• September 17 - 24, 2019
  • Dhaka

The Founder Institute, the world’s premier pre-seed startup accelerator, is now accepting applications for the Bangladesh 2019 program!

Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 180+ cities worldwide, the Founder Institute provides high-potential entrepreneurs and teams with the critical support network and structured process needed to build an enduring company. Since 2009, the program has helped over 3,500 Graduates raise over $800M funding, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more.

If you could use a structured process and feedback from Dhaka’s top entrepreneurs to build a startup, then apply to the Bangladesh 2019 Founder Institute today. Since launching in Dhaka in 2015, the program has created 8 promising technology companies in the region, like Styline Collection Limited, HandyMama.co, and many more.

To celebrate the launch, the Founder Institute will host several free startup events in Dhaka, where you can learn from top entrepreneurs and hear more about the program. Register: https://fi.co/events/dhaka

The Dhaka program is led by some of the region’s top startup leaders, including Joya Chowdhury (Investment Readiness Lead, BetterStories), Minhaz Anwar (Chief StoryTeller, BetterStories), and Muhaimin Khan (COO and Director, BetterStories).

In addition, some of Dhaka’s top entrepreneurs, CEOs, and investors will be participating in the program, providing them with expert training, feedback, and evaluation. The list of mentors for the Dhaka Founder Institute includes:

  • Adeo Ressi: Founder/CEO, Founder Institute
  • Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister, ICT Division
  • Sajid Rahman: CEO, Telenor Health
  • Anita Ghazi Rahman: Founder & Partner, The Legal Circle
  • Waseem Alim: Founder & COO, Chaldal
  • Siffat Sarwar: Co-founder, ShopUp
  • Al Farooque Shubho: CEO & Mastermind , Zantrik Limited
  • Sheikh Shourav: MD, SpaceSoft Limited
  • Shah Paran: Founder & CEO, HandyMama
  • Reyasat Chowdhury: Co-founder and CEO, Shuttle
  • Khobaib Chowdhury: Founder, Styline Collection
  • Armin Zaman Khan: CEO, Romoni.xyz
  • And many more to be announced.

The Founder Institute is designed for founders and teams all throughout the pre-seed stage, including aspiring founders with a full-time job, solo founders, teams, and founders of established companies that are pre-funding. The Founder Institute’s mission is to “Globalize Silicon Valley” and create sustainable startup ecosystems that will create one million new jobs worldwide.

Join us in Dhaka to build a great company in 2019 by 21 July 2019 (Early application deadline) or 18 August 2019 (Final application deadline) at http://fi.co/join.

Location:

Bangladesh

Benefits

  1. Find the Entrepreneurial DNA with Assessment Test: Founder Institute have worked with leading social scientists to develop an objective “Predictive Admissions Assessment” that predicts the likelihood that someone can become a successful tech entrepreneur – regardless of their idea, locale or demographic. To date, over 50,000 people have applied, and the Founder Institute has graduated over 3,500 technology companies across 6 continents. Through evaluation of performance both in the program and in the real world, along with frequent calibration, the assessment has proven to be over 85% accurate in predicting entrepreneurial success. This test has been featured in The New York TimesCNN and Forbes,
  2. Core Program: Selected founders from the application process will go through a 3.5 month acceleration period consisting 14 sessions that has been proven to help pre-seed entrepreneurs get to traction and funding. Learn more: https://fi.co/program
    • Sessions are ordered: 1. Orientation, 2. Vision, 3. Research, 4. Revenue, 5. Branding, 6. Idea Review, 7. Legal, 8. Hiring, 9. Product, 10. Progress Review, 11. Marketing, 12. Growth, 13. Fundraising, 14. Graduation.
    • The curriculum has been created using Silicon Valley best practices and input from hundreds of successful technology entrepreneurs from across the globe and has been improved every year since 2009 based on the real-world performance of our Alumni worldwide.
    • Each week in the program, participating Founders attend an in-person 3+ hour “Feedback Session” to pitch the Mentors and receive training, evaluation, and feedback. After each session, our Founders then build their businesses for the rest of the week through a series of practical and challenging Business-Building Sprints, Office Hours, and group meetings.
    • At the end of core program, graduate founders will have Well-Formed Corporation, Local Network of Experienced Entrepreneurs and Investors, Formal Advisory Board of Top Mentors, Significant Product Progress, Significant Number of Leads and Customers, Progress on Team Growth, Investment-Worthy Pitch Deck, Clear & Actionable Next Steps for Growth.
  3. Post-graduate support: FI makes sure that once someone Graduates from the Founder Institute, they get lasting assistance that extends far beyond the intensive 3.5 month program.
    • Immediately after graduation, the founders get:
      • Dedicated support contact in Silicon Valley
      • Private Grad mailing lists
      • Access to 7500+ mentors
      • $2M+ in partner discounts
      • Invites to FI sessions & network events (FounderX)
      • Economic upside in Liquidity Pool
      • Ability to distribute news and content through the FI Network
    • Top performer FI graduates can get invited to the Founder Institute’s Founder Lab   which is a virtual advisory program where Graduates work closely with our Silicon Valley HQ team to improve their pitch materials, build an investor pipeline, pitch to angels, negotiate terms, generate strong investor interest within 6 months.
    • Learn more: https://fi.co/scale

