Category: Founders Feedback (Page 10 of 11)

I will never forget the day last August when I found out that my startup was accepted into Founders Space. It was nothing less than pure joy. When you have tirelessly been pursuing your dreams and battling all of the hurdles and you receive this kind of news, you just dance in the excitement.

After it all set in, I started to explore the opportunities and knowledge that we would learn from the experience. All of the expectations that I had were blown away.

The amazing staff of FS, Steve and Scott and the other special guests, during our tenure continued to push the limits with knowledge and push the barriers. Steve and Scott gave us a whole lot of knowledge and were very engaging. We were lucky to be such a small batch and have amazing role models that continued to educate us! Read More...

Dynamic, interactive, fun and helpful. Founders Space has the influential team with the useful content.

Mentors are quite experienced and ready to help you in every way they can. They are willing to share their experiences and ideas whenever you need.

Steve Austin makes analysis and research about everything you can imagine that is related to entrepreneurship. From the Beatles to the functioning of the human brain. He uses his experience and knowledge to help startups reach their potential. He has unlimited energy and enthusiasm. Read More...

I am a Startup founder from India and my primary motivation to pick an accelerator in Silicon Valley was to learn “Valley Best Practices” and get an entry into the startup network there. Also, the ecosystem in India is less friendly to innovation and more open to Indianized me too’s of US Startups. Our best are Yahoo, Monster and Amazon Clones. Built to exit.

Frankly I never expected Founders Space would accept an India-centric startup. The fact that they did was a validation that my startup had a global play and our solutions a fit for US Markets. To my pleasant surprise I had startups from Russia, Korea, Canada and France all looking for the Silicon Valley Entre-testosterone. India was not an accident. Founders Space is genuinely geared to innovation from any geography.

Scott and Steve quickly make us all feel at home with good or bad English skills. They adapt their technique and training for each individual. The focus on soft skills is extremely high. Elevator Pitch, 2 Minute Pitch and the 5 Minute. They participate in crafting your pitch, role play as Angel and VC until you can roll a Shakespearean performance. Read More...

My experience at Founders Space was invaluable to me personally, and to my startup eStartAcademy.com! The program really helps you to focus your vision, build an excellent pitch deck, and understand the many fine points of making your company fundable the Silicon Valley way.

The teaching and mentoring features world class individuals who have been there, done that. Scott Gray is a really fun, laid-back guy, who not only teaches extremely well, but he’s in the trenches with you as he builds his own startup – unlike a great many entrepreneurial teachers.

Steve Austin is a seasoned Silicon Valley vet who will push you and challenge you to bring out the best in your business. The parade of mentors in finance, law, marketing, personal development, and HR were incredible as well. On top of all this, great personalized teaching and mentoring, you get access to some phenomenal video content, templates, legal forms, and more. Read More...

Hi my name is Mark Johnson, the founder of FIRST GLANCE and PLATFORM CODE TURKEY. I would like to say that words cannot describe the experience that I’ve had and continue to have with Founders Space. It may sound strange, but I have lived in the Bay Area all of my life and up until September of 2014, I have never truly known what Silicon Valley was really about.

From the first day I stepped into Founders Space, everything that I thought I knew about business and being an entrepreneur went out the door. Founders Space somehow has found a very unique formula between their instructors, investors and experience, meaning the two instructors Scott Grey and Steve Austin are polar opposites when it comes to instruction.

Scott the motherly figure who sometimes misplaces things but always seems to find the right things to say when it comes to getting your business on track, and Steve Austin, the ten million dollar man, is the tough, straight-shooting, extremely knowledgeable instructor that can get a Bill Gates elevator pitch on point. Read More...

Overall Founders space enabled me to understand in 2 weeks what I can do and what I cannot do in Silicon Valley, coming from France, I would say it represents one year of curve experience on a foreign market/ecosystem. Founders Space is the place to go if you have a foreign startup who needs a solid product fit to get in the US Market.

Scott Gray:
Scott has the talent to map all your ideas on paper, and organize them for an efficient, attention-grabbing 2 minute pitch. He is the person you want to talk to about your startup and business model, he’ll highlight some great part of your company you didn’t even see.

