Free Seminar: Run your entire business online with Zoho One – Jan. 8, 2019


Zoho’s holding a free, educational seminar on their complete business suite, Zoho One, in San Francisco on January 8th, and would love to have you all join!

Whether you’re moving your business online or looking to try out some new apps, they welcome all experience levels. They’ll be discussing how you can enhance your business’ productivity and drive growth using their cloud-based suite of comprehensive and fully-integrated apps for everything from sales and marketing, to HR and accounting, and more. You can find more information and register here. Hope to see you there!   Read more...

Sangwoon Chie of WiseJet (Korea)

Participating in the Founder Space Program was a valuable experience for our company as well as myself. I truly appreciate the help from Captain Steve Hoffman, Naomi Kokubo, Steve Austin and all other speakers.

From the 2 weeks program, I learned about the essential values of the start-up and how to apply them to our case. It was also a great opportunity to improve my pitch deck with the training of Steve Austin and all advices from the experienced mentors.   Read more...

Q2B Quantum For Business on Dec 10-12, 2018

At Quantum For Business, find out about the current state of quantum computing. Listen and talk to key players in government, industry and academia, and discuss the latest developments with researchers and practitioners. Attending is an especially effective way to come up to speed in this intrinsically exciting sector on the cusp of commercializing. Choose from Application Tracks – Bootcamp, Optimization, Simulation, Machine Learning, Cryptography.

Go here for more information and use this code Q2BFS40 for 40% discount.

Liz Godwin, Cofounder of Seknova (Taiwan)

Founders Space is not what you would expect from the average accelerator program. Instead of coddling you, telling you how great your company is, and giving you overly basic and optimistic overviews of starting a company, the FS Program breaks your business down to its very core with classes designed to test and provoke you. The program is by no means easy and forces you to face the reality that your idea and business plan are not as perfect as you think they are. But this reality check is exactly what startup founders need.   Read more...

Barry Wang, Cofounder of Seknova (Taiwan)

I am glad I joined the 2-week program at Founders Space. This awesome place provides greatest class for startups, and I especially enjoyed the mentor Steve Austin’s class.

He trained us and improved our pitch to higher level. He shared his abundant sales experiences in America and other countries. He let me know the key value of operating a company in just 2 weeks.

I also enjoyed the communication with many great entrepreneurs from different countries. Learning and teaching from each other and grew together.   Read more...

Kwon Ik Hwan, Founder of Schaffengott (Korea)

Over the last six years, I have been involved in many entrepreneurial training programs in Silicon Valley, USA.
For the most part, a similar pattern of education was far from realistic and took too much time.

But Founders Space’s enthusiastic mentors and realistic lectures gave us a lot of enthusiasm and joy.

It was always a dark night at the end of the training, but it burned up a passion as hot as it returned to high school.   Read more...

CMI Management Book of the Year Awards

Make Elephants Fly just made the Shortlist for the CMI Management Book of the Year Awards!

Make Elephants Fly will help you implement the same methodologies and processes as the most innovative startups in Silicon Valley. It will show you how startups come up with breakthrough products and services; how to structure innovation teams; the best ways to identify and vet new ideas; what it takes to foster a culture of innovation and how to establish a process of innovation throughout your organization.

Peter Park COO of GreenZone Security (Korea)

“Excellent Startup Program and great fun!”

It was great participating in Founders Space’s accelerator program. Captain Steve Hoffman, Naomi Kokubo, and Steve Austin — they all helped develop an easy to understand IR pitch deck in the manner and methodologies perfected throughout the program. I would highly recommend their take to get up-to-date on the latest, best learning available.   Read more...

Startup Fundraising Panel on Nov. 27, 2018

Startup fundraising can be an arduous journey, especially when it’s done alone. Would it be easier if you had a specialized team to call on for help? Early Growth Financial Services (EGFS) and K&L Gates will be hosting a free event on Tuesday, November 27th, at 5:30pm. The panel of VC, lawyer and other experts will share their fundraising experience, stories, and knowledge with you as they discuss strategies on startup fundraising.   Read more...

The Promise and Peril of Quantum Computing – Nov. 13

The Promise and Peril of Quantum Computing – An expert panel blending both theoreticians and practitioners will bring you up to speed on this genuinely transformative technology moving briskly toward commercializing.

