TheFunded Founder Institute
TheFunded.com News
Posted by The Founding Member on 2009-03-04
[This post was originally contributed by another Member, and then updated.]
An article appeared about "TheFunded Founder Institute" in TechCrunch earlier today (over a month in advance of a public announcement). The 'Institute' has been characterized as a modern day incubator, designed to help founders become seasoned entrepreneurs and to improve the poor state of the economy. Startup companies consume resources intelligently, put people to work in efficient ways, and produce market driven products at lower costs.
The four month program of the Institute starts in the Spring of 2009, offering executive training and company-building assignments for both new and seasoned founders alike. At the end of each semester, successful participants will have an established company, a variety of free services, a prototype, and funding. Participation will be free of charge, and the Institute makes money through corporate sponsorship and warrants for equity in the participating companies, priced and exercised at fair market value.
The selection criteria for incoming founders is subject to refinement, but currently includes: (1) not having a formal incorporated entity yet, (2) having a reasonably well articulated idea and passion to start something around it, (3) focusing on a high technology or innovative sector, (4) having some reasonable training or domain expertise, and (5) passing basic employment-style background, fraud, and reference checks. The application form will go live at www.founderinstitute.com in April, 2009. In the meantime, you can request to be kept up-to-date by emailing apply [at] founderinstitute.com. The Institute will hold evening sessions in the Bay Area, allowing participants to keep their day job, if necessary. The sessions will also be made available online for others to follow along anywhere in the world.
Please ask any questions in the feedback below. In the meantime, any help with the curriculum is appreciated. Just sign-up for the interactive curriculum builder below, and then you can add your own recommended items to the curriculum, discuss them, and vote:
http://topicki.heroku.com/projects/2
Apologies for the brief post. All of this came as a surprise with the story leak... Enjoy!
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