Founder Institute Alumni Q&A Panel: 3 November 2020

Hello everyone and welcome to the Founder Institute Alumni Panel. My name is Ryan Micheletti and I'm Head of Global Operations for the Founder Institute. Today we've got 4 really great alumni who are here to answer your questions about the Founder Institute program. So this is a live event and you can at any point in time put your questions in the chat and we'll get to them throughout the webinar. So just really quickly, for those of you who do not know, Founder Institute is the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator. We run a pre-seed program in over 185 cities around the world, and we help founders get to startup traction and funding. And so once people graduate the core program, it unlocks the global network as well as all of our free postgraduate programs like Funding Lab. Which some of the founders here may have gone through. And so really the goal of today is to get the questions that you have answered and really learn best practices about entrepreneurship in general, as well as how to be successful in the program. So again, at any point in time, if you have questions, feel free to put them into the chat. So I guess just to kind of quickly introduce the founders here on the call, Danielle, you graduated from the Founder Institute Silicon Valley program. You're located in Denver, Colorado. Do you want to say hi and just kind of introduce yourself and talk about what you're working on?

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so my name's Danielle. I started the Founders Institute pretty much with an idea and a website. That was kind of the phase we were in. And the main reason I wanted to start Founders Institute, it's kind of this ability or possibility to actually like know what I was doing. And so FI kind of gave me that opportunity to figure out what I was doing as I was doing it. So my company is called Syllable. We started off as a language learning website to kind of connect people in person, and we hard pivoted throughout the pandemic so far. And so we're now focused as a digital immersion platform where we're kind of bringing in together social aspects of cultural backgrounds as well as language learning. Mainly because it's just really hard to learn a language online anyway. And so finding nuanced ways for people to connect and learn and chat from each other. So that's kind of what we're working on right now. And luckily Denver is not currently on fire. So that's kind of the cool thing for us.

Yeah, we know your pain in California. So thanks, Dan, and welcome. Up next, Daniel Yobo. Do you want to say hi and give us a quick intro about you and your company?

Sure, thanks, Ryan. Hi everyone, my name is Daniel Yeboah. I'm the CEO and founder of Elerka Health, where we're building lifestyle solutions for chronic care. And essentially what we've done is we built a personal health coaching solution in your pocket for those living with diabetes. The reason why I started Founders Institute is, number one, my background is in nursing And I had an idea based really out of a personal story where I had a family member that suffered with diabetes and had some complications with that. And I wanted to do something of impact, but I thought that by coming to Founders Institute, it would really help provide some of that direction, insight, and just connecting with the net mentors and really understanding how to put the building blocks and what were the building blocks to building that really, really effective startup. And that's really why I decided to join Founders Institute.

Awesome, thank you, Daniel. And big shout out to FI Toronto and Brampton. So I know you graduated from that program. Up next is Charlie. Charlie, welcome back. Do you want to give a quick intro about yourself and your company?

Yeah, thanks, Ryan. Hi guys, my name is Charlie. I'm from Jakarta, Indonesia. It's 1 AM here. I'm the CEO and founder of DotEx. We're basically a payroll solution, so workers without bank accounts can get paid through banks, and they can make banking transactions using our mobile app. I was— before I joined Founders Institute, I've already spent a year on my startup, and I spent a lot of money on consultants. One time I remember I spent $2,000 and I was just for a consultant for a month and I couldn't get the— I can't get the information that I feel that I could trust. So when I looked at Founders Institute, I thought, great, there's mentors, right? And this is— I'm joining with people who are from Silicon Valley where the whole startup scene began. So yeah, that's why I joined Founders Institute and glad I did.

Awesome, and thank you for staying up late. I know 1 AM is pretty brutal for a webinar, so thank you for joining. And last but not least, Daniel. So you also graduated from Founder Institute Silicon Valley, but you're in Mexico City right now. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and your company?

Thank you, Ryan. Sure, yeah, I'm Daniel, which seems to be a pretty usual name today for this presentation, at least. The name of my company is Igal. What my company does is that it provides with access to a financial safety net to unbanked populations, which is a big problem in Mexico City. That's where I'm at right now, and that's where I was born and raised. And well, I think the reason why I decided to join the program is that I needed a catalyst for an idea that I thought was a good one and well organized. But I really— when I read about Founder Institute, I realized that I wasn't on a stage where I needed the skills that the program brought, and luckily I was not mistaken.

Awesome, and welcome again. So again, audience, if you have questions, go ahead and pop them into the chat and we'll get started here. So we really want to make sure that your personal questions get answered. So I guess the first question for you, Daniel Yeboah, You know, you've had some experience in entrepreneurship before, so what really kind of stood out and what was the deciding factor for you to join Founder Institute or just a startup accelerator in general?