Eligibilities

Founder Institute (FI) is designed to help founders and teams at the pre-seed stage. This includes;

  • Aspiring founders who are still employed full-time
  • Solo-founders, or teams
  • Founders of established companies (generally less than a few years old, and before significant funding, revenue, or traction)
  • Founders open to building an enduring business in a number of different ways, whether through bootstrapping, funding (not a requirement), or otherwise.

We define tech or tech-enabled businesses as any business that leverages and can scale through technology. In addition to traditional “tech” businesses (software, hardware, biotech, etc), this includes businesses selling physical products via e-commerce. We are not vertical-specific, and have Alumni building software, hardware, bio-tech, greentech, fashion, food, non-profits, and more. Service-related businesses (ex. a marketing consultancy or web development shop) are not a good fit for our program.

Eligible Regions: Bangladesh

Application Process

At the Founder Institute, we believe Great Companies Start with Great People. We focus on the Founder versus the idea in our admissions process.

While most seed-accelerators evaluate your product, company, or traction, the Founder Institute focuses on the pre-seed stage and instead looks for people and teams with the raw skills, experience, determination, and problem-solving skills to adapt and build a great company. Here is the step-by-step process of applying:

  1. To start your application, visit FI.co/join and open your application account.
  2. The application begins with a short written portion, where we ask about your professional background and areas of interest. Applicants also have the option to share their business idea and details with us, but this is not required because we are much more interested in evaluating the individual.
  3. After completing step 2, you are invited to take our Predictive Admissions Assessment which takes takes approximately 45-90 minutes to complete. The Predictive Admissions Assessment is a required component of our admissions process. There is no way to prepare for the test, however we strongly recommend you take the test in a quiet location with minimal distraction. We will not reveal any personal information to the public.
  4. Our Admissions Team is based at our Silicon Valley Headquarters, and they are typically able to provide an Admissions Decision via email within 72 hours
  5. If you are accepted into the program, you then have the opportunity to enroll on the site and immediately get access to all course materials. To enroll in the program, you will need to:
    • Sign and upload the Founder Agreement
    • Pay the Course Fee ($299 USD by 2019-07-21 ($399 USD after 2019-07-21) for the Bangladesh 2019 program)
      • Teams are also able to enroll in the program for a discounted Course Fee per-founder: Teams of 2-3 are invited to enroll for 1.5x the Course Fee, and Teams of 4-5 for 2x the Course Fee. Each co-founder must pass the test individually to get selected for the program.
      • The Course Fee covers the cost of operating the sessions and administering the program (including things like location fees, audio visual, technology, etc), and is FULLY REFUNDABLE before the third session of the program, so that participants can see if the program is right for them.

Deadline for Application:

  • The Early Admissions Deadline (21 July 2019): Course Fee USD 299
  • The Final Admissions Deadline (18 August 2019): Course Fee USD 399

Application Deadline: August 18, 2019

Application ClosedOfficial link

For Further Queries

Call: +8801703994071 Email: [email protected]
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