About us
Startup Founder 101 brings together aspiring and experienced tech entrepreneurs to discuss, meet, and collaborate to build great new startups, and to push the local startup ecosystem forward.\
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This group hosts numerous free events throughout the year where you can learn the best practices of starting a company from people who have been there and done that. You’ll have the opportunity to meet local founders and investors, exchange ideas with experts, get feedback on your idea, participate in startup workshops, and more.\
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Typical startup event topics include:\
• Coming up with a strong startup idea\
• Startup legal basics\
• How to pitch your startup\
• Starting a company without quitting your day job\
• How to raise funding for your startup\
• And much more!\
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Join the group to be invited to our next event!
Featured event
What Makes a Company Hard to Kill? Building for Resilience
Technology stopped being a moat and nobody's written the replacement playbook
What makes a company hard to kill when the technology behind it keeps changing? And how do you know if what you're building will survive the next twelve months?
🔹The old playbook doesn't work anymore. The honest answer is that it depends on what you build.
🔹In every market: hardware, software or other, durability comes from something different.
🔹Most founders are taught a version of the game that was built for someone else. Without enough market cycles to draw from, it is hard to know which old rules still hold or where they break down.
Speakers:
Ryan Eppley: CEO of Root Access
Jeni Chang: Managing Director, Founder Institute; Investor, New Energy Financials
Linda Hong Cheng: Founder of Abstract Atomic
Aaron Edsinger - CEO of Hello Robot
Daniel Theobald: Founder, Vecna Robotics; Co-founder, MassRobotics; Founder, Mekable
Agenda:
6:00 — Welcome!
6:30–7:30 — Panel
7:30–8:00 — Networking with the speakers and the room
About us: Founder Institute San Francisco/Oakland
AI rewrote the rules of company building. The playbook has changed. Skills are no longer the barrier. Direction is.
At Founder Institute, we’ve merged our structured programs with AI agents that help founders do the work, not just learn how to do it. Learn More: https://fi.co/aifounder
Interested in our program? Meet the Team: Jeni & Lucas - come say "hi" 🌞
➡️ Our upcoming Fall cohort starts soon! Apply by Oct 18th https://fi.co/san-francisco
Additional Resources: Find more Startup Events, explore AI Tools for Startup Ideation and Validation to test what you hear tonight, or take the Entrepreneur DNA test.
Partner & Co-Host: Founder's Guild
A global community of entrepreneurs building companies on their own terms and reshaping startup culture in the process. Rooted in Silicon Valley but open to everyone, we connect founders who recognize that entrepreneurship is both a craft and a responsibility.
Improving financial outcomes and quality of life for founders worldwide.
Upcoming events
8
Founder Night Out: DreamForce *Unofficial* Closing Party
Barbarossa Lounge, 714 Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA, San Francisco, CA, US🍸 San Francisco. 1928. Prohibition is in full force.
The city’s most influential entrepreneurs, artists and visionaries aren’t gathering in public, they’re meeting behind hidden doors, where jazz fills the air, cocktails flow in secret and the night’s best conversations are reserved for those who know where to look.
🔹For one unforgettable night during Dreamforce, step into an immersive Prohibition-era experience at Barbarossa, one of San Francisco’s most iconic cocktail lounges.
🔹Expect an evening of handcrafted cocktails, incredible music and a curated community of founders, investors, engineers, creators, innovators and enterprises.
🔹As the night unfolds, the music evolves from vintage speakeasy vibes into elevated DJ sets.Join us for:
- ✨ Immersive Prohibition-era experience
- 🥂 Craft cocktails
- 🤝 Founders • Investors • Engineers • AI Builders • Creatives • Enterprises
- 🎧 Titanic’s End DJs
Dress Code (Optional):
Gatsby • Black Tie • Flapper • Vintage • Art Deco • Speakeasy Chic🚨Password: Sign up & you'll receive it before the event 🚨
Hosted By: Founders Bay is a 200,000+ member community of founders, executives, investors and operators — weekly curated events, expert workshops, and mentorship.
About Us: Founder Institute San Francisco/Oakland
AI rewrote the rules of company building. The playbook has changed. Skills are no longer the barrier. Direction is.
At Founder Institute, we’ve merged our structured programs with AI agents that help founders do the work, not just learn how to do it. Learn More: https://fi.co/aifounder
Interested in our program? Meet the Team: Jeni & Lucas - come say "hi" 🌞
➡️ Our upcoming Fall cohort starts soon! Apply by Oct 18th https://fi.co/san-francisco1 attendee
Break the Idea Loop: Decide What to Build in the Age of AI
·OnlineOnlineYou don't need to be "naturally creative" to find a great startup idea. Strong ideas come from a clear, repeatable process, and that matters more than ever now that AI can generate endless ideas in seconds. The hard part is deciding which one is worth building. In this live workshop, Jonathan Greechan (Co-Founder & CIO of Founder Institute) shares a proven framework for developing high-potential startup ideas, based on insights from working with 10,000+ startups worldwide. You'll also share your idea, get feedback, and meet other aspiring founders in your industry.