I think for me, really, it was the mentors and just finding out who some of the mentors were going to be, talking to individuals where they had that experience And it was sometimes experience that I didn't have or experience that was outside of my wheelhouse. And I felt that coming to Founders Institute would provide, and I think someone used that word, that catalyst, and it would provide that well-rounded solution for me to really look at how do I start a startup the right way? How do I not repeat some of the mistakes that I may have made in previous startups? But looking at, Again, the building blocks, the, your, your, your vision, mission statement, your values, uh, your marketing plan, the financials, and really building that out over the course of the several weeks that we're in the program. That's for me, that the, the thing that, uh, most attracted me to this program.

So it sounded like it was kind of the mentors that, that attracted you to the program initially, but then when you kind of joined the program, you saw that we kind of gave you this blueprint for your startup and you just had to kind of do the deliverables and follow the recipe to, you know, each week to make progress. That was sort of not necessarily a hidden value 'cause you knew it was there, but it was almost like a surprise at how thorough the curriculum was.

Yeah, no, it was because, you know, when you actually got to do the assignments, it was, oh wow, I didn't think about that. Oh wow, that's really, really interesting. And, you know, not to sort of give away all the things about the program, but there was so many different things that you learned on a week-to-week basis, working with your groups and then engaging with the groups. I thought for me was that, that was so valuable because again, you speak to individuals that have other experiences that actually bring value to the startup.

Yeah, that's a great, great point. So I guess like for you, Charlie, because you also, you know, you were already kind of post-traction and revenue when you joined. I mean, what was sort of the big thing that, that got you into the program? And were there any added benefits that you really didn't see, you know, when you, uh, when you first joined?

Yeah, I, I was really after that feedback from the mentors. Uh, for me that was really important. Um, and, and for me, um, learning was, was the biggest reason why I joined, uh, Founders Institute. I wanted to see where where, what I'm doing wrong, and I wanted to see how to structure my business and how to go to market, how to pitch. My pitch deck was a mess before I started, and after listening to the mentor's feedback, I got a really good understanding. It gave me a lot of clarity.

Yeah, that I agree. If there's one thing you'll walk away with Founder Institute is it's going to be a good pitch deck and clarity of your purpose and company. So that's great. So I guess, Danielle, I mean, you were a little bit more sort of in the idea stage. You had your website, you were kind of putting everything together. I mean, what, what would really help you in the program?

I think everyone's kind of touched on it before. It's, it's this blueprint and map of what you're doing. And I think for me at least, I started off, I was like, oh, I have an idea. I wanna try and test it out. FI was like this grinder that was like, all right, you're gonna do this, this, this, this, and this in this timeframe. And I think coming out of the accelerator, I thought in my head there'd be less work. I was like, oh, I don't have to do the homework. And I'm like doing more work now, now that I see what is required to actually launch a business. I'm like, oh my goodness, I am just as busy, if not busier. And so I think that was really the kind of helpful case in terms of an accelerator is for me, it was providing that pressure to see this is the type of environment that you start companies in. And otherwise I would have just kind of probably been like beat bopping around trying to like do this over here and that over there. So yeah, I think FI was definitely the structure that somebody like me needed to actually know the steps to launching a product in market.

Awesome. That's great to hear. And so I see we're getting a lot of questions in the chat, so we'll switch over there. And, you know, Daniel Durzavich, this is really geared towards you. So Jason asks, or he says, we're a social justice startup. Do you think FI would be a good fit? And although you're not social justice, there is definitely a social impact focus of your company. So maybe you could talk a little bit about that.

Sure. Yeah, it's a good question. In general, if you're trying to build a successful company, FI is good for you. It doesn't really matter what type of industry you're talking about or if it's something really focused, in this case, on social justice. Yes, my company, its idea since inception is for it to become a profitable one, but as Well, my— what I learned with F5 is that the only way of having as much impact in— profitable and professional, and that's what F5 brought to the table. So yeah, my answer would be A short yes.

Okay, great. And so, you know, I'm seeing some other questions here. This one's come, comes from Tamara Sattler, and this is really kind of open to any of you. Do most alumni give back after the program in terms of time, mentorship, or money? I mean, I'm happy to answer that, but I mean, I guess technically joining this webinar is you giving back. So I don't know if you have any thoughts or feedback on that.

Yeah, go ahead.

All right, Daniel, you go.

Um, yeah, so the— there is a lot of, uh, um, mentors that do give back, um, and I think it's, it's important that you do give back, right? Um, and I'll just share a funny story with me is Throughout the, during the course of the program, one of the things that I was doing was sending out messages to individuals on LinkedIn because I was building up my network. And so one day I actually tested my pitch on someone and they said, oh, you know what, great pitch, good luck and I'll see you tonight. And I said, what do you mean? And that individual was actually an FI mentor. And I just realized, wow, right? How does— I just stumbled across someone and that individual made time available to me without knowing anything about me and said, you know what, I'll give you 20, 30 minutes of my time and I'll just hear your pitch out, right? And gave me some pointers. And I think that's one of the things again that I think you do see for the— with a lot of the mentors, the office hours that are made available to you. So there's a lot of individuals that are in the program that are giving back and Again, for myself, and I think for the rest of us, I think it's more than a delight to give back to the program.

