About us
Startup Founder 101 brings together aspiring and experienced tech entrepreneurs to discuss, meet, and collaborate to build great new startups, and to push the local startup ecosystem forward.\
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This group hosts numerous free events throughout the year where you can learn the best practices of starting a company from people who have been there and done that. You’ll have the opportunity to meet local founders and investors, exchange ideas with experts, get feedback on your idea, participate in startup workshops, and more.\
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Typical startup event topics include:\
• Coming up with a strong startup idea\
• Startup legal basics\
• How to pitch your startup\
• Starting a company without quitting your day job\
• How to raise funding for your startup\
• And much more!\
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Join the group to be invited to our next event!
Upcoming events
4
Building a Unicorn with AI Agents: From Idea to First Check
·OnlineOnlineYou have the idea. What you don't have is the money to hire a team, and no investor will write a check until you show traction. Join Adeo Ressi, Chairman of the Founder Institute, to learn how solo founders run a squad of AI agents in place of their first five hires, what investors look for in AI-native companies in 2026, and how FI companies get funded, from Founder Capital's $25K first checks to the FI Venture Network and local demo days. Register now and bring your questions for Adeo.
❯ What You'll Learn:
- How a squad of AI agents can cover the work of your first five hires, from market research to sales outreach;
- What investors look for in AI-native companies in 2026, and which signals get you a first meeting;
- What a fundable AI-native company needs to show before it gets its first check;
- How FI companies get funded, including Founder Capital's $25K first checks, the FI Venture Network and local demo days;
- How to put questions about your own company directly to Adeo, who has launched 14 venture capital funds.
Featured Speaker:
- Adeo Ressi - Chairman @ Founder Institute - Adeo Ressi is the Chairman of the Founder Institute, the World's Largest AI-Native Company Builder, and CEO of Decile Group. He has founded 11 startups, launched 14 venture capital funds and generated nearly $2 billion in exits before the age of 30. He is also the inventor of the SAFE note, and through Decile Group he backs emerging venture capital managers around the world.
❯ Who Should Attend:
- Solo founders who already have an idea and want to turn it into a fundable company;
- Founders already building with AI tools who want to know what investors expect next;
- Professionals planning to leave their job and start a company in the next year;
- Aspiring founders considering the next Founder Institute cohort.
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❯❯ This is a live, interactive online event, so be sure to RSVP at https://fi.co/e/405478/meetup to receive the Zoom URL to join us live!
5 attendees
How to Use AI to Position Your Startup to Buyers
·OnlineOnlineYou built the product. The market isn't buying it yet. Usually the gap is positioning: buyers don't see themselves in your pitch. In this hands-on session, Jonathan Grover shows you how to use AI to fix that. You'll build a synthetic version of your ideal buyer as an AI agent, then let it tear into your pitch in real time, surfacing the objections and gaps a real buyer would raise. You'll leave with sharper positioning that actually converts, plus a Claude skill you can take home and reuse on your next pitch. Come with a product and a pitch you're willing to put to the test.
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/405381/meetup to get your link and join us live!
❯ Featured Speaker:
Jonathan Grover — Founder & Fractional Chief Product Officer, Supergrover- Jonathan Grover is a product, AI, and go-to-market leader who helps founders and executives turn a built product into real market traction. A former Fortune 50 executive, he has managed billions of dollars of product roadmap and shipped AI products that scaled to $100M+ ARR across 180+ countries. He has structured go-to-market deals worth more than $150M, holds patents in AI, and across 60+ early-stage ventures has helped raise $500M+ in funding and taken part in multiple exits. Today he runs Supergrover, advising CXOs and product teams on product strategy, go-to-market, and AI transformation.
❯ What You'll Learn:
- How to turn your ideal customer into a synthetic buyer persona you can interrogate with AI
- How to pressure-test your pitch against that AI buyer and surface objections before real buyers do
- What separates positioning that converts from features that fall flat
- How to spot and close the "traction gap" between building a product and selling it
- A reusable Claude skill you can take home to sharpen future pitches
❯ Who Should Attend:
- Founders whose product works but isn't converting buyers yet
- Early-stage founders refining their positioning, pitch, or messaging
- Technical founders who need to sell to non-technical buyers
- Anyone who wants to use AI to sharpen how they go to market trends.
. ❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/405381/meetup to get your link and join us live!
1 attendee
Find a Co-Founder, Help or Join a Tech Startup
·OnlineOnlineWelcome to Startup Oasis in collaboration with Founder Institute!
If you are a startup founder or anyone else in the tech ecosystem looking to start, join, or help a tech startup, this event is for you!
Startup founders pitch their business or concept to the audience like on Shark Tank. Then, each founder gets a breakout room for more collaboration and discussions, similar to a hackathon.
If you are a Founder and you come away with teammates, DO NOT LET IT GO TO WASTE. This windfall of resources may change your perspective, but remember you were just in the desert, trying to find human capital. Schedule weekly benchmark calls, keep them excited about the vision, be open to input, and celebrate small wins.
