The Founder Institute, the world’s premier startup launch program, was proud to host its second ever FounderX event, a private gathering of the FI Network in Silicon Valley that gathered some of the biggest industry leaders from around the world.
This 3-day long event, held on October 5 - 7, 2016, was attended by over 150 international startup leaders, and featured a series of networking events, workshops, and formal dinners.
The topic for the 2nd FounderX was how to gain traction for technology startups. As gaining traction is now more important than ever, this event covered how to get investor, user, and revenue traction, and provided Founder Institute Graduates with the opportunity to connect with top startup experts.
Speakers for the event included:
- Gagan Biyani: Co-Founder & CEO of Sprig, Co-Founder of Udemy, Former Growth Advisor at Lyft
- Nir Eyal: Best-Selling Author of "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products", Behavioral Design Expert
- Chandini M Ammineni: Distribution Partner at 500 Startups, Co-Founder & CEO of ActivityHero
- Rajil Kapoor: Founder of Snapfish & Fitmob, Prolific VC at Mayfield Fund and Angel Investor
- Jim Kaskade: CEO at Janrain, Multi-time CEO, VP, and GM of SaaS and Big Data Companies
- Ben Narasin: General Partner at Canvas Ventures, Investor in Dropcam, Zenefits, Realty Mogul
- Greg Pietruszynski: Founder & CEO at Growbots, Founder of SocialPaths & Gameboxed
- Jed Katz: Managing Director at Javelin Venture Partners
- Bob Rosin: VP Business Development at LinkedIn, Former Biz Dev Lead at Skype, Qik, OQO
- Walter Roth: CEO of Inward, Business Development Advisor for Mutliple Startups
- Jeff Bonforte: SVP at Yahoo (via acquisition of Xobni), Founder of Xobni
- Paul D'Souza: Master Trainer at Peak Performance, Multi-time Biz Dev Executive
- Omar Valle: Business Development Executive at Amazon Web Services
And of course, FounderX would not have been possible without the support of our generous partners:
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati - is the premier legal advisor to technology, life sciences, and other growth enterprises worldwide. We represent companies at every stage of development, from entrepreneurial start-ups to multibillion-dollar global corporations, as well as the venture firms, private equity firms, and investment banks that finance and advise them. The firm's broad range of services and practice areas are focused on addressing the principal challenges faced by the management, boards of directors, shareholders, and in-house counsel of our clients.
- Silicon Valley Bank - Every day, innovation businesses strive to bring out the next big thing. From technology to healthcare, from San Jose to Shanghai, their clients define what comes next. At Silicon Valley Bank, they support businesses that invent the future. Everything they do helps innovators, enterprises and investors move bold ideas forward, fast.
- SendGrid Accelerate - is a global program for top tier startups, accelerators, incubators and VCs. They help the next generation of Founders grow their business with reliable technology, mentorship and growth expertise.
- CodigoDelSur - is a designer and developer of digital products. Having worked with Founder Institute startups in the past, they come as a highly recommended Founder Institute referral. They are composed of highly skilled software, web, and mobile app developers, who are excited to incorporate the latest technologies into the applications they develop.