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
6
How Multiple Pivots positioned Checkbox as the Legal Front Door for Corporations
·OnlineOnlineSome startups fail because they pivot too late. Others fail because they pivot too often. The rare ones survive long enough to pivot intelligently and catch a market wave at exactly the right moment. Join us for a candid fireside chat with Evan Wong (Co-Founder & CEO of Checkbox) on how multiple pivots — plus years of bootstrapping and persistence — positioned Checkbox at the forefront of the fast-growing legal AI industry. Checkbox recently raised $23MM in funding from top investors, and counts top corporates as customers, like Hitachi, SAP, PepsiCo, and more.
❯ You’ll leave with:
- A framework for evaluating pivots
- Real examples of what didn’t work
- How positioning unlocked enterprise traction
- Lessons from bootstrapping before raising capital
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23325 to get your link and join us live!
❯ Featured Speaker:
- Evan Wong - Co-founder & CEO @ Checkbox: Evan began building companies at 17 and co-founded Checkbox nearly a decade ago to help non-technical teams automate complex workflows. Today, Checkbox is used by global legal teams at companies like SAP, Hitachi, and Elastic, delivering 50–80% fewer low-value requests and up to 85% faster turnaround times. Evan is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and LegalTech CEO of the Year, and recently led Checkbox’s $23M Series A to scale its product, AI, and global team. Evan began his company-building journey at seventeen and has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and LegalTech CEO of the Year. As CEO, Evan leads Checkbox’s strategy and execution, guiding the development of its legal intake, automation, and reporting platform used by in-house teams globally.
❯ About Checkbox:
Checkbox is the AI-powered Legal Front Door for in-house legal teams. Its no-code platform centralizes legal requests from every channel, enables AI-driven self-service for routine work, and gives teams visibility into all legal activity—helping legal operate faster, smarter, and with more confidence. Named in Gartner’s 2025 Hype Cycle™, Checkbox highlights how modern legal teams can drive efficiency and strategic value through intelligent intake, triage, and AI legal chatbots. Checkbox is also a graduate of the Australia-NZ Founder Institute. Learn more at www.checkbox.ai.❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23325 to get your link and join us live!
2 attendees
Q&A #2: Founder Institute - Ask us anything!
·OnlineOnlineWhy Do 92% of Early-Stage Startups Fail — And How Do You Avoid Being One of Them?
Seven years ago, this statistic stopped us in our tracks. Today, it still hasn't changed — and that's exactly why we're hosting this event.
Founders today aren't short on information. They're buried in it. Conflicting advice, emerging trends, and constant noise make it harder than ever to stay focused on what actually drives growth. After analyzing hundreds of startup post mortems, one thing stands out: most of these failures were preventable.
❯ What We'll Cover:
- Is an accelerator the right fit for your startup?
- Do you need to pursue the VC route — and what are the alternatives?
- How our program is structured and what sets it apart
- How AI is reshaping the startup landscape and what it means for founders
Whether you're just starting out or looking to level up, this is your chance to get real answers, cut through the noise, and walk away with clarity on your next steps.
❯❯ Bring your questions. We'll be ready.
We look forward to meeting you! — Jeni & Lucas
Hosted by Founder Institute
Interested in the SF/OAK program?
Our upcoming Spring cohort starts soon! Apply by April 12th
For more info: ➡️ https://fi.co/san-francisco❯❯ This is a live, interactive online event, so be sure to RSVP at https://fi.co/e/396043/meetup to receive the Zoom URL to join us live!
1 attendee
How to Go From Raw Idea to Polished Pitch using AI
·OnlineOnlineThe solo founder revolution is here. AI has eliminated the traditional barriers: no technical co-founder required, no months to MVP, no team of marketers. What once took months and $100K can now be done by one person in weeks. Join Jonathan Greechan, Co-Founder and CEO of Founder Institute, who has helped over 8,900 founders make this leap across 100+ countries. In this live session, he'll share the exact AI tools FI built (free for every attendee) so you can start building the same day. Register now and claim your spot.
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/394315/meetup to get your link and join us live!
❯ What You'll Learn:
- How to use FI's free AI tools to replace the functions of a co-founder, marketer, and product team
- A step-by-step framework to go from idea to validated concept without writing a single line of code
- How to access and use FI's AI agents, built specifically to take solo founders from zero to first check
- How to identify and leverage your professional experience as an unfair advantage
- The three most common mistakes first-time solo founders make and how to skip them entirely
❯ Featured Host:
- Jonathan Greechan - Co-Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute - Jonathan Greechan is the Co-Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute, the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, he has grown and scaled the organization to chapters in over 200 cities and over 100 countries, producing over 8,900 portfolio companies with nearly $[total funding] in venture funding. In his long career in tech and marketing, Jonathan has advised thousands of startups on marketing, growth, and product strategy and has spoken at startup conferences on four continents.
❯ Who Should Attend?
- Experienced professionals who have been thinking "someday I'll start something" and are ready to act
- First-time solo founders with an idea but no clear process for moving forward with confidence
- AI-curious professionals who want to build a startup using AI, not just use AI at work
- Employees who see their industry being disrupted by AI and want to be on the right side of that shift
❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/394315/meetup to get your link and join us live!
2 attendees
Turn Your Expertise Into an Audience on LinkedIn
·OnlineOnlineYou've spent years building real expertise. You see the problems. You know what works. And yet, online, you're invisible. Meanwhile, people with less experience are posting consistently and attracting the opportunities that should be coming to you. The difference isn't knowledge. It's a system. In this session, brand strategist Daniel Francavilla will give you the exact content framework to turn what you already know into a LinkedIn presence that builds your authority, grows your audience, and opens doors. Whether you're thinking about your next career move, exploring entrepreneurship, or simply want to be known for what you actually know.
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23990 to get your link and join us live!
❯ What You'll Learn:
- How to identify your one clear content angle based on what you already know
- The 3-post formats that consistently generate reach and start real conversations
- How to build an audience of future customers, collaborators, or co-founders before you have a product
- A weekly content rhythm that takes under 2 hours, built for people with full-time jobs
- How to turn LinkedIn visibility into tangible opportunities: partnerships, clients, and inbound interest
❯ Featured Speaker:
- Daniel Francavilla - Founder & Strategist @ Clarity Content: Daniel is a marketer, educator and founder obsessed with community, brand and impact. He is a Certified Brand Strategist, a professor at OCAD University, a member of the Canadian Marketing Association and RGD, and recipient of a 40 Under 40 Award. Daniel works with founders and leaders on aligned branding and content through Daniel Does and Clarity Content. As an advocate for social good, Daniel founded The Good Growth Company to provide training for social good organizations to upskill their teams and scale their mission. He continues to support ACCESS, a nonprofit he founded as a student in 2006, which provides funding and mentorship for youth-led initiatives. Previously, Daniel was an agency owner, founding Now Creative Group in 2013, which was acquired by King Street Media in 2021, where he was a partner.
❯ Who Should Attend?
- Experienced professionals who want to build a personal brand but don't know where to start, and have been putting it off
- Aspiring founders with an idea who want to validate it publicly before committing fully
- AI-curious professionals who want to position themselves as voices in their field as the industry shifts
- Professionals exploring entrepreneurship who want to start building an audience now, before they make the leap
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❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23990 to get your link and join us live!2 attendees
Past events
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