Foundations, an invite-only community of tech startup founders, is proud to announce the launch of our Founder in Residence (FIR) Program. After a successful three-month pilot, we’re excited to introduce an enhanced curriculum, a strengthened mentorship structure, and a variety of recurring events—each designed to help founders quickly accelerate their progress and expand their networks.

Programming

Monthly Show & Tell Event

• A 60-minute Friday session where up to 4 FIRs demo their products.

Welcome/Graduation Event

• A bi-yearly event where new FIRs pitch their vision and 6-month goals, giving them a platform to attract resources and feedback from the community.
• This event also allows new FIRs and members to meet, build relationships, and identify new potential mentorship relationships.

Weekly Office Hours

• The Foundation’s ops team coordinates well in advance to ensure at least one member or guest mentor is available weekly to hold a three-hour block of office hours. Office hours can be held by founders, functional experts, or investors.
• FIRs can sign up on a first-come, first-served basis for in-depth conversations or brainstorming sessions.

Founder Circles

• Founder circles are private groups for FIRs in similar stages of company building. To join a Founder Circle please ask Root about them in Slack.
• Each founder circle has its own private Slack channel.
• Some founder circles have monthly events (like the fundraising circle w/ pitch clinics) while others schedule meetups ad-hoc or just chat in Slack.
• Each founder circle has a monthly budget of $250. Please reach out to Aviel to claim it.

Bi-weekly Pitch Clinic (Optional)

• FIRs can hone their fundraising or sales pitches with our mentors and peers in an intimate workshop format. Pitch clinics are closed to investor members unless they are part of the pitch review panel (which will not always be the case). The Foundation’s ops team coordinates these sessions.

FAQ

Q: Who can join the FIR Program?

A: The FIR Program is open exclusively to members of our invite-only community. We select full-time founders based on track record, product viability, and the potential for meaningful impact.

Q: Where in the journey should an FIR be?/What makes someone a good fit for the FIR program?

A: During our pilot, we saw success with founders in the following stages:

• Nascent founders who are in the first weeks to months after founding.
• Founders who have raised a small pre-seed round but are yet to hire employees that they need to work with in person daily. They are working on shipping their product and landing their first customers.
• Founders who have just finished an accelerator and are looking to continue at that pace to ship product and validate product/market fit before focusing on company building.

Q: Does Foundations have any financial interest in companies started by a FIR?

A: Foundations does not charge FIRs or take any equity in their companies, but Foundations members may independently invest in FIR-founded companies. However, Foundations operates with no formal structure or syndicate program.

Q: How long is the FIR program?

A: The FIR Program is up to 6 months long, and individuals may be accepted on a rolling basis, though most admission is on a cohort basis.

Q: Do you accept founding teams or just individual founders?

A: We usually accept founding teams. However, there are scenarios (especially when one founder is not in Seattle) in which it does not make sense for all founders to be FIRs.

Q: How do you “graduate” the program?

A: Unlike a traditional cohort-based accelerator, the best outcome for an FIR is to naturally transition into a member role within 6 months—a sort of “do the job you want to be hired for” situation. FIRs set out with a goal to accomplish that, once achieved, will necessitate that they both spend less time in the Foundation’s space and have greater priorities than our programming and mentorship. It will be through conversations with the founder and Foundations ops team that we determine when to end a founder’s residence formally. Still, we expect most transitions to be gradual and obvious. If after 5 months a FIR is still actively engaged, they will have a conversation with the ops team about a scheduled transition or extension.

Q: What is expected of a Founder in Residence?

A: FIRs commit to coming in at least once a week, participating in Slack, and giving periodic product demos.

Q: Do FIRs have to show up to Foundations in person?

A: We firmly believe that human connection and physical presence is core to building community and manufacturing serendipity. We expect FIRs to work out of the Foundations space on a weekly basis, but do not have any firm physical attendance requirements.

Q: How do I sign up for Weekly Office Hours?

A: A sign-up info will be provided in the #founder-in-residence Slack channel and then a day later to #general. Slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so we recommend reserving early. You can also ask Root what's up in Slack as well.

Q: Is the Pitch Clinic mandatory?

A: Participation is optional but strongly encouraged. The Pitch Clinic is a valuable opportunity to refine your pitch, learn from others, and gain actionable feedback from seasoned mentors.

Q: How do new FIRs share their progress with the community?

A: In addition to our community newsletter, we hold monthly Show & Tell events for product demos and updates.

Q: Who is in the super mentor pool?

A: The super mentor pool consists of Foundations members without enough time to formally commit back to the community. The average super mentor will be an exited founder who is either in the process of figuring out what to find next or actively mentoring as a way to stay engaged with the startup community. Examples include Benn Bollay and Dave Pitman.

Q: How many FIRs are there be at any time?

A: We believe there should be between 30 and 40 FIRs at any time.

Q: What other options does Foundations have for people who want to get involved?

A: Besides being a FIR, you can be a member, which grants you access to the community and the space. Additionally, members can use Foundations as a platform and host their own events in the space.

Q: Is this an accelerator?

A: The Foundations Founder in Residence Program is to accelerators what DeepSeek R1 is to LLMs.

Q: Why is Foundations doing this?

A: Our mission is to provide the scaffolding needed to support the most capable and ambitious Seattle founders without getting in the way their most precious resource, time. While our holistic goal is to create a vibrant, interconnected network of experienced founders, new entrants, and established leaders, we believe that the Founder in Residence program is the key to success. We need a constantly evolving community of high-energy and high-optimism early-stage founders to be our beating heart, and this program is our plan for accomplishing that.

Q: Is information shared during the program considered public?

A: Foundations will use its platform to amplify the success and progress of our companies with their permission.

Want to apply to be to join the program as an FIR? Apply here.