Building for Resilience: What Makes a Company Hard to Kill?
Technology stopped being a moat. Nobody's written the replacement playbook.
🔸What makes a company hard to kill when the technology behind it keeps changing? And how do you know if what you're building will survive the next twelve months?
🔸The old playbook doesn't work anymore. The honest answer is that it depends on what you build.
🔸In every market: hardware, software or other, durability comes from something different.
🔸Most founders are taught a version of the game that was built for someone else. Without enough market cycles to draw from, it is hard to know which old rules still hold or where they break down.
On September 25, The Founders Guild and Founders Institute are bringing together founders, investors and operators who have watched markets break, shift and rebuild to answer one question: what makes a company hard to kill?
Who should be in the room
Pre-seed and early-stage founders in hardware, software, or biotech, far enough in to want the thing pressure-tested by people who've seen it before
You built something that works, and you can't yet say what stops someone rebuilding it in a weekend
The ground under your category is moving and you're trying to work out how much
Acquired in two years, or built to last; you haven't picked, and you're starting to see those are two different companies
The room is small and every founder in it is vetted. Seats are limited an subject to approval
Agenda:
6:00 — Welcome!
6:30–7:30 — Panel
7:30–8:00 — Networking with the speakers and the room
Speakers Include:
Ryan Eppley - CEO of Root Access
Jeni Chang - Managing Director of Founders Institute & New Energy Financial
Linda Hong Cheng - Founder of Abstract Atomic
Aaron Edsinger - CEO of Hello Robot
Panel is moderated by Daniel Theobald - World renowned founder, investor, philanthropist and roboticist.
About the Founders Institute: Founder Institute San Francisco/Oakland
AI rewrote the rules of company building. The playbook has changed. Skills are no longer the barrier. Direction is.
At Founder Institute, we’ve merged our structured programs with AI agents that help founders do the work, not just learn how to do it. Learn More: https://fi.co/aifounder
Interested in our program? Meet the Team: Jeni & Lucas - come say "hi" 🌞
➡️ Our upcoming Fall cohort starts soon! Apply by Oct 18th https://fi.co/san-francisco
About the Founder's Guild
A global community of entrepreneurs building companies on their own terms and reshaping startup culture in the process. Rooted in Silicon Valley but open to everyone, we connect founders who recognize that entrepreneurship is both a craft and a responsibility.
Improving financial outcomes and quality of life for founders worldwide — apply at www.foundersguild.org/apply