❯ What You'll Learn:
- Why smart founders get trapped in idea paralysis
- How to choose what to build when AI can generate endless ideas
- A practical scoring system to compare multiple ideas
- How to identify problems with real urgency and demand
- How to assess founder-market fit objectively
- Clear signals that an idea is worth committing to
❯ Featured Speaker:
- Jonathan Greechan - Co-Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute - Jonathan Greechan is the Co-Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute, the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, he has grown and scaled the organization to chapters in over 200 cities and over 100 countries, producing over 9,000 portfolio companies with nearly $2BN in venture funding. In his long career in tech and marketing, Jonathan has advised thousands of startups on marketing, growth, and product strategy and has spoken at startup conferences on four continents.
❯ Who Should Attend:
- Anyone who has an early-stage company or a startup idea.
- Anyone who would like feedback on their idea or pitch.
- Anyone that is interested in joining a new startup or looking for a co-founder.
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❯❯ This is a live, interactive online event, so be sure to RSVP at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23358 to receive the Zoom URL to join us live!
3 attendees
How to Go From Vibe-Coded to Production-Ready Products
·OnlineOnlineYou built the thing. It works in a demo, it looks real, and then someone asks whether it can handle a thousand users and take payments. That gap is where AI built products stall. The tools are excellent at getting you to a working prototype and almost silent about architecture, security, and everything that decides whether a product survives contact with customers. Carlos Ignacio Sanabria, Partnership Manager at Designli, has run dozens of code and UX audits on exactly these builds. He will show you what to look for, so you can find the problems before your users do.
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/404613/meetup to get your link and join us live!
❯ What You'll Learn:
- The three places vibe coded builds fail: architecture, security, and test coverage
- How to run a basic readiness check on your own build before you put it in front of customers
- Why context and guardrails around AI beat raw shipping speed, and what that looks like in practice
- How to move from build mode to hypothesis mode, testing assumptions instead of stacking features
- How to pick a North Star Metric that tells you whether the product is actually working
. ❯ Featured Speaker:
- Carlos Ignacio Sanabria - Partnership Manager @ Designli: Carlos is the Partnerships Manager at Designli, where he helps SaaS founders turn product ideas into clear development strategies and scalable roadmaps. He works with startups at every stage, from early concepts to live products that need stronger execution, better development operations, or a path back on track. Originally from Venezuela and now based in Mexico City, Carlos has worked across the US, UK, Australia, and Latin America, collaborating closely with founders, accelerators, and startup communities.
. ❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/404613/meetup to get your link and join us live!
2 attendeesWhat Makes a Company Hard to Kill? Building for Resilience
Location not specified yetTechnology stopped being a moat and nobody's written the replacement playbook
What makes a company hard to kill when the technology behind it keeps changing? And how do you know if what you're building will survive the next twelve months?
🔹The old playbook doesn't work anymore. The honest answer is that it depends on what you build.
🔹In every market: hardware, software or other, durability comes from something different.
🔹Most founders are taught a version of the game that was built for someone else. Without enough market cycles to draw from, it is hard to know which old rules still hold or where they break down.Speakers:
Ryan Eppley: CEO of Root Access
Jeni Chang: Managing Director, Founder Institute; Investor, New Energy Financials
Linda Hong Cheng: Founder of Abstract Atomic
Aaron Edsinger - CEO of Hello Robot
Daniel Theobald: Founder, Vecna Robotics; Co-founder, MassRobotics; Founder, MekableAgenda:
6:00 — Welcome!
6:30–7:30 — Panel
7:30–8:00 — Networking with the speakers and the roomAbout us: Founder Institute San Francisco/Oakland
AI rewrote the rules of company building. The playbook has changed. Skills are no longer the barrier. Direction is.
At Founder Institute, we’ve merged our structured programs with AI agents that help founders do the work, not just learn how to do it. Learn More: https://fi.co/aifounder
Interested in our program? Meet the Team: Jeni & Lucas - come say "hi" 🌞
➡️ Our upcoming Fall cohort starts soon! Apply by Oct 18th https://fi.co/san-franciscoAdditional Resources: Find more Startup Events, explore AI Tools for Startup Ideation and Validation to test what you hear tonight, or take the Entrepreneur DNA test.
Partner & Co-Host: Founder's Guild
A global community of entrepreneurs building companies on their own terms and reshaping startup culture in the process. Rooted in Silicon Valley but open to everyone, we connect founders who recognize that entrepreneurship is both a craft and a responsibility.
Improving financial outcomes and quality of life for founders worldwide.1 attendee
Past events
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