FI Seattle Spring 2026 — Graduation & Demo Day

Twelve weeks. Twenty companies. One afternoon to see what Seattle's next founders built.

This is what tangible looks like.

Fifteen weeks ago, twenty founders walked into Founder Institute Seattle with an idea and a hypothesis. On July 31, many will walk on stage with customers, revenue, and a company.

This is Demo Day, not a ceremony, a proving ground. You'll watch live pitches from the Spring 2026 cohort, get hands-on with their products at the demo showcase, and spend the afternoon in a curated room of operators, mentors, and investors who build things in this city.

Headlining the afternoon: Jonathan Greechan, Co-founder and CEO of Founder Institute — the world's largest pre-seed accelerator — on what separates the founders who make it from the ones who don't.

The afternoon (2:00–5:00 PM)

Live stage pitches — Spring 2026 founders pitch the companies they built in 12 weeks

Demo showcase — get hands-on with the products; talk directly to the founders building them

Keynote — Jonathan Greechan, Founder Institute

The room — Seattle mentors, operators, and VC partners, curated for real conversations

Celebration — food, drinks, and a proper send-off for the graduating cohort

Who should be here

Investors & angels scouting Seattle's earliest, most committed founders

Operators & mentors who want to give back and meet the next cohort

Founders & builders looking for their people

Anyone who wants to see what a real accelerator outcome looks like up close

What this is not

Not a networking-for-the-sake-of-it mixer. Not a pitch competition with a single winner and a leaderboard. This is a curated afternoon built to connect serious founders with the people who can help them go further — and to celebrate twelve weeks of genuinely hard work.

Logistics

When: Friday, July 31, 2026 · 2:00–5:00 PM PT

Where: ThinkSpace, Seattle

Cost: Free — RSVP required (curated room, limited capacity)

Getting to Thinkspace Seattle

Transit (recommended)

Take Link light rail to a downtown station (e.g., Westlake/University Street/Pioneer Square) and walk or take a short bus ride to Thinkspace.

Or use King County Metro; many routes run directly into downtown from neighborhoods across the city. Use the Metro Trip Planner to find the fastest option.

If you live near a Light Rail or frequent bus line, transit is usually faster and cheaper than driving + parking.

Driving & Parking

Downtown garages are widely available but can be busy and range roughly 10–50 USD/day depending on location and time.

We recommend using a parking app (e.g., SpotHero) to reserve a garage space in advance near Thinkspace to avoid circling.

Street parking is metered and time‑limited; always check signs for hours and rates.

From outside the core

Consider parking once at a park‑and‑ride (e.g., near a Link station or transit center) and taking Link or an express bus into downtown.

Rideshare, bike, scooter

Uber/Lyft and taxis can drop you directly at the entrance. Shared bikes and scooters (Bird, Lime) are widely available; please park rentals clear of sidewalks and driveways.

About Founder Institute Seattle

Founder Institute is the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, with chapters across 200+ cities. FI Seattle runs a accelerator that takes founders from idea to traction — customer development, MVP, GTM, and fundraising — with structured accountability and a deep mentor bench. Making Entrepreneurship Tangible.

→ Building something? The next Seattle cohort is forming: fi.co/seattle

Hosted by Nicole Doyle, Program Director, FI Seattle. Questions? nicole@aspir.ai