ScottI 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.

In regards to getting prepared to present to investors and learning all the steps involved, I don’t think you’re going to find a better program. Not only did we work on practice pitches in classes with Steve, Murray, and other advisors, but they put us in front of interested investors right away.

If you’re a new founder, I can’t tell you how important this was. Trying to pitch your company, focus on the strong points of what you offer, and follow through to acquire funding can be very, very intimidating. Getting in front of investors right away, practicing the pitch over and over, and meeting a large variety of investors really helped to de-mystify the process for me, alleviate a large portion of the stress, and emphasize the priorities for our new company. There is nothing to make you more focused on what you are supposed to deliver than face to face accountability.

The monthly program they have set up also proved to be invaluable. We had in class sessions usually 4 days out of the week and 2-3 sessions per day during the month of the incubator program. We worked on how to properly structure your startup organization both legally and functionally, how to identify the right message to market our product, how to set a company direction that made sense, how to forecast, how to pitch, and how to protect our IP.

There were many different mentors that worked with us through these interactive sessions. And when Steve and Murray were there, they provided some of the most important feedback by walking through our goals with us. There are no words to describe how helpful that was. Outside of the classroom, they offered several social events to meet people, sent regular instructional videos and book recommendations, and made the space available to us for our business.

Scott Morrissey
CEO of Cognia Studios
San Francisco