We are meeting on Zoom, the link is here in the listing.
Agenda:
8:00pm – 8:10 EDT
Intros: During the first 10 minutes, we will give you the history, structure, and future plans of Startup Oasis and open signups for founders that want to pitch their startups.8:10 - 8:25
Pitches: Each founder will then get up to 3 minutes to pitch their startup. This format is recommended: name, business, the problem, your solution, target customer base, and your biggest challenge/current need. This part is similar to Shark Tank.8:30 – onward
Breakout Groups: For the remainder of the event, each founder gets a breakout room, and you can talk to the founders in greater detail about their needs and challenges in a small group setting. This part is similar to a hackathon.Startup Oasis was created to pierce the illusion of accessibility of startups and tech by creating a grassroots forum for early-stage founders to pitch to those in the tech ecosystem to get real-time feedback for their idea or business.
Use this link to:
- Follow us on LinkedIn
- Join our community on Discord
- Donate to our cause
- Visit our website
- Sign up for our newsletter
FAQ:
Is this event free to attend? Yes - Startup Oasis will always be free for anyone to attend. If you would like to donate, you can do so directly on our website. You can also talk to us about volunteer or sponsorship opportunities.How do I sign up to pitch? RSVP here. Right when the event starts, fill out the form and then raise your hand on Zoom. That will also determine the order. You can also buy a VIP ticket to support our cause and guarantee you a spot to pitch. To be eligible to pitch, you must be the cofounder of a technology-based startup. Agencies, consultants, coaches, MLM schemes, and nonprofits are not eligible to pitch, but you can still watch the pitches and join the breakouts.
What happens after the pitches? The breakout groups open for the remainder of the event. Each founder gets a breakout room, and you can talk more about their business and needs with them.
Is this event recorded? No. We will also not allow any participants to record nor grant permissions to AI assistants to record. This is to maintain the efficiency of the event and and privacy of the pitches.
Can I invite other people that I know? Yes - please have them RSVP here or on the LinkedIn event listing.
How do I get the most out of this event?
- Founders - In this event, no money is awarded nor are any winners named. We are not here to critique your pitch, just to help you find teammates, cofounders, and feedback from other professionals. Make sure your pitch is 3 minutes or less and clear about what your biggest needs are.
- Attendees - If you are new to startups and tech, feel free to just watch with no pressure to participate. If you are looking to join a startup or find a side project, make sure you take notes during the pitches to join the group of the founder that you're most interested in helping. Most founders need help with either developing the product or with a go-to-market strategy.
Do we meet in person? We host a separate, in-person version in Atlanta, GA on the 3rd Thursday each month in Midtown at ATDC.
Content: We are looking for founders to be interviewed or people to interview founders for short videos. Let us know if you are interested!
1 attendee
IP for AI Startups: How Founders Can Create a Defensible Moat
·OnlineOnlineAI can help you build a product in days. It can't stop someone from copying it. What protects an AI startup is ownership: the IP that makes what you've built yours and hard to copy. Yet many founders quietly give up that ownership in their first months, by posting progress, demoing early, or pitching before they've protected anything. In this fireside chat, Kathryn Vatt, a former U.S. Patent Examiner who reviewed thousands of applications, shows founders where ownership leaks and how to plug it early. You'll leave knowing what to protect, when it matters, and how to build a moat investors trust. Bring your questions.
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/405383/meetup to get your link and join us live!
❯ Featured Speaker:
- Kathryn Vatt — Former U.S. Patent Examiner; Founder of moatly™ and VATT IP Management Kathryn is a former United States Patent Examiner with nearly 30 years of experience helping innovators protect what they build. After reviewing thousands of applications inside the Patent Office — seeing which succeeded, which failed, and why — she now helps early-stage founders become pitch-ready and IP-safe before they pitch, launch, or raise. She is the founder of moatly™ and VATT IP Management, Chapter Director of the Founder Institute IP Accelerator, and author of the forthcoming "Startup IP Strategy For Dummies" (Wiley, 2027). She has been recognized as the #1 global influencer in innovation and IP law.
❯ What You'll Learn:
- Why a working AI product isn't a moat, and what actually makes one defensible
- The common ways founders give up ownership early, from posting progress to demoing MVPs
- What patent examiners really look for, and why "patent pending" isn't the protection founders assume
- How to check whether you're stepping into existing patent territory that could block your launch
- What sophisticated investors check on your IP before they write a check
- How to protect ownership early without slowing down or spending a fortune on lawyers
❯ Who Should Attend:
- AI and tech founders building or posting in public without clear IP protection
- Founders preparing to pitch at demo days, accelerators, or to investors
- Technical founders who assume their innovation is automatically protected (it isn't)
- Anyone who wants investor-ready IP without a big legal budget
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❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/405383/meetup to get your link and join us live!
2 attendees
Past events
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