Anything to add, Charlie?

Yeah, it's not just giving back to FI, but also to your group, to your peers. You know, we have a group, so we help each other out that way as well. But I, halfway through the program, I filled out a form to volunteer for doing FI in my city. So yeah, giving back is definitely something that is something I want to do. We volunteer, yeah.

That's great. So there's a couple other questions here that I want to jump to. This is kind of around co-founders, and I don't know if this is really applicable for people here, but I'll go ahead and ask. So Daniel Reyes asks, is FI a good place to look for a co-founder? And then Adrian asked, does FI have a platform to help me recruit a co-founder, or is there another platform you recommend? And so while you're kind of thinking of your answers, you know, I'll just kind of jump in. So we don't matchmake founders, like we don't say, hey, you know, you need to work with this person. That certainly does happen in the program. There's been many times where drop out, but we're like, hey, you should really talk to this person because, you know, you've got a skill set that matches them, or you're working on something similar. So that happens pretty often, but it happens organically, right? We don't, we don't believe in shotgun weddings at Founder Institute, but I'm curious to hear, you know, founders, are there any examples within the cohort of like people kind of teaming up? Or, and I think, you know, another kind of component of this is like, there's a lot of people out there looking for technical co-founders. So do you have any best practices or recommendations for them?

Yeah, so for me, I started kind of in, in the language learning market, and one of the feedbacks that I got was, oh, this is a very crowded market space, you got to differentiate. And what was interesting was, I think the other folks who also were kind of bunched around language learning, I was able to connect with them if they were in Silicon Valley or if they were in the Toronto group. So that was, for me, was very helpful to understand my market space from different founders. And so although they're not working in a co-founder type way, I think I had a chat with one of the FI alumni like 2 days ago for like 3 hours that we're just kind of breaking down our markets and what we need to actually launch and traction. So it is this community that you'll find people in your space, in your field that you're trying to solve problems in. You can bounce a lot of good ideas off of. And FI also does a really good job in how to find and develop a team. I think that's very critical to making things happen. So I think that for me, at least, having more than myself and my co-founder working on this project in this company was really helpful to actually have an idea that is starting to gain traction.

Totally. I don't know if any of the other founders have comments, but, you know, what you just said, Daniel, dovetails nicely into another question from a Struble who basically was asking, like, how do you compare the process of finding team members in the program versus out of the program? I think, like, at the end of the day, regardless if someone's on your team or not, like, if you actually find that, like, technical co-founder or co-founder in general that owns 20% of your company, The one kind of for sure thing that you'll get out of the program is the community, which is what Daniel mentioned. We sort of have this tribe of people that are now supporting you for the long haul because you all essentially have equity in each other's companies. And that's really a powerful mechanism, which, you know, I think is really the biggest value of the program. Because a lot of these founders, and if you kind of look at how we administer that equity collective, you know, we're giving 75% of any exit proceeds back to the local ecosystem that helped launch that company. Company. So those are your mentors, your directors, and your fellow founders. And so like those people, that tribe that you've built in the program, are there to help support you for like, you know, the 10 to 15 years of entrepreneurship that hopefully you'll experience building your company. And I think that's very important to kind of show, even if it's not necessarily a co-founder, you'll absolutely have like a really strong network of people who could potentially connect you to other people. And so, you know, outside of co-founders, I've got some other questions here. So this is regarding kind of program details, and, you know, Sally asked how demanding is the program. And so we basically have founders from different regions around the world, but it really is from like FI Toronto and FI Silicon Valley. I run Founder Institute Silicon Valley, so we kind of pride ourselves on running one of the harder programs, but FI Toronto is definitely challenging as well. So Maybe founders, do you want to jump in and kind of address how demanding is the program? And maybe you could talk a little bit about some of those challenges that you went through and what a week in the life is of a founder in the program. Maybe Danielle, you're nodding your head. Why don't we start with you first?

I had a very interesting time. I'm a firefighter and I also got COVID during this time and a double pneumonia. So it was very demanding, but realistically, I really likened it to you have to have a set schedule of when you're going to do things, and you have to think at least 2 to 3 weeks in advance when you're reaching out to people and asking them, you know, what do they need, or if you're trying to make advisor connections and relationships. A lot of these things take time. And so if it's like Tuesday night and your deliverables are due tomorrow, like on Wednesday, now is not the time. Like, then is not the time to like start emailing people like, hey, could you give me some feedback on my thing real quick? Like, you just have to have this mindset of thinking 2 to 3 weeks in advance. And so for me, while I was like super sick, I think that definitely showed just how much FI does, because I was like, oh my goodness, I am drowning in things to do. But at the same time, I think if you have a structure for yourself or somebody to help keep you accountable on the tasks, it's very manageable and very, very doable.

