Our first Seattle information session was a great success, and we’re pleased to host another one–this time on the Eastside–on Thursday, 11/19 (venue details coming soon). Here’s a look back at the first info session…

Seattle Founders Get a Peek of Upcoming Founder Institute Session

Monday night, 11/2/09, more than 70 local founders crowded into the UW’s Boeing Auditorium to get a sneak peek at what’s in store during the inaugural Seattle offering of the Founder Institute. Adeo Ressi, founder of the Institute, and Chris Early, leader of the Seattle chapter, were on hand to answer questions and build excitement for the program to much positive response from the crowd. (Video of the session to be added soon!)

Who was there? In addition to lots of excited entrepreneurs, we were joined by one of our semester’s Mentors, CEO and founder of Napera Networks, Todd Hooper. Another great contributor to the night was the voice of recent experience, local founder and graduate from the first Bay Area Founder Institute, Louis Hong. 

Adeo talked through the history of the Institute, the goal to help launch 1000 companies a year, and the challenges and successes of the first graduating class from the Bay Area. Good questions surfaced about the application and qualification process, the warrant-pool approach to community profit sharing, and the layout of the curriculum and mentor involvement. 

After a well-received presentation, many thoughtful questions and answers, and a lot of conversation, a large group adjourned to the nearby Big Time Brewery for a more social setting (and one with tasty Belgian beer!). A couple of hours later, connections made and friendships sprouted, and our new founder class is starting to take shape.

What’s next? We’re looking forward to getting to know our class of founders over the next several months! Can’t wait to see what these talented, enthusiastic folks will produce! And we’re eager to meet even more at our second info session, Thursday, 11/19, 6:30pm on the Eastside. Get more details and register for the session here: http://seattle-fi2.eventbrite.com/

Seattle startups get a jumpstart with the Founder Institute, a four month training program for both new and seasoned entrepreneurs that prepares founders to lead the next generation of world-class technology companies. Registration is open now for the Seattle Founder Institute winter course, and space is limited! Applications will be accepted through November 27, 2009.

In the coming week, Adeo Ressi, founder of the Institute, and Chris Early, organizer of the Seattle chapter of the Institute, will lead three open Q&A conference calls to answer your questions about the upcoming Seattle program. We invite you to join us at one of the following times:

Tuesday 11/10 at 12:00pm Pacific

Wednesday 11/11 at 9:00am Pacific

Thursday 11/12 at 5:00pm Pacific

Call Information: (605) 715-4900 / PIN #998-602

We look forward to your participation and welcome your questions!

With a full moon and cloudy skies, we had a great Information Session at the University of Washington. Thank you to everyone who attended! (And if you couldn’t make it, don’t worry; you can still apply to join the Founder Institute.)  Adeo Ressi, founder of Founder Institute and TheFunded spoke about the details of the Founder Institute.  I’ll post some photos shortly.

One of the strengths of successful entrepreneurs is the ability to make decisions with less than perfect information. Research and investigation is good, up to a point, then it is time to decide and execute. In a startup, this keeps your company moving forward, rather than sinking into “analysis paralysis.”

Now is the time for you to make the decision – the next step in building your company is up to you.

Apply for the winter semester for the Founder Institute here: http://www.founderinstitute.com/apply/5

Massage Away Your Stress: We also announced a special offer to make the application process as stress-free as possible.  You can take away the stress of applying to the Founder Institute when you apply and pay the $50.00 application fee by midnight Pacific tonight, 11/3/09. When you do, we will send you a $120 gift card for a massage at WellnessOne. Makes you feel calmer already, right?

Take the next step in building your company and apply now!

As applications are coming in for the Founder Institute in Seattle, it is clear we’ve caused some people to ask themselves: Is now the time to found a company?  I believe the right time is when your passion feels like it is on fire — not just your passion for your idea, because your idea will morph over time — you need to have passion to be a founder. 

Steve Blank asks a lot of the right questions in his blog post: Am I a Founder? The Adventure of a Lifetime. Excerpted from his post:

 “When my students ask me about whether they should be a founder or cofounder of a startup I ask them to take a walk around the block and ask themselves:

Are you comfortable with:

• Chaos – startups are disorganized
• Uncertainty – startups never go per plan

Are you:

• Resilient – at times you will fail – badly.  How quickly will you recover?
• Agile – you may find the real opportunities for your company was somewhere else.  Can you recognize and capitalize on them?
• Creative / Pattern Recognition – can you think “out of the box?”  Or if not, can you recognize patterns others miss?
• Passionate – is the company/product/customers the most important thing in your life? 24/7?
• Tenacious – can you keep going when everyone else gives up? Can you keep giving 200% despite all the naysayers who don’t believe in your idea?
• Articulate – can you create a reality distortion field and have others see and share your vision and passion?

And I remind them that they should be bringing some type of domain expertise (technical or business) to the table.

This is the minimum feature set for founders.”

 The whole post is here and is absolutely worth the read.  Are you ready?

founder  (foun’dər)
n.  One who establishes something.

wise  (wīz) 
adj. Wise as to the affairs of this world.

FounderWise  (foun’dər·wīz’) 
adj.  Having the shrewd awareness, experience, and resourcefulness needed for survival in a difficult, often dangerous startup environment. Compare: streetwise.