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The Founder Institute – A Graduate’s Firsthand Account

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Re: The Founder Institute – A Graduate’s Firsthand Account

#11

Post by vdibart »

jpatte wrote: post #10
vdibart wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first question would be why you consider YC to be your best choice. No offense intended to the host of this forum, but there's a lot of reasons that might not be true. Clearly YC gets better press, but as with FI it's not for everyone. A lot depends on the stage of your idea/company. My gut reaction to the underlying question is that you should focus on figuring out which program is better for your situation and d…

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. But as you said yourself, just because I think YC is a better choice for me does not mean it's true, and it's certainly does not mean it is true for everyone and YC > FI. So I'm not sure why you feel this way... Thanks for your advices, I will consider both programs carefully. One of the aspects which make me prefer YC so far (as an European) is the "Silicon Valley adventure", I ju…

Not taking it personally, no worries. Just want to make sure the FI doesn't get disrespected. Realize I might not be in the right place for that though :)

I certainly don't understand YC as well as I do FI, but I would think a lot of it comes down to how far along you are with your company. FI might be more valuable if you're less advanced - have a great idea, maybe a prototype but not a ton else. YC is probably more suited for companies that are further along. YC grads can feel free to correct me on that.

Whichever you choose I'd make sure you really, fully, totally, unequivocally understand as much about the details of the program as you can. As others have mentioned here and elsewhere, there are bound to be surprises no matter which program you enter. The goal is to minimize the impact of those surprises.

Re: The Founder Institute – A Graduate’s Firsthand Account

#12

Post by pg »

vdibart wrote: post #11
jpatte wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. But as you said yourself, just because I think YC is a better choice for me does not mean it's true, and it's certainly does not mean it is true for everyone and YC > FI. So I'm not sure why you feel this way... Thanks for your advices, I will consider both programs carefully. One of the aspects which make me prefer YC so far (as an European) is the "Silicon Valley adventure", I ju…

Not taking it personally, no worries. Just want to make sure the FI doesn't get disrespected. Realize I might not be in the right place for that though :) I certainly don't understand YC as well as I do FI, but I would think a lot of it comes down to how far along you are with your company. FI might be more valuable if you're less advanced - have a great idea, maybe a prototype but not a ton else. YC is probably more…

YC is probably more suited for companies that are further along.

No; we've funded groups that had been launched for a year and others that didn't even have an idea yet. Our threshold is simply whether the founders are ready to work full time on the company.

Re: The Founder Institute – A Graduate’s Firsthand Account

#13

Post by vdibart »

pg wrote: post #12
vdibart wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not taking it personally, no worries. Just want to make sure the FI doesn't get disrespected. Realize I might not be in the right place for that though :) I certainly don't understand YC as well as I do FI, but I would think a lot of it comes down to how far along you are with your company. FI might be more valuable if you're less advanced - have a great idea, maybe a prototype but not a ton else. YC is probably more…

YC is probably more suited for companies that are further along. No; we've funded groups that had been launched for a year and others that didn't even have an idea yet. Our threshold is simply whether the founders are ready to work full time on the company.

Thanks for the clarification pg.

I would think that it'd be pretty uncommon to be accepted at the pre-idea stage though, no? I mean, seed funding for literally nothing more than a good team is pretty tough to come by. For FI that's actually pretty common (at least in my experience).

Re: The Founder Institute – A Graduate’s Firsthand Account

#14

Post by eande »

As a Founder Institute 2009 inaugural graduate I share the same opinion as it was written here. With my strong technical background the training added most valuable information on how to build and run a start-up, which I thought I knew, but I had to learn that I actually missed a lot.

I agree that the course might not be for everyone depending on the business and strategy you try to establish. But anyone who intends to found a company and knows he needs to add on more knowledge in certain areas the training can help tremendously. You also gain a strong network.



But it does not come for free and the 4 months are a lot of work. Listening to these mentors and CEO’s and understanding the stories why they were so successful helps you to use this information and apply on your own. On top you can get short advice from the mentor’s which can be also highly valuable.


What I enjoy now most is the network of the other founders from our course. Founder Institute program was awesome.

Re: The Founder Institute – A Graduate’s Firsthand Account

#15

Post by rdl »

jpatte wrote: post #8

I was accepted in Paris FI program for this summer, however I didn't pay the fee yet because I was also invited for an interview at YC in 10 days. I must decide today if I enter the FI program or not, knowing that YC is clearly my best choice but I can't wait for their answer. I could follow the FI program until May, however if (cross fingers) I'm accepted at YC I won't be able to follow the FI program until the end.…

I did FI Bay Area Winter 2009 (but dropped out midway through because I had to go to the middle east for dayjob, and couldn't quit dayjob without seriously screwing over a coworker). I may do FI again (they let you go on to the next session if you drop out), and I would definitely suggest FI to anyone looking for that kind of program. Adeo is great, and many of the mentors are awesome.

As a direct comparison for launching a product, YC is better than FI because it's full-time vs. part time, but FI is great. However, getting into FI and going along for 2 months might make it more attractive to stay, having invested those 2 months. FI is also a little more about the business, YC is more about the product -- FI would actually be even better as a follow-on to a YC semester.

I would probably go ahead and do FI as a learning experience, then evaluate when YC responds to you whether you should drop out or not. (answer would probably be yes, but this is the first semester for FI Paris and it might be amazing)

If you wanted to actually relocate to the bay area, YC or FI Bay Area would probably be more valuable than FI Paris, since the mentors/angels in the Paris program are probably going to be European. That would be my biggest factor in deciding.

Re: The Founder Institute – A Graduate’s Firsthand Account

#16

Post by rdl »

I did the Bay Area Winter 2009 program (although I dropped out halfway through for dayjob emergency; I may go back for Summer 2010).

FI is great for several reasons: 1) It focuses more on developing entrepreneurs, vs. necessarily companies. The requirement that you incorporate to graduate is kind of at odds with this, but definitely the curriculum for the first half of the program is compatible with coming up with an idea and launching it within the program. 2) It's compatible with having a day job during the program -- if you have good time management skills, you can keep the day job while attending FI, launching your company, and thus not have to worry about funding. This is a major differentiator vs. YC. 3) Some of the mentors (IMO Aaron Patzer, Jon Betts-Croix, Ram from A9, and some others) were fucking AMAZING. It's worth $600 just to see their sessions. 4) You have some chance of meeting great cofounders in the program -- I actually met a few people I'd be happy to work with, and have gone down the road to doing a startup with someone from the program.

For the ideal training to do a startup (other than JFDI), I'd do an entrepreneurship program in undergrad (e.g. MIT E-Club, 100k contest), then something like YC to build a product, and Founder Institute to learn about the nuts and bolts of running a company, possibly interspersed with time spent working at either startups or funded former-startups.

Re: The Founder Institute – A Graduate’s Firsthand Account

#17

Post by pg »

vdibart wrote: post #13
pg wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC is probably more suited for companies that are further along. No; we've funded groups that had been launched for a year and others that didn't even have an idea yet. Our threshold is simply whether the founders are ready to work full time on the company.

Thanks for the clarification pg. I would think that it'd be pretty uncommon to be accepted at the pre-idea stage though, no? I mean, seed funding for literally nothing more than a good team is pretty tough to come by. For FI that's actually pretty common (at least in my experience).

It's quite common with us. A lot of the companies we fund do something different than they applied with.
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