Awesome. And so Sally, that kind of addresses the second part of your question, which is, is it possible to do while you maintain a full-time job? So if a firefighter with COVID-19 can do it, I think almost anyone can do it. What do the other founders think?

Um, I was— it's, it's a lot of, a lot of brain work, but not a lot of— for me, it wasn't a lot of, um, physical work. There's not a lot of things that you have to write. Uh, for me, it's, it's mainly time that you need to think about the business. Doing the pitch deck properly is really brain-consuming. It's a brain-consuming exercise. It's things that you should be doing anyway.

Yeah, that's a good point. And Daniel, I see you raise your hand, so you can jump in here. But I think the way you can think about it to all the founders or attendees here is like, fi— this isn't like school. Right? So you're not really doing like theoretical stuff. There's a lot of like supporting resources and articles, and we've curated kind of the best of the best content for you. But at the end of the day, these deliverables are things that you would have to do anyway. We just package it in a way to keep you accountable and like compress it into a 3-month period. So it's not like you're doing extra busywork. A lot of these things are things you would have to do anyway just to build the business. And so that's how you want to think about it. It actually might take, you know, the place of other things you were doing for your business, but like we sequence it in a way where you're, you know, it'll optimize the process. So Daniel Dersbech, do you want to go next?

Yeah, I just wanted to add that, I mean, in general terms, the first half of the program is very challenging. You realize very soon that you need to adapt to a new lifestyle. In many cases, you need to adjust also to prior engagements, and then The special assignments that take place a little bit later on, they make it even tougher because you need to complete the rest of the work and it just becomes a massive workload. So I mean, yeah, it's something that you need to have in your mind because you will dedicate a lot of your time to FI for sure.

Cool. I'll go down to the next question. This is from Jason, and I think this is really interesting, but he asked, do you feel like you lost any part of your business's vision by following the blueprint? In other words, how did you pivot? Did you lose some of that initial spark that maybe you started off with because you realized maybe your initial vision wasn't right or whatever? So founders, what do you think?

I don't, you know what, I don't think so. I think if anything, your vision when you're done the program is actually better than when you start out the program. So when you look at your deck on day 1 and then you look at your deck on the final day, it's sometimes it's actually completely transformed. And I could say that for mine because again, I'll bring it back to the mentors and your working groups is, they poke so many holes in, in it, right? And did you think about this? Did you think about this? They play devil's— they ask you so many questions that they beat on you, but it challenges you to think things through. And again, I think if you follow the plan and not take it personally and realize that everyone here is really there to support you, you actually come out better than when you started.

Very cool. Charlie, I saw you unmuted. Do you have anything to add?

Yeah, so you lose the bits that are not important, so you can focus on the things that are important. So I experienced that during the first pitch, and I got some mentor feedback, and it was important to lose some of those bits that were not important and then just focus on the important ones. Because in a pitch, 3-minute pitch, you can only say so much. So yeah, I think it did change a few things for me, but for the better.

Yeah, love it. That's a great description. So Camilo is asking, you know, what's the main difference with the various Founder Institute locations? So Madrid, Amsterdam, Berlin. Yeah, I can quickly answer that. I mean, really the difference is who are the people running the program and who are the mentors? And as a result, who are the founders that you're working with? The structure is the same everywhere, the value's the same, and we have a very stringent process on screening local directors who run the program for us. They actually have to go through a mini Founder Institute kind of training that where, you know, maybe only half of them will make it through just like our program. And so really the difference is in the people. So my recommendation is that you should probably take the program that's closest to you because, you know, when people are able to meet up in person, it's going to be more valuable for you to have a network of mentors that are local to you or a network of founders that are local, for instance, in Madrid, Spain, than it would be in Los Angeles, right? And so especially when it comes to fundraising, your first round is always going to be someone that's relatively close to you. Angel investors, even seed funds want to be close. So the closer you are to the chapter, the better, and that's how I would make that decision. Next question is Augustine asks, how did Founder Institute help you raise capital? And so Daniel, I think you raised your round in the program. Maybe you want to talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, great question. So I think for me, I'll come back to the pitch deck where I look at my version 1 and the version that I used when I finally did go see the group of investors and I started those conversations is it became so refined where I learned how to tell a story in a really, really succinct way and answer the questions. And really, how do you present? And again, show the value and the opportunity of the, of the, of the, of the business that you're starting, and down to the details of building financials, looking at projections, looking at your market size. And so when I was being asked questions during that process, those were answers that I had because Being part of the program helped me answer those questions. So I went into those meetings prepared where nothing was a surprise because we've covered those, we covered so many of those topics already in our class sessions and in our working group sessions and the mentor sessions. And then again, Founders Institute does such a great job of partnering you with other mentors. So if they see that there's an opportunity or, for you to speak to someone else that might be out of town. Because we were working with the Silicon Valley group, they partnered me with someone from the Silicon Valley group as a mentor who again took a few sessions to sit down with me and look at, here's your deck, take this out, rip it apart. Where, yeah, there was one day where I felt horrible because they trashed the entire deck, right? But I took all, all of it in, I built it back up, and I went and I showed them, and they said, you know what, spot on. That's what, that's what they did. And I think it also gives you the confidence because we're pitching every single week, right? And you got to be ready to pitch. So you're, you're in that frame of mind, you're in that, you get into this groove, which I think just does amazing for you when, uh, when you start pitching investors.

