Wild Card
Founders, Inc.'s rolling sprint residency track
✽
Wild Card is Founders, Inc.'s rolling sprint residency, running year-round at the firm's Fort Mason campus in San Francisco.1 Unlike Founders, Inc.'s four named cohort programs — Canopy, Off Season, Blueprint, and Artifact — which run on fixed seasonal schedules, Wild Card invites new groups of roughly 10 teams to campus every two weeks for sprint residencies lasting two to four weeks.21 As of December 2025, 28 of the 55 startups Founders, Inc. had funded that year received their checks through Wild Card sprints rather than through the named programs.2
How it works
Hubert Thieblot described Wild Card in March 2026 as the option for founders who "don't want to wait" for the next scheduled program.1 The f.inc application page directs applicants who want to join outside of a named program to "be considered for our next rolling sprint."5
Each sprint brings approximately 10 teams to the Fort Mason campus for a residency of two to four weeks.2 Sprint participants receive the same campus amenities as named-program participants: a dedicated desk, regular office hours with the f.inc team, direct support on building and media, events, communal lunch every day, and access to the hardware lab with 3D printers, CNC machines, soldering stations, and Raspberry Pis.27 Founders, Inc. does not require pitch decks at any stage; investment decisions are made face-to-face based on what teams build during their time on campus.26
One Reddit user who was invited to a sprint in April 2026 described being selected as part of 30 builders for a one-month sprint and reported that f.inc funded 2–3 startups out of 41–45 teams in a prior sprint cohort.8
Funded teams
Founders, Inc. published a breakdown of its 55 funded teams in December 2025, identifying 28 that came through the "Community Sprint" track (the internal name for what Thieblot later branded Wild Card).2 The remaining 27 were funded through the named programs (Off Season and Blueprint at that point).2
Sprint-funded teams listed by Founders, Inc. include:2
- Dorado Motors (Erez Frank) — electric dirt bikes
- Colossuspay (Joseph Delong) — permissionless credit card
- Thalassa (Arjun Prabhakar) — subsea mesh networks
- Kisuke (Kyon) — mobile AI developer
- Microfactory (Igor Kulakov) — microfactories for assembly
- Atelier Missor — giant classical statues
- Helios (Joe S.) — AI for public policy professionals
- REK (Cix Liv) — robot fighting league
- SyncereAi (Aaron Tan) — robotic lamps that fold clothes
- Hup Ai (Stan M.) — AI security cameras
- Genie Mobility (Andrew Hughes) — autonomous bikes for delivery
- Matrix BioTech (Liam McNamara) — at-home blood testing kits
- DigiCast (Connor James Kapoor) — cast metal parts in 72 hours
- Thermopylae (Yehor Balytskyi) — counter-UAS interceptor drone
The list spans both software and hardware, from fintech (Colossuspay) to defense (Thermopylae) to consumer robotics (SyncereAi).2
The Erez Frank story
Founders, Inc. published a case study of how sprint funding works in practice.3 Erez Frank, founder of Dorado Motors (electric dirt bikes), joined one of f.inc's weekly sprints alongside 20 other founders.3 At the start of the week, the group went around in a circle answering "why are you here"; most said "community" or "advice," while Frank said "I'm here for funding."3 Founders, Inc. backed Frank by the end of the week, making him the only founder in that sprint cohort to receive a check.3 F.inc described Frank as "one of our biggest community members" afterward.3
Relationship to named programs
Wild Card fills the gaps between Founders, Inc.'s four seasonal cohort programs.1 As of early 2026, the annual program calendar is:1
- Artifact — beginning of the year (January), five weeks in person.1
- Canopy — spring (April–May), five weeks in person and online.1
- Off Season — summer, six weeks, for students, recent graduates, and dropouts.1
- Blueprint — fall, six weeks, hardware and physical-AI teams only.1
Wild Card runs alongside and between these programs, accepting founders on a rolling basis rather than on a fixed application deadline.15 The f.inc X account confirmed in March 2026 that the firm invites "cohorts every 2 weeks outside of our programs for sprints" and that "applications are open when you're ready."4
The key structural differences between Wild Card and the named programs: the named programs bring larger groups (48–500 teams) for fixed five-to-six-week periods with structured talks, weekly Ship-it sessions, and a culminating showcase or festival; Wild Card brings smaller groups (~10 teams) on a rolling two-week intake for shorter residencies (two to four weeks), with the same campus perks but without the programmatic wrapper of talks and festivals.21
F.inc's about page describes its programs collectively as designed to get builders "from -1 to 0," with the expectation that some will be ready for a first check by the end.6 Wild Card serves the same purpose for founders whose timing does not align with the seasonal calendar or who prefer a shorter, less structured residency.15
References
- We built an entire campus for ambitious founders — Hubert Thieblot, LinkedIn(accessed Apr 18, 2026)
- We've funded 55 teams this year — Founders, Inc. LinkedIn(accessed Apr 18, 2026)
- 20 founders joined one of our sprints & only 1 got funding — Founders, Inc. LinkedIn(accessed Apr 18, 2026)
- Every VC writes checks, some take a call, few meet you in person — Founders Inc on X(accessed Apr 18, 2026)
- Apply to Founders, Inc.