software testing company, where their engineers act as a seamless extension of your own teams for a wide range of compatibility, functionality, usability, accessibility, and load testing. They are providing discounts on any offered testing service, as well as a free consultation. 

Details are below the fold.

MediaTemple signs on as a Hosting Partner, and more from Microsoft

2009-06-17: by Jonathan Greechan

Public:

After our great Company Roadmap session last night, we have received some additional resources from partners that will help our companies bring their roadmaps to fruition.

  • 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.
  • Microsoft Empower - Offering free licenses to all MS operating systems, MS Office Professional, Project Professional, Visio, and the full range of MS integrated server software. 

Activation details are in the private section below.

Four New Mentors

2009-06-16: by Adeo Ressi

Public:

The Institute would like to welcome our four newest Mentors in the Summer 2009 Semester. They bring a range of skills to the table, and they add to a strong list of entrepreneurs and visionaries.

  • Michael Diamant is CEO of Skip Hop, founded in 2003 by him and his wife, Ellen. As new parents living in New York City, they were surprised by how few products resonated with the urban lifestyle they were used to. Michael, a veteran Internet entrepreneur, saw an opportunity to move into a new type of business, creating products and a brand that spoke to parents just like themselves.
  • David S. Kidder is the co-Founder and CEO of Clickable, an online advertising web service based in New York City. Prior to Clickable, Kidder co-founded SmartRay Network, a mobile advertising delivery pioneer acquired by LifeMinders. Kidder is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, received the ID Magazine's International Design Award and the Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2008 (Metropolitan, and National Selection). He is the creator and co-author of the two-time NYT’s bestselling book series, The Intellectual Devotional. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife and two sons.
  • Aaron Patzer is both the visionary and technical mind behind Mint, the first free, automatic and secure way for online money management. He designed Mint to meet his own needs and those of people like him who value the immediacy of the Web, simplicity and their free time. With 10 patents filed or pending, Aaron brings strong innovation skills to Mint. Prior to founding Mint, Aaron was an architect and technical lead for the San Jose division of Nascentric. Before Nascentric, Aaron worked for IBM and founded two web development and online marketing companies: PWeb and International. Aaron holds an MSEE from Princeton University and a BS in computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering from Duke University.
  • J. Barry Thompson is the CEO of Tervela. He has spliced bleeding-edge technology for the past ten years with turnaround/change management and investment strategies to make some of the largest firms in the financial services industry run faster. In July 2002, Mr. Thompson left the banking world to incubate startup projects, two of which came to market in 2003. Prior to his current projects, he was head of North American Architecture for UBS Warburg, a post he took over in 2000 when UBS acquired PaineWebber. Mr. Thompson determined technology directions for business units, sought out new partners with expertise in emergent technologies, and, through UBS Capital, sourced deals and served as a board advisor for portfolio companies.

More Partnerships Announced

2009-06-11: by Adeo Ressi

Public:

So many great companies are coming forward to help The Founder Institute succeed! Here are the latest;

  • Elance  - Elance is the leading place to hire expert outsourcers, freelancers, and consultants to do your work. They are offering our Founders unlimited premium listings for 1 year.
  • Patent Express  - Patent Express is the best place online to access affordable patent, trademark, copyright, international, and IP consultation services. They are offering Founders 40% off all of their services.
  • Neohire - NeoHire is a premier recruiting agency specializing in online media and technology properties, most widely known for their superb client relationships and deep knowledge of the online space. They are offering us their recruiting services at a 75% discount (or the actual hard costs, whichever is less). They are also offering us free consultation services.


Activation details are below the fold.

The Resumator signs on as a Partner

2009-06-10: by Jonathan Greechan

Public:

We’re excited to bring on The Resumator as a new Institute Partner. TheResumator is a great service that lets you handle several aspects of job recruitment all in one slick online interface – including the ability to add a job board to your site, post jobs to other sites, and collect, organize, and track all of your open positions and resumes. They are providing Foudners free access to their Grow Plan (up to 10 open jobs) for 6 months.

To access this discount, see the details in the private section. 

New Partnerships and Discounts for Founders

2009-06-09: by Jonathan Greechan

Public:

We have many new exciting partners supporting The Institute with best-of-breed services designed to help our companies grow.

  • Weebly  - Offering all Founders a free 12-month subscription to Weebly Pro - the web's leading drag-and-drop website creation service.
  • SalesconX - SalesconX can provide you with a virtual, commission-based sales team using their network of 7,000+ sales people, and they are offering Founders 3 months of On-Demand Salesforce service for the price of 1 month.
  • Conference Guru - Conference Guru is the most comprehensive place to discover technology conferences, and purchase discount tickets. They are offering Founders a 50% discount off any "Guru-Only" deal.
  • Microsoft BizSpark - Offering free/ discounted software, support, and visibility to help early-stage startups grow.
  • Wrike - Offering all Founders a free 12-month subscription to Wrike's award-winning project management software (5 licenses per company/team).

All activation details are in the private section of this post.

Look for more announcements tomorrow!