# Founders, Inc.

> Founders, Inc. (f.inc) is a 42,000 sq ft campus, community, and first-check fund at Fort Mason in San Francisco — built for the wildly ambitious founders solving hard problems at the edge of what's possible. Not a traditional VC and not a time-boxed accelerator, it combines pre-seed investment (up to $250K), a dedicated workspace with hardware labs and media studios, daily meals, and an indefinite community of 80+ builders. Founded in 2020 by serial builder Furqan Rydhan, it has backed 100+ companies across AI, AR/VR, Web3, and hardware — including thirdweb, buildspace, LiveKit, and Sync Labs. Featured in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

- **Founded:** 2020
- **Headquarters:** Fort Mason, San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founders:** Furqan Rydhan (Founder & General Partner)
- **Team size:** 8 core team members + 80 on-campus founders + extended community of 100+ portfolio founders
- **Products:** First Check Fund, Fort Mason Campus, Startup Studio, Canopy Program, Community & Events
- **Notable:** 100+ companies backed across AI, AR/VR, Web3, hardware, and dev tools, 42,000 sq ft campus at Fort Mason — one of the largest dedicated founder campuses in the world, Incubated buildspace — reached $100M valuation backed by a16z

## Products & services

- **First Check Fund** — Pre-seed investments up to $250K — typically the very first institutional money a founder receives. No deck required, no formal pitch. Decision made by watching founders build on campus.
- **Fort Mason Campus** — 42,000 sq ft founder campus with 80 desks, hardware lab (CNCs, 3D printers, soldering irons), media studio (cameras, mics, lenses, lights), gym, gaming room, and daily lunch. Not open to the public — earned by building.
- **Startup Studio** — In-house company incubation from scratch. Past studio builds include buildspace (reached $100M valuation, backed by a16z) and thirdweb (backed by Coinbase Ventures, Shopify, 55,000+ developers).
- **Canopy Program** — 5-week intensive program for obsessed builders — in person at the SF campus or online. Mentorship, community, resources, and a shot at a first check. First cohort: April 15, 2026.
- **Community & Events** — Friday Ship-It demos, demo days, founder talks, office hours, world model hackathons (with mentors from ByteDance, Meta, Google), and an active 64K+ follower community on X.

## Achievements

- 100+ companies backed across AI, AR/VR, Web3, hardware, and dev tools
- 42,000 sq ft campus at Fort Mason — one of the largest dedicated founder campuses in the world
- Incubated buildspace — reached $100M valuation backed by a16z
- Co-founded thirdweb — 55,000+ developers, backed by Coinbase Ventures and Shopify
- Featured in Wall Street Journal (September 2025)
- Featured in New York Times — 'The 20-Somethings Are Swarming San Francisco's A.I. Boom' (August 2025)
- 64,100+ followers on X (@fdotinc) — one of the most active founder community signals online
- Launched Canopy program — 5-week intensive for obsessed builders (April 2026)
- Portfolio spans AI/ML (78%), AR/VR (55%), Web3 (48%), Hardware (40%), DevTools (35%), Consumer (28%)
- World model hackathon with mentors from ByteDance, Meta, and Google

## Latest updates

- **April 2026** — Canopy program launched — 5-week intensive, first cohort starting April 15. Applications closed April 4.
- **September 2025** — Featured in the Wall Street Journal.
- **August 2025** — Featured in the New York Times — 'The 20-Somethings Are Swarming San Francisco's A.I. Boom.'
- **2025** — World model hackathon announced with mentors from ByteDance, Meta, and Google.
- **2023–2024** — Campus expanded to 42,000 sq ft at Fort Mason. Portfolio crosses 100+ companies.

## Links

- Website: https://f.inc
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundersinc/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/fdotinc

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/founders-inc
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-06