Awesome. Thanks, Daniel. And, you know, Belazis, you asked a question too around like finding investors and how does FI help you raise capital. One of the things that we do for our alumni is we have a program called Funding Lab, which is a free accelerator program for all of our alumni. So when you graduate the core program, like all of the founders who are on the call today have done, It unlocks our postgraduate programs like Funding Lab, and that's generally where people will go and raise capital. And so you can think of it as a Founder Institute-type structured program that's virtual, and it's run by our team in Silicon Valley. So you'll actually be working with people in Silicon Valley to help you raise money. And part of that is like network introductions, certainly leveraging the network to raise money, And we run that program, you know, 2 to 3 times a year depending on volume. And so that's free for all of our alumni. Once you're an alumni, you— there's a lot of value that gets unlocked. And we really want to double down on the founders that have graduated because if you think about it from our perspective, we only win when our alumni win big. And so we're incentivized again through the equity collective, and that's why that's important, to help you build a company for the rest of your, your life. So whether you're raising a seed round or a Series A, there's things that we do to support you leveraging the network and other structured postgraduate programs for the life of your business. So hopefully that answers your questions. So Jay asked a question here. He says he's been working on his business for 2 years, but he's not sure if it's the right thing to, uh, right thing to be launching right now. So he's asking a question around, you know, should he push forward through FI with his original idea? Should he stay in the program with a new, much less developed idea, so sort of pivot? Or should he pause and then join a future cohort when he's more certain about the market timing in his idea? So I mean, what's your, what's your sense? And this kind of goes to, do you try to power through and, and, you know, make it work? Do you pivot? Or do you kind of drop out and then come back? And, and so none of you dropped out of the program, but maybe you have some advice for Jay?

Yeah, I mean, I started with this idea of having in-person language meetups where people can come together and eat salsa and dance, and then COVID happened and that was just kind of completely shut down. And so that was kind of our reckoning of our secret sauce was making these in-person events through this language learning platform, and then all of a sudden in person was out of the question for launching a business. And I think it's very similar to— I'm also a children's book author, not right now, but previously too. You have this intention and idea when starting a thing, and the more you reach out to people, the more you start to edit things, it might look completely different from when you started, but the intention will still usually kind of carry through. The core problem still carries through. Just your solution changes. Your solution might transform as you're kind of going through the process. So that's kind of my advice and kind of my background was, yeah, it looks a lot different. And even my co-founder said, she's like, I didn't picture starting this. I was like, yep, nope, me neither. But I think overall, you still have the core and fundamental building blocks from FI. To make your solution work in whatever market that comes to be.

Charlie, were you going to say something too?

Yeah, I would say drop it if you're not sure about something. If you, if you're undecided, drop it. I've had a lot of ideas in the past and I wasn't, I wasn't sure if I should proceed with them, and I dropped it and I didn't miss it. And by dropping them, you get a lot of space to think and then focus on the things that you really want to do. Basically, you should really be passionate about it. You should have a definite yes answer before you continue.

Daniel?

Now, if you're— I mean, I noticed that pivoting is a word that keeps appearing, and that's something that I think it's important to talk about. You will have to be flexible enough to pivot from your idea. And maybe it's not dramatic, it's not like a 180-degree kind of change, but pivoting and being flexible, I learned, at least it's my experience, that increases your chance of success dramatically again. So take that into account.

So there's a question in here from Andrew, and this is more sort of administrative, but it's when and how do you assign mentors in the program? And so since I run one of the programs, I can, I can be very specific. So every program, every Accelerator chapter that we have around the world has its own specific mentor list, and it's up to our local leadership team to kind of vet the mentors and add them to the system. And then when we launch a program, The mentors sort of participate in two ways. The first is they can join a program session where they mentor the founders in terms of giving pitch feedback. They also are able to give a 15-minute presentation related to the subject of the evening. So if the topic is fundraising and we bring in, you know, a venture capitalist to talk about fundraising, then obviously they're an expert and they'll give a presentation and they'll be able to give founders feedback. And so the other way that mentors participate in the program is they do office hours. And this is like one-on-one meetings that you can set up with mentors. Now, not every mentor sets up office hours, but a large majority of them do. And this is just a chance for you to, again, have this ready-made network of people who are ready and incentivized to help support you and learn about what you're doing and connect you to their network. And so that's, that's really kind of how the mentor process works. But yeah, it's all usually managed and screened locally by whoever the program directors are. And we can have anywhere from 50 to 400 mentors who have mentored, you know, historically in programs that have been running for, you know, 10 years or more. So some other questions here, and this one is for, this comes from Boru. And this goes to either Charlie or Daniel Durzavich. So what was your largest setback when you were trying to penetrate an international market? And so I guess like for you, you're not really in international markets yet. You were a founder in an international market joining a Founder Institute Silicon Valley program, but you're still focused on your local cities and your local regions. Is that right, Charlie and Daniel?

