Founder Institute: Does it fit into the iTuliper's vision of the future?

[lakedaemonian]

Founder Institute: Does it fit into the iTuliper's vision of the future?

G'day!

I had a quick search around and couldn't find anything on the Founder Institute: http://fi.co/

Also:

http://www.crunchbase.com/company/founder-institute

http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/my-li...titute-review/

http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/05/wit...tup-incubator/


So I thought I'd start a thread about it and other similar organizations like it.

In a nutshell, Founder Institute appears to be a branded, localized "McDonald's of business incubators" for lack of a better term.

While there don't appear to be franchise fees, there are small equity slices in all companies founded from the various entrepreneur cohorts shared in a number of directions.

It reminds me a little bit like a very rough mashup of Y Combinator( http://ycombinator.com/ ) TechShop( http://www.techshop.ws/ )...where people, ideas, education, mentorship, and capital collide to hopefully achieve critical mass and turn ideas into wealth creation.....which as I understand it....is the REAL potential for the iTulip community...actively CREATING wealth long-term...beyond just this current largely passive phase of mostly trying to PRESERVE it.

This one has me seriously intrigued.

The idea of an international framework of local entrepreneurial hubs has a lot of appeal to me. While I would probably fall into the low single digits on EJ's doomer scale, I am an eternal optimist...especially when it comes to business....and especially when the time horizon is stretched out a bit farther.

So what says the wisdom of the iTulip crowd?
How do you think something like the Founder Institute(or some iteration of it) fits into your post KaBoom vision of the future encompassing say the next 20 years?

Does it fit?

If so, why?

If not, why not?

Your feedback and commentary is appreciated!


Disclosure: While I have no stake in this whatsoever, as I've posted on this forum before, my long-term desire is to somehow have some fun and/or make some money helping folks with their startup business dreams. So I may consider applying to lead a local chapter of Founder Institute...IF I can find the time, and IF I would be deemed suitable by the organization. Either way, I'm intrigued with possible solutions to some of the problems we face and getting increasingly frustrated by all the patiently waiting.

[BadJuju]

Re: Founder Institute: Does it fit into the iTuliper's vision of the future?

I walk a lot, so I have a lot of time to think. During these times, I often imagine myself as a billionaire. I have toyed with this idea in my mind lately of creating local organizations to drive business. This seems like a very positive thing. And exactly the type of thing we need as head into the future.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Founder Institute: Does it fit into the iTuliper's vision of the future?

I walk a lot, so I have a lot of time to think. During these times, I often imagine myself as a billionaire. I have toyed with this idea in my mind lately of creating local organizations to drive business. This seems like a very positive thing. And exactly the type of thing we need as head into the future.

Cheers for the quick response.....I feel a bit better in knowing that this may have some merit or at least I am not alone in my need for crazy pills. -

For me I tend to do my best thinking while out running.....no one to distract me.

[BadJuju]

Re: Founder Institute: Does it fit into the iTuliper's vision of the future?

Kickstarter is a great international example of this. I am sure a local version could thrive just as much, if not more. I would certainly be more than willing to chip funds in for good local initiatives.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Founder Institute: Does it fit into the iTuliper's vision of the future?

Kickstarter is a great international example of this. I am sure a local version could thrive just as much, if not more. I would certainly be more than willing to chip funds in for good local initiatives.

I've seen a friend's film project on Kickstarter.

Very interesting idea....crowd funding for more social ventures.....a bit like prosper.com for the crowd source debt refinancing(I think that's a lot of their volume) and kiva.org for crowd funding microfinance.

What I like about Founder Institute and TechShop is that they have local physical presence that is complemented online....rather than an online only entity.

[c1ue]

Re: Founder Institute: Does it fit into the iTuliper's vision of the future?

I'd say the incubator idea would be more interesting if it weren't for the fact that so many are riding on the entire Facebook social media wave, at least here in SF.

As it is, they're mostly about spreading an incubator's reach in the social media space into as large a number of companies as possible for as little cost as is necessary.

The word on the street here in SF is that social media is dead - I've even heard several prominent VCs mention that they think Facebook is going to do a MySpace, at which point they'll be worth buying again. This commentary worth all the money you paid for it.