FounderFold: the layer on top
- Find and screen startups
- Generate strategies for the startups in the program
AI models: they do the analysis, and they’re built in
Accelerator management software. 500 applications, three weeks and a sponsor asking why
FounderFold is the layer on top of AI models: accelerator management software that finds and screens startups with your rubric and generates strategies for those already inside, keeping the reason for each rejection.
Early access is by invitation.
On top of AI models, from one intake to the next
FounderFold for accelerators and incubators is a layer on top of AI models for running a program: it finds and screens startups on one rubric, keeps the reason for every rejection, generates strategies to optimize those already inside, and follows their milestones and reports. The AI is already built in. The program team decides.
FounderFold: the layer on top
Find and screen startups
The Explorer searches the internet for startups using your thesis, with the source of each fact. Import the intake from a spreadsheet or add each application. All go through the same rubric, and the reason for each rejection stays for next time.
Generate strategies for the startups in the program
Each startup is a running project, with its stage, milestones, figures and an improvement plan. The team sees who’s stuck without waiting for demo day.
AI models: they do the analysis, and they’re built in
What is accelerator management software?
Accelerator management software is where a program keeps the evaluation and follow-up of its startups: how applications are scored, why each one was accepted or rejected, which milestones every startup has to meet and how far it has got. Program logistics, such as forms, mentors and events, usually live in a separate tool.
Scoring rubric, in the glossary
How an accelerator compares with an incubator and a venture studio
Heard during every intake
“500 applications and three weeks.”
Read one by one, each reviewer with their own yardstick, until nobody is really reading.
“On what grounds did we turn this one down?”
The startup asks, or the sponsor does, and the reason was in a spreadsheet cell.
“Didn’t this startup apply last year?”
Maybe. Nobody knows what it was missing then, or whether it has it now.
“The sponsor wants the impact of the last three cohorts.”
The same report, rebuilt from four different exports.
AI models read the batch. FounderFold keeps why each one got in.
| AI models | AI models + FounderFold | |
|---|---|---|
| Reading applications | Screen and summarize batches with multi-step tasks on your files and spreadsheets. | Each application has its record, with a fixed number and status. When you add it, you note the model’s summary under “What you already know”, with its link. |
| The committee’s yardstick | A rubric in a project’s instructions or in a custom assistant. | Your criteria and reasons to discard belong to the program (“How it’s scored” and “Reasons to discard”), and scores from two different rubrics never mix. |
| This startup applied before | You find it if it’s in your chats. | Its record is still there, with its number, the reason it was left out and who decided. |
| One edition to the next | One project per intake, with its context. | One portfolio per edition, and “All portfolios” to compare them. |
| Startups in the program | Shared projects, built from what each person uploads. | Each is a running project, with stage, starting figures and goal, and enters the Monday review by FounderFold’s CEO. |
| The sponsor’s report | They write the text and the deck you ask for. | The Board view calculates it from the records. “Schedule this report” sends it by email. |
Indicative comparison with features offered by some AI models and general assistants as of October 30, 2026; they vary by provider and plan, and change quickly. The column with FounderFold only lists what already works in the panel.
Early access is by invitation.
An uncomfortable question
Think of the last startup you turned down. If it comes back tomorrow, what do you tell it?
- What was it missing?
- Who saw that?
- Could you find it before the meeting?
How FounderFold runs a program
One rubric for every startup
Applications and startups are scored on the same rubric, from 0 to 2 per dimension, with the evidence in each record. A score without evidence counts as zero.
A cohort from a spreadsheet
Import the startups of a cohort, or the ideas from an open call, from a CSV or Excel file, and see what will be created before it is saved.
Screening in stages
Applications move through evaluation stages, from screening and first analysis to committee and close, each with its decision and reason.
Weak points become a plan
The diagnosis of each startup becomes a development plan: experiments with a numeric criterion, milestones and the figures to record.
Milestones for every startup
Each startup runs as a project with stages, milestones and kill criteria, so the program sees who is moving and who is stuck.
Access for each startup
When each startup has its own portfolio, its founders can get access to it alone and update their figures without seeing the rest of the cohort.
A cohort of twelve, from 210 applications to demo day
Illustrative data — Fictional company, ideas and figures, shown for illustration only.
Tidewell, a fictional accelerator with a team of four and 210 applications for its spring cohort.
Import the applications
The 210 applications arrive from the call’s spreadsheet as ideas, each with its founders’ answers.
Screen them the same way
All are scored on the program’s rubric. 150 stop at screening with their reason, 60 go to a first analysis and 30 to committee.
Compare at committee
The committee sees the 30 side by side, with the evidence for each score, and chooses 12.
Find each startup’s weak point
A diagnosis per startup: for one it is retention, for another a sales cycle too long for its price. Each gets a development plan.
Follow the milestones
Every week the startups record their figures. The program sees who has passed the gate to Traction and who has triggered a kill criterion.
By demo day the team knows why each of the 198 rejected applications stopped, and which milestones each of the twelve startups has met.
Track every startup you accelerate, milestone by milestone.
Early access is by invitation.