Yeah, that's right. So I joined the— well, first I joined the— I applied for the Silicon Valley cohort, then I got moved to the Singaporean, and luckily we joined up to the Silicon Valley. I think my business is local, but there's definitely the vision to go international. And to talk to people from all over the world really helps with that vision.

Yeah, and I guess— go ahead, Daniel, and then I'll jump in with a comment.

I definitely agree with Charlie. In my experience, you can encounter some kind of cultural shocks when you're speaking to mentors. But if you're good at conveying your story, actually, like, telling your story, then, to realize that the problem exists, the problem that you're trying to solve exists, and then everything starts to work like a little machine. So there are differences and to what you said at the beginning, Ryan, I think it does make sense to join the cohort that's closest to your region. Then again, we're trying to become global companies, most of us probably. So at the end, the idea is— I think the idea is that you join the program and that you start working on that flexibility and that idea of telling your story.

Yeah, that's a good point. And just to kind of add some more context to that as well, you know, for both Charlie and Daniel, when they're ready to scale to another market, let's say Charlie's like, hey, the next market I want to go to is Singapore or Germany or wherever. We have 15, actually it's closer to 17, but 15,000 mentors around the world in all of these different markets. And in addition to that, we have local leadership teams that know all of those mentors in those markets. So Charlie could come to me and be like, hey Ryan, who's running FI Jakarta? And I say, oh, you wanna go talk to Andy Zane. And then I do an email intro and then they start talking. Andy says, hey, you gotta go talk to, you know, this person or that person. And so there's this like network that's already been kind of penetrated internationally, and you just kind of get routed through it to the right people who can help. And that's something that becomes available as an alumni. In fact, we even have a search the network tool where you could look up any founder or mentor that's part of the Founder Institute. And that's a tool that's at your fingertips once you graduate. So some other questions here, and this is a good one, it's pretty general, but about how much time on average did you have to set aside to dedicate for FI? So there's kind of two parts to this question really. It's like, you know, one, what does a weekly schedule look like? You know, how much time do you need to be successful? And then like, how much time did you personally set aside to maybe, you know, make sure that you could do well in the program? Danielle, do you want to start?

Yeah, so it's funny because it's one of those questions that it's like, it depends. It kind of depends on how much work there needs to be done. I started with more or less an idea, some people who had followed me on Facebook, this kind of random meetup group of language learners, and I was like, I got some things and some people. So for me, it looked like depending on the week, anywhere from 10 to 35 hours. And that was kind of just my, my rough estimate. It's kind of weird. Because I'm a firefighter, I could technically work on FI while I was at work, pending no emergencies. But yeah, depending on the week and depending on what was being asked, I think that was kind of what was giving me my feedback of how much work I should be doing. And then another thing for me was just like making sure the, the quality of the work that you're doing is is good. So yeah, you could probably slap something together overnight and take 45 minutes on it. Is that gonna help your business? Most likely not. So yeah, functioning in those hours for myself. So 10 to 35 or so or more. And a lot of them I think would also include reaching out to people. So there's a lot of outreach to people who were not me on how and having to understand my business concept from my potential users.

Daniel Yeboah, what about you?

Yeah, so there's a lot of time. There's a lot. I would say at the bare, bare minimum, 10 hours, and on the higher end, same thing, 30 to 35 hours.

One of the things that you think I think we might have lost Daniel, or there is a connection issue. While his internet's rebooting, Charlie, I saw that you had an answer too. Do you want to jump in?

Yeah, keep in mind that you don't have to do everything yourself. You can get people to help you, and I did. So it's not like in school or university where you have to do it yourself.

Yeah, good point. So I see Daniel Yabo, you're back. Sorry, you froze for, for a second there. So we heard you, you said that on the beginning it was 10 hours, you could go up to like 35 if you went really crazy with it. But, um, but yeah, go ahead and finish your thought.

Yeah, there's, there's the— you put aside time that you have for the weekly FI sessions, then, um, our working group, we met twice a week And we met twice a week for about 2, sometimes it ended up being 2.5 or 3 hours. Then there's the actual work. So when you're doing the assignments, it'll say validate your idea with 5 people. Great. Then the next week it says validate your idea with 5 more people, right? And so even it's, you have to keep putting in that work. But I think one of the things that you come to realize is that don't let time be the— time be the rate-limiting factor of why you don't want to be in the program. Look at what does it take to run a business successfully. And if you want to run a business successfully, if you put in 5 hours worth of work, your business will not be successful. But the more time, the more energy that you put into your business, the better your outcomes are going to be.