Steve Austin:
Steve is the authentic Silicon Valley entrepreneur, with a fighting spirit you can only respect. Steve is the go to guy for your product fit, he is the best advisor you can have for an agressive go to market strategy, he will think of strategy, partnership you did not even know existed. Steve’s experience is priceless, you will surely enjoy hearing his stories from all his previous and diverse experience, and at the end of the program you will realize you just downloaded years of experience as an entrepreneur. Who said you can’t buy time? Steve’s mentoring session are a true acceleration for any startup. Read More...

Back in December, I got invited to the Founders Space accelerator last minute. My co-founders and I were hesitant to go because we were still college students and we had finals the next week.

Maybe it was boldness or maybe it was stupidity, but I skipped my finals to attend Founders Space and since then, I haven’t looked back. It was one of the best decisions of my life and a key decision for growth and knowledge for my startup, LYFEBOAT. Now days, I’m taking some time off of school with my co-founders to pursue LYFEBOAT full-time. I believe that being part of such a great accelerator was key in laying a great foundation for all of us as founders.

Let me be clear from the very beginning, if you want an accelerator that’s easy or slow and boring, then this is not the one for you. If you’re looking to be taught by some of the most experienced people in the industry and you’re not afraid to be called out for your BS then this is the place for you. The value of this program is far more than what we paid for and continues to give back time and time again through their mentor pool and through the amazing people we met. Founders Space started teaching us before we even got to San Francisco through their members-only emails that give you great book summaries and through their online learning course. Steve Hoffman (Captain Hoff) and Naomi have Kokubo have outdone themselves in creating such a valuable program for such a short amount of time that it runs. They brought in some great Venture Capitalists, Angel investors, marketers, and coaches. Read More...

I was very fortunate to participate in an intensive course held by the Founders Space Accelerator from Dec 1 to Dec 12, 2014.

I found this course to be extremely useful and cannot recommend it highly enough. As I said, this was an intensive course: for ten weekdays we had on average four lectures every day, each lasting one and a half hours. That is very convenient for someone like myself: I do not live in San Francisco and cannot take a course lasting from two to seven months (and this is what other accelerators offer).

The lectures covered the topics that founders really need: presentations, sales, legal setup, negotiations with angel investors, etc. The mentors were all excellent: there was not one lecture that was a waste of time. On the contrary: there were several mentors who are stars and whose presentations were unforgettable. Read More...

I have to confess, I was jaded when my startup was accepted into the Founders Space. During the time I’ve been at this, I’ve encountered many incubators, accelerators, pitch competitions, and meetups out there, all professing to help entrepreneurs one way or another. Once our month-long Founders Space stint began, I found myself pleasantly surprised, because we found help alright, not just in words or promises but in the program’s structure, substance, and especially the instruction.

I was especially impressed with instructors Scott Gray and Steve Austin. Of course, they knew what they were talking about. Each one owns down-in-the-trenches experience. They’re still practicing what they preach. They brought an uncommon energy to every session. But here’s what I cherish most: It didn’t matter to them if we short or long on experience, if our ideas seemed sound or specious, or if our pitches were smooth or they sucked. To each and every one of the entrepreneurs in our cohort they provided equal portions of time, attention, and care. The managed to find a measure of promise in each and every one us, just as a devoted public school teacher might do. A little bit of belief goes a long way in the often grueling and often cut-throat process of bringing a venture to life.

I was also impressed with the depth, breadth, and regularly of the content we received by email each and every day during the program and beyond. It managed to touch on just about every facet of building a business — from the hard-numbers stuff like finance to the soft skills around leadership. Read More...

I had a pretty amazing experience at Founder’s Space. There are two very important areas where they seem much stronger than other incubators – making connections and learning how to secure funding.

Steve and Murray were great about introducing us to a wide variety of resources. We met lawyers, mentors, marketing experts, a plethora of other start-ups, and investors. We had the opportunity to speak with every flavor of investor which included independent investors, foreign investors, venture capital firms, seed investors, angel investors, and even representatives from Fortune 500 companies that have investment branches.

The contacts made available have proven to be beneficial for me, personally. I have consulted with and referred people to Roger Royce, a top silicon valley lawyer. A colleague of mine recently became an advisor and teacher at Founders Space. And Steve has been great about answering questions from other founders that have asked me about Founders Space or expressed interest in the program. Read More...