Attending is an especially time-effective way to become acquainted with both the technology and major players in this intrinsically exciting sector sure to make a historical impact in both commerce and culture.

When Will True Human-Like AI Arrive?

I’ve done a lot of research on this and talked to numerous AI experts. There is no consensus on when Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will arrive or how fast it will evolve. I can tell you that we’re still a ways off from developing true human-like AI. It’s not coming tomorrow.

What everyone can agree upon is that we keep raising the bar for AGI. It’s no longer a simple Turning Test using a chatbot. That goal for AGI is here already–or nearly so.   Read more...

Silicon Valley Meets GDPR on Nov 7, 2018


Data privacy affects all of us, whether you are an entrepreneur, a tech giant, a citizen or a consumer. The European Union and Open Austria invite you to join public and private stakeholders for a discussion, followed by a Q & A session on different approaches to data protection and explore the way forward.

Sponsored by the European Union, this event will be held on Nov. 7 at 5:30 PM in San Francisco. Food and drinks will be provided.   Read more...

Founders Space Alumni Secure Funding

I want to congratulate two startups that received funding shortly after graduating our MIC Startup Program in Beijing.

Penny Li, PIMC, HR and team performance consulting, 10 million.

Wei ZHENG, Dianxiaohuo, retail data services, 20 million

Steven Schuler, Product Marketing Expert

Steven Schuler joined Founders Space as a mentor. He is a marketing leader with recent experience at Intercom and Yahoo. At Yahoo he led product marketing for Gemini, Yahoo’s platform for mobile native advertising. A mobile veteran, he has worked in the industry for over fifteen years, with positions on the wireless team at web analytics company Compete, at mobile marketing pioneer m-Qube, and at Sprint.

In the summer of 2007 Steve rode a bicycle from Boston, MA to Seattle, WA and kept a blog using only his Sony Ericsson s710a flip phone.   Read more...

Who Will I Become 10 Years from Now?

No one can predict the future. No one can control the events in their life. But everyone can make choices, and those choices add up to who we are and what we will become.

I hope you think carefully about each choice, even the small ones. Ten years from now, I hope you will be proud of your decisions. The sum of the decisions you make along the way, not the final results they produce, will define your character and the respect you deserve.   Read more...

Bay Angels Investors Event on Oct 30, 2018


Bay Angels welcomes everyone to join them on Oct 30, 2018, in San Francisco and review their startups. Presenting companies are from Early stage to significant traction – from -Seed to Angel to Pre- A.

You can find more information and register here. Door tickets are not available.

Brien Biondi (President of the Institute for Private Investors) on Founders Space Podcast

This week Captain Hoff interviews Brien Biondi, the President of the Institute for Private Investors and Campden Wealth. Brien discusses wealth management, education, startup organizations, and life lessons.

Brien comes to Campden after a successful career of leading numerous high-profile membership organizations for the past 25 years. Biondi has served as executive director of the Chief Executives Organization (CEO) and as chief executive officer of the Entrepreneurs’ Organizations (EO). He began his career with KPMG. Biondi is also an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).   Read more...

Founders Space Launching in Hangzhou

This has been in the works for a while now, and it’s finally come to fruition. We are excited to announce that we are launching Founders Space in Hangzhou, China.

Captain Hoff will be flying there for the official signing ceremony on Nov. 10, 2018.

Our partners include Futton, Inc., as well as the government of Hangzhou. If you want to collaborate with us or speak at Founders Space Hangzhou, feel free to contact us.

Founders Space Pitch Day – Startups, VCs, Angels & More!

Come to Startup Pitch Day!

Join us at Founders Space Pitch Day & Mixer:
https://vc.eventbrite.com

Judging the startups will be a select group of top VCs, Angels & Corporate Investors from our Global Investor Network.

There will be incredible startup pitches, investors, networking, food, drinks and more!

Program:   Read more...

Giancarlo Mori, Digital Strategist, Executive Board Advisor & Investor

Giancarlo Mori joined Founders Space as a mentor. He is the CEO and Chief Architect at Movyl Technologies, an AI-powered platform for social communications and analysis.

Prior to starting Movyl Technologies, he was EVP of Strategy at Atari and CCO at Glu Mobile. Giancarlo has spent 20 years in technology and media as a technology and product executive at companies such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Activision-Blizzard. Giancarlo has founded several companies with multiple successful exits.   Read more...