Yeah, that's spot on, Daniel. You know, because a lot of times, like, in the program, because everyone's been to some level of school, they— people can fall back into that mentality like, oh, I better do my homework or the teacher is going to get mad. And it's like, well, no, like, take advantage of this to build your company. And, you know, you really get out of it what you put into it. And so really that paradigm shift of this isn't busywork to just complete a program. This is me working on my company and how much do I care and how much do I want to put into it. And the reality is, like some of you— and this happens often in the program— some of you may realize, you know what, like, I don't have the time for it. And really what that means is you don't really have the passion for it, right? Because if you loved what you were doing and you were like, this is, you know, I'm going to change the world and this is something I really want to dedicate 20 years of my life to. You'll find the time. And, you know, with COVID things are pretty tough. A lot of parents are babysitting while doing— being teachers in school. And it's totally fine if now is not the right time. And you can kind of use Founder Institute as a proxy for, you know, what will happen in real life. Because the reality is like, you know, we make the program tough, only the top 30 or 40% of people will succeed in it. And what that means is like, you know, it's sort of like a You know, it's a filter almost, right? So if you can make it through the program, your chance of success is way higher because we've already accounted for that 90% failure rate. So the fact that you actually graduate the program means that you actually have something and you're more likely to be successful because we've kind of filtered out the people that were gonna fail or didn't have the time or whatever the reason was, right? So another kind of question here, You know, and this goes back to something that you had talked about, Charlie, about kind of leveraging your team in the program. So they basically asked, you know, if you have co-founders, do all the co-founders have to do the deliverables? And I can jump in and just give a quick answer here. So there's two ways you can leverage co-founders in the program. The first is you can actually have them enroll and join the program with you, in which case, you know, you're two founders in the program. And you have to do the deliverables separately. Now you can work on it together, but you don't necessarily just want to copy and paste and put it in your profile, but each of you will have to definitely submit your own answers and turn in the work, right? And there's value in that. Again, it's not busy work. It's valuable for you as a company to run it that way. The other way you can do it is if you have a co-founder team, just have one of you go through the program and the other person can kind of sit there and support the other, maybe focusing more on building the product or doing things that, you know, fill in the gaps of, you know, things that you're doing throughout the program. And that's another way to kind of split your time to really take advantage of it. So one of you is like 100% focused on maximizing the program and the other person is 100% focused on, you know, some other aspect of the business, product, business development, whatever. So another question here for the alumni. What is the biggest strength of FI? Is it the mentors, the community, the curriculum, the network, the ability to raise funding? What do you think personally was the— is our biggest strength as an organization, but also the biggest value for you as an alumni? Maybe Daniel Durziewicz, you want to go first?

Sure. For me, I think it's the network, because the network then translates into everything else that you mentioned, Ryan. So by building a strong network, you're able to build good relationships, you're able to actually even get funding later on. If you're looking for— one of the earlier questions was regarding getting a co-founder or someone for your team, and that's also— I mean, the networking offers you that. So for me, It's been all about network for sure.

What about you, Danielle?

Yeah, so I was saying, I was kind of trying to type this in the chat earlier. I think it really helps you find value in what you need for your company. So I think everyone's needs in starting a business are different, whether it's B2B or B2C. It helps you break down exactly if you're building a very technical product, you should really have a very strong technical team behind you that you can show off. If you're building a B2C, making sure that all of a sudden you have this community and you're cultivating relationships with your community. So for me, it really helped me understand exactly what is most important in my product market fit, but in kind of the trajectory of my company itself, what makes the most sense for me to be focusing on. And I think that helps kind of prioritize all the things to do as a founder, kind of gives you the top, you know, 3 things that have the most impact for your business in helping it get traction in, you know, 3 months, 6 months, however long it takes.

Nice. Yeah, finding the holes and helping you fill it. Daniel Yobo, what about you?

You know, so I will always say mentors, and then I think it's community. And again, one of the things I talked about was bumping into pitching someone that was an FI mentor. And then what's also funny is that a couple, probably about a month ago, I've been speaking with another startup and working on an API development with them. And then ended up speaking with the CEO who also happened to be an FI alumni and a mentor. And just having that connection, that CEO actually took several days to refine my business model with me and had nothing to do with the sales process because he could have simply just sold me the product. But he said, no, Daniel, I want you to succeed and here's why. Let's take some time and let's dig through, let's refine. And that's the value of FI is there's such this community. And once someone finds out that, oh, you're from FI, the willingness of that individual to help you, to support you is just amazing. And you see doors just open up for you.

Awesome. And Charlie, any thoughts there?

Yeah, for me it was talking to people who are experienced and being able to answer my questions, right? So I could call up Brian or Mike, "Hey, what do you think about this?" They will know the answer, right? And because they're experienced, they've been doing this for years, right? So you can trust that they will give you the right advice. And secondly, what Daniel mentioned is absolutely correct. It's credibility. Once you finish FI, it's recognized. So when you talk to people, oh, FI, okay. So they sort of recognize that you're a different level to all the other startups.