How a program starts, in four steps
Write the rubric with the program
FounderFold proposes a rubric, reasons to discard and stages from what you tell it about the program, and you approve them.
Bring in the call
Import the applications from a spreadsheet, or add them one by one.
Screen, compare and choose
Score, discard with a reason, compare at committee and choose the cohort.
Follow and report
Plans, milestones and figures for each startup, and a report for funders each period.
Halden MutualNew lines 2027Board report · Q3 2026Weighted value per year rose to €3.1M; two decisions need the board.
- Weighted value per year
- €3.1Mbetween €1.4M and €5.6M
- Recurring revenue
- €7,000a month; 1 of 4 projects with data
- Ideas discarded this quarter
- 57Top reason: competition
Decisions requested
- Pass the gate for Event cancellation for small venues (Exploration → Pilot).
- Decide on the kill criterion on “Watch” for Landlord rent guarantee.
Cutoff Sep 30, 2026 · Portfolio New lines 2027 · Page 3 of 24
Illustrative data — Fictional company, ideas and figures, shown for illustration only.
Import of a call’s CSV file into a fictional accelerator: a preview of 210 rows, 208 ready to be created as ideas and 2 flagged because the name is missing.
Too many startups for too few people
Programs grow cohort by cohort. Program teams do not.
Applications judged by whoever reads them
Two reviewers score the same startup differently, and the reasons for rejecting one are lost by the next call.
Weak points found too late
A startup’s real problem, a channel that does not work or a price nobody pays, shows up at demo day instead of week three.
Follow-up in spreadsheets
Milestones live in a different spreadsheet for every mentor, and the report to funders is rebuilt every quarter.
A program’s lifecycle, for example
Stages of your own for a program, from application to the end of the cohort, with the milestones each startup has to meet.
Projects by stage
Lifecycle: new business line in an existing company · Halden Mutual
Illustrative data — Fictional company, ideas and figures, shown for illustration only.- Milestone done
- In progress
- Pending
- Gate
- No risk
- Watch
- Triggered
- Milestone to Traction
- 10 paying customers, and 60% of them still active in month 2 Example milestone. Illustrative data.
What accelerators use it for
Initial evaluation
Score every application on one rubric, with the evidence in the record and the reason for each rejection.
Comparison
Put startups side by side at committee with the same dimensions and the same rubric version.
Weak points
A diagnosis per startup that shows where it is stuck: market, channel, price, team or retention.
Development plans
Experiments, milestones and figures for each startup, with an owner and a deadline.
Milestone tracking
Stages, gates and kill criteria for every startup, and reports for funders built from the records.
Illustrative data — Fictional company, ideas and figures, shown for illustration only.
Projects of a fictional cohort of twelve startups, each with its stage, the milestones met and the state of its kill criteria: No risk, Watch or Triggered.
What your program gets
Fairer selection
Every application is judged on the same rubric, and every rejection keeps its reason.
Problems found early
Weak points show up in the diagnosis in the first weeks, not at demo day.
Mentoring time where it matters
The team sees which startups are stuck and why, and spends its hours there.
Reports to funders without rebuilding them
The board report is calculated from the records every period.
Read next
Questions accelerators ask about FounderFold
Can we import a whole cohort at once?
Yes. Import the startups or the applications of a call from a CSV or Excel file. Before anything is saved, you see row by row what will be created.
Does it work alongside our program software?
Yes. It evaluates and follows the startups (rubric, stages, milestones, plans and reports) next to the software you use for applications, mentors and events.
Can the founders of each startup update their own figures?
Yes, when each startup has its own portfolio: access by portfolio lets its founders see and update only their own.
Who decides which startups enter the program?
Your committee. The CEO can propose decisions, marked as AI-generated, but choosing or rejecting a startup is always a person’s decision, with the reason recorded.
Do I have to connect or pay separately for an AI model?
No. The AI comes with your FounderFold membership, with a monthly AI limit in plain sight, and there’s nothing to connect. If you already use a model, keep using it for your own work.
Can I bring the intake I already have?
Yes. Import the applications from your spreadsheet, see what will be created before saving it and follow them in the same portfolio.
We live on grants. Can this support the justification?
What a funder usually asks for comes from the records: how many applications, on what criteria, and what became of each startup, in a PDF report. Pricing is discussed when you request access.
Does it work for incubators as well?
Yes. Incubator software and accelerator software share the same core: evaluate startups on one rubric and follow their milestones. Only the stages change, and you set them for your program.
How does an accelerator or incubator get access, and what does it cost?
For accelerators and incubators, FounderFold is in early access by invitation, and pricing is not published. Request access with a few lines about your program and its cohorts.
What FounderFold keeps, and who decides
FounderFold evaluates and follows the startups, with the evidence and the decisions on record, next to the software you use to run the program. The agents bring the evidence and a score; the program team decides which startups move on.
Accelerator, or venture studio?
An accelerator supports startups founded by others for a fixed period. A venture studio creates its own companies with a shared team and stays with them.
Track every startup you accelerate, milestone by milestone.
Early access is by invitation.
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