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.\
\
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.\
\
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!\
\
Join the group to be invited to our next event!
Upcoming events
3
What Do Investors Really Look For? Startup Funding Q&A
·OnlineOnlineDo you want to ask startup investors fundraising questions in a friendly, judgment-free environment? Are you planning to raise in the future and want to understand what investors look for and how they evaluate early-stage startups? Join us for this live, interactive Q&A event featuring Keshia Theobald-van Gent, Venture Capital Partner and Startup Advisor at BDEV Ventures, who will share practical insights on funding, pitch evaluation, and what makes founders stand out. Don't miss this opportunity to expand your network and ask in-depth questions.
❯❯ RSVP now at 👉 https://fi.co/startupwebinar/22795 to get your link and join us live!
❯ What You'll Learn:
- Key metrics and pre-requisites for raising funding.
- How to make yourself more attractive to investors.
- The best ways to source different funding resources such as Angel investors, Venture Capitalists, grants and loans.
❯ Featured Speaker:
- Keshia Theobald-van Gent - Venture Capital Partner and Startup Advisor @ BDEV Ventures: Keshia is a Partner at BDev Ventures, leading sourcing and portfolio operations. She previously led U.S. programs at German Accelerator and served as Director of Strategic Partnerships at GSVlabs. She also founded and led Dialog to Learn, building tech partnerships to advance literacy. She holds a Master’s from the University of Groningen and is a frequent speaker, startup advisor, and nonprofit board member.
❯ Featured Host:
- Chris Foltz - Global Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Founder Institute - Chris is a celebrated transformation strategist, startup advisor, and inspirational speaker. As the Managing Director of the Silicon Valley based strategy firm Responsible Solutions, Chris is at the forefront of the company's three decade long change and transformation pursuits. Foltz currently serves as Global Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Founder Institute, where he has been a top rated startup mentor on 5 continents. In 2025 Foltz Co-Founded the Arlington, Virginia based non-profit AI Alt Lab, an artificial intelligence think tank and research lab.
❯ Who Should Attend:
- Founders ready to raise funding or planning to in the future, seeking expert insights from experienced investors.
- Early-stage entrepreneurs eager to learn what investors really look for in pitches.
- Aspiring founders looking for actionable tips on navigating the fundraising journey and securing investment.
- Anyone interested in investment trends and how to position their startup for success.
❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at 👉 https://fi.co/startupwebinar/22795 to get your link and join us live!
1 attendee
The 10x Leadership Framework for Growth in Large Organisations
·OnlineOnlineBold leadership and organisational empowerment are no longer optional in today's complex business landscape. Misha de Sterke, author of Death of Average: How Leaders Drive 10x Growth, argues that most organisations stagnate not because they lack intelligence but because leaders settle for consensus and avoid difficult choices. In this executive session, he will share his research and field‑tested frameworks to help large organisations move beyond average and achieve 10x performance.
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23256 to get your link and join us live!
❯ What You'll Learn:
- How leaders move organisations beyond “average” by making clear choices, setting direction under uncertainty, and taking responsibility for outcomes, not consensus.
- How to design real empowerment at scale by increasing autonomy, competence, and accountability, without losing coherence or control.
- Practical leadership strategies and thinking tools that help leaders navigate complexity, overcome internal blockers, and actually execute on growth ambitions.
❯ Featured Expert:
- Misha De Sterk: Founder at 10X Growth - Misha is a Dutch creative entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience helping large organisations drive growth and innovation. Founder of 10X Growth and multiple startups, he has advised global organisations including Nestlé, Unilever, and Shell on innovation strategy, portfolio design, and execution. He previously led a 55+ person innovation consultancy and played key roles in large-scale initiatives such as Nestlé’s R&D accelerator and Unilever’s Lean Like a Startup program. He is the author of Death of Average: How Leaders Drive 10x Growth.
❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23256 to get your link and join us live!
1 attendee
Startup Advisors 101: How to Find Advisors and Maximize their Impact
·OnlineOnlineGreat startup advisors can be a huge benefit for early-stage founders - helping them access networks, avoid mistakes, supplement missing skills, and even provide emotional support. But finding great advisors can be challenging, and their benefits are typically tied to how well you can leverage their limited time. On this interactive online event, we'll break down a practical, founder-friendly process for finding, vetting, and activating great startup advisors from our experience facilitating tens of thousands of advisor relationships since 2009.
❯❯ RSVP now at 👉 https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23124 to get your link and join us live!
❯ What You'll Learn:
- How to identify the right advisors.
- The chemistry + contribution test: how to evaluate fit before making anything official.
- How to structure advisor interactions so they produce outputs.
- When and how to use the FAST Agreement to standardize responsibilities + equity and avoid drawn-out negotiations.
- Common failure modes (advisor vanity, “free consulting,” misaligned incentives) and how to prevent them.
❯ Featured Speaker:
- 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 8100 portfolio companies with nearly $2B 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?
- Founders at the idea, pre-seed, or early traction stage who want help but don’t want drama.
- First-time founders building their first advisory board.
- Operators and technical founders who need domain, distribution, or fundraising support.
- Mentors/advisors who want a clearer framework for being helpful (and getting properly compensated).
❯ The FAST Agreement (Founder-Advisor Standard Template)
The FAST Agreement is used by tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and advisors per year to establish productive working relationships, trading advice and support for a standardized amount of equity. See the free agreement at FI.co/FAST.❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at 👉 https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23124 to get your link and join us live!
1 attendee
Past events
506
Group links
Organizers
Members
8,095