Definitely. Yeah, I always joke that, you know, Founder Institute is like the Marine Corps for startup founders. All right, we've got one— I know we're kind of running out of time here. There's one question from Camilo who's asking about the different FI locations and whether or not they have different areas of expertise. So he uses the example that he's in the tourism industry, there's electric water sports in Spain, and the one thing I would say is like we do actually have some vertical programs. Most programs do not have a vertical attached to it, although, you know, if you look at the mentors or the leaders they may have specific areas of expertise. So for example, you know, in our Silicon Valley program, we have a lot of mentors in space tech, and we have a partnership with NASA. And so that allows us to basically have this ready-made space tech network for founders working on space technology. Same thing in Helsinki and in the Nordics, we have a food program. We don't have anything for tourism though. So, so that's not something necessarily I would, I would put into your consideration for a program. I would still go with the advice of take the one that's local or maybe the one that's coming up soonest, and that way you can jump in and get ready. So before we wrap up here, I, I want to kind of ask each of you sort of a closing question here, which is like, what tips would you give someone to be successful in the program or just in entrepreneurship in general that you had learned? Um, so maybe let's start with you, uh, Daniel Dersvich.

Sure.

So I would focus on two specific pieces of advice. One, do the work. Sometimes you start reading on the deliverable, sorry, and you think to yourself that something is not right, it's too much work. It's just— trust me on this one, do the work. And the second thing I would say is And this is crucial, you have to be in constant communication with the program directors. In this case, Ryan and Mike Super Ricci. I was in contact with them and Ryan won't let me lie, at least twice a week. And it's always productive, it's always constructive, and it really gives you perspective on what you're doing and it lets you continue with efficient and effective development of the company, your pitch deck. So those would be my two pieces of advice.

Awesome. Danielle, what about you?

So mine's a little bit different. I would say if anyone, you know, reads books by Tim Ferriss or anything like that, break down your own fears and kind of like, kind of do some fear geographic mining to understand what is, what's kind of inherent to you that you're fearful of, to really understand what's going to impact you as a founder. For me, I have social anxiety, so it's really interesting pitching and talking to investors. Like, literally just makes me super nervous and super awkward. It's weird because I'm a firefighter, so that's all we do all day is talk to people. But that is something that I have to take into account because I will shy away from certain things that I know that I have to do if it involves that interpersonal relationships. So before going into FI, understand what are the things that you naturally are a little bit more afraid of, whether it is putting in a lot of work, whether it is talking to investors or people who know way more than you. So that for me was really helpful in understanding and breaking down where I was going to have the most problems. And I think that will help you as you grow your company is the company has kind of some of your DNA. And so making sure that, you know, your challenges don't become your company's challenges.

Yeah, that's super interesting. And now look at you, you're on a webinar with founders from all over the world. Charlie, let's go to you next and then Daniel Iboa. Yep.

So my tip is, because you'll be doing a few pitches, right, throughout the program, and during those pitches you'll get negative feedback. And for each of those negative feedback, make sure you address it for the next pitch. So you won't— so you always improve your pitch with every negative feedback. And right at the end, all the mentors will have no negative feedback left for you.

Awesome. Good advice. And last but not least, Daniel.

Charlie said it spot on, you know, take all the negative feedback that you get and improve it on a week-to-week basis. You know, take advantage of the team, take advantage of the mentors, take advantage of the management, the directors of the program. Sunil was the director for the Toronto group. Stay in constant contact with them. The other thing is take advantage of the office hours. So Founders Institute makes so many things available to you. Take advantage of everything that they do make available to you. And last but not least is when you come into this program, all your assumptions that you had, throw them in the garbage, just literally throw them all out and start on a clean slate. Slate and do what the program does and they tell you and go through that process. And you're gonna realize that there's so many things that you did not think about when you were originally trying to build the business that they challenge you and make you think about and address throughout the process.

Awesome. Yeah, that, that's great advice as well. And, and so before we wrap up here, just want to, uh, thank everyone in the audience for, for your great questions, You know, we're enrolling founders in over 100 cities around the world currently. And so some of you, my best advice would be, you know, get to know the local leadership team, join a local webinar. Founder Institute is one of the largest event producers in the world in terms of startup events. So every single week we're producing great content in terms of global webinars for you to join, and also local webinars where you can meet some of the local mentors as well as the program directors. If you ever have questions, you can always just reply back to any of the emails we've sent you. I mean, I highly, highly recommend just, you know, start connecting with that local accelerator program because that's the beauty here and the magic really happens in that kind of one-on-one connection, which will develop over the course of the program. So thank you, alumni, for joining. This was great. I hope it added a lot of value for the people here. And again, founders, we'll be sending an email follow-up with a copy of this webinar in the next few days. Stay safe, stay healthy, and we wish all of you the best of luck with your companies. Take care, everyone.