Oakland Startup Founder 101

❯❯ 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

.

❯❯ 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!

🥳🎉 Folks have been inquiring as to when our next gathering will be.
✨✨It'll be a fun time to kick back and chill.
🔨---Building a start-up is hard & the roller coaster is real. By nature it's isolating especially in the early stages.
💪---Hangout with folks in the trenches with you! Struggling with similar things & trying to achieve similar goals.
Some hustlers just gotta hustle.
💰---Meet the investors, Mentors & SF/OAK Team (Jeni & Lucas). Ask questions & get to know the people that help entrepreneurs get to traction and funding.
👊---Meet FI Grads who've been in your shoes & what helped them.
💥Don't miss this event especially if you'd like to learn more or are interested in SF/OAK's Fall program!
If you're not, no worries! Come and take break with us!

Did you know that 92% of early-stage startups FAIL?
That. Is. Stupid. 😠
Want a better shot at being in the 8%?
In startup post mortems, many wish they had more guidance. “Focus and lack of direction are the biggest challenges to startups”. Speed and timing are crucial, mis-steps are costly. FI SF/OAK is hyper focused on helping founders level up. 🚀

💥Interested in the SF/OAK program? Meet the SF Directors! Jeni & Lucas - Come say hi! =)
💥Our upcoming Fall cohort starts soon! Apply by Oct 30 ➡️https://fi.co/san-francisco

Hosted by Founder Institute San Francisco/Oakland & Founders Bay

AI rewrote the rules of startup building and the playbook has changed. Tech & skills are no longer the bottleneck: speed & direction are.
Founder Institute merges structured learning and execution + AI agents that build alongside you.

• The Method: Business bootcamp structure + weekly pitch feedback + founder working groups.
• The Network: 1:1 mentor sessions, Funding Lab, legal aid, and global event access.
• The Result: [total_graduates]+ founders across [total_countries] countries backed by $[total_funding]+ raised.

Founders Bay is a 200,000+ member community of founders, executives, investors and operators — weekly curated events, expert workshops and mentorship. Proudly woman-owned and operated by Mariane Bekker.

❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/405860/meetup to get your link and join us live!

❯ What You’ll Learn:

• What investors look for when evaluating early-stage startups
• How investors are evaluating AI startups right now
• The signals that make founders stand out to investors
• Different sources of startup funding and when to pursue them
• How to prepare your startup before approaching investors
• Common mistakes that cause founders to lose investor interest

❯ Who Should Attend:

• Idea-stage founders exploring future fundraising
• Startup teams preparing for their first funding round
• Founders building AI-powered startups who want to know what investors expect
• Professionals considering starting a venture-backed startup
• Entrepreneurs curious about how investors make decisions

.

❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/405860/meetup to get your link and join us live!

When you are the whole team, every lead you don't qualify and every customer email you answer at 11pm comes out of the hours you should spend building. You can't hire yet. An AI agent can take one of those jobs now. In this live session, Seth Ward, Founder & CEO of 4142, builds an AI agent from start to finish: connected to a real model, doing a single real job like qualifying a lead or drafting a follow-up, and deployed where it actually runs. No slides, and questions are open throughout. Register now and leave with a clear plan for your first AI hire.

❯ What You'll Learn:

• How to pick the one job in your company an AI agent should take on first;
• How to turn that job into instructions an agent can actually follow;
• How to connect the agent to a real AI model and give it the information it needs;
• How to deploy it somewhere it runs on its own, beyond a demo;
• How to repeat the same build for sales, support and follow-ups as your company grows.

❯ Featured Speaker:

• Seth Ward - Founder & CEO @ 4142, an AI foundry behind Squidgy, Handled, YEAA and FanatIQ. Through Squidgy, his team lets entrepreneurs and small businesses describe a task in plain English and turn it into an AI agent with no code. In 1995 he co-founded i, one of the first web marketing agencies, and went on to work with Vodafone, AOL and News International before serving as CEO of Pynk. Based in London, he runs live AI agent build sessions for founders, including at Nomad Cruise and Bansko Nomad Fest.

❯ Who Should Attend:

• Aspiring founders who want to see what an AI agent can do inside a real business;
• Solo founders handling sales, support and admin on their own;
• Professionals with deep industry expertise planning the move from employee to entrepreneur;
• Anyone curious about AI who wants to build with it, not just read about it.

.

❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/e/407649/meetup to get your link and join us live!