June 2026 inaugural batch. Six companies.

A one-month San Francisco residency for founders already creating real outcomes.

Founder's Dojo Fund is building a June 2026 residency program for early-stage companies that already have meaningful traction and clear impact, and are ready to scale much harder with the right environment. We will select six teams for one month in San Francisco, then surround them with capital, mentorship, operator support and a fund model designed to keep backing them after graduation.

See the residency See founder fit

Launch

June 2026

Batch size

6 companies

Residency

1 month in SF

Fund model

2% + syndication

Why this exists

The original Dojo made room for unusual founders. The fund turns that into a concentrated residency.

The archived home page described the Dojo as a place where ideas, talent and capital could converge to make the impossible probable. The later materials sharpen that into something more specific: a long-running operating environment for builders who were independent, technically serious and usually a little allergic to standard startup institutions.

This relaunch keeps that spirit but frames the current leadership directly. Founder's Dojo Fund is best understood as a founder-built network now run by David Grossblatt and Rishi Sachdev as equal managing partners, helping unusual people and ambitious projects find each other at the right moment.

Then

Too much office space. Too many gifted builders who needed a base.

Now

David and Rishi as equal managing partners across the network, studio and community.

Timeline

A room, a culture, then a network

2008

A spare office turns into a founder magnet

The Dojo started as extra room inside an ad-network office near South Park. Instead of shrinking the space, David Grossblatt and early collaborators kept it open and let talented builders work there. The room filled with internet founders, product people and technical misfits who traded proximity for momentum.

2010s

From desks to a startup studio culture

What looked like free desk space evolved into a real operating pattern: keep strong people close, let projects cross-pollinate and help teams get through the earliest stage without unnecessary ceremony. Over the next decade, hundreds of founders and makers passed through the Dojo orbit.

2015

The outside world notices the ethos

The Hustle profiled Grossblatt as the rumored real-world influence behind Erlich Bachman from Silicon Valley. The article made public what insiders already recognized: the Dojo had become a home for unusually independent founders who valued freedom, intensity and weird talent density over polished startup theater.

Now

The residency becomes the main program

Today the fund is led by David Grossblatt and Rishi Sachdev as equal managing partners, and the main program is a June 2026 San Francisco residency for six companies. The goal is not to help founders start from zero, but to take companies with real outcomes and help them break into much larger impact.

Main program

The Founder's Dojo Fund Residency

Batch 01

Six founders. One month. June 2026.

The inaugural residency begins in June 2026 with six spots. We are deliberately keeping the batch small so every company gets serious partner time, daily operating support and real access to the wider Dojo network.

What founders get

Free stay, free office space, stipend and real intensity

Accepted teams get one month in San Francisco with housing, office space and a stipend covered. The point is to remove distraction, compress feedback loops and let founders spend the month fully focused on building and scaling.

Mentorship and fund support

Advisors who have built, exited and invested at the highest level

Every residency company gets intensive mentorship from industry leaders, exited founders, respected venture capitalists and angel investors. We take 2%, offer the full support of our team during the residency, and plan to syndicate every company through the fund after graduation.

Founder fit

The companies we want to help scale

The ideal company for the residency is already doing something that matters. We are not looking for raw ideas. We are looking for founders with proof, momentum and a credible path to dramatically larger impact if they are given the right environment and leverage.

Traction

Already producing outcomes

The strongest fit already has customers, users, revenue, adoption or some other clear evidence that the product is solving a real problem.

Impact

Making a real dent already

We want founders who are already making a decent impact and can point to the people, systems or markets that are materially better because the company exists.

Scale

Ready to scale beyond the current plateau

The residency is for companies that do not need generic startup motivation. They need sharper distribution, positioning, hiring, product leverage, financing or network effects to unlock the next order of magnitude.

Tempo

Able to use intense founder pressure well

One month in San Francisco only works if the team is ready for concentrated feedback, fast iteration and a high-trust, high-honesty environment.

Support model

A fit for direct partner involvement

We want companies where David, Rishi, the advisor bench and the wider Dojo network can create meaningful leverage instead of offering generic office hours.

Fund thesis

Worth backing after graduation

Every residency company is a candidate for syndication through the fund after the program. That only works if the company is strong enough that we genuinely want to keep backing it.

Managing partners

David Grossblatt and Rishi Sachdev lead the Dojo together.

The residency works because it combines founder taste, operator depth, investor access and a support model built around real leverage. David carries the original San Francisco Dojo culture and network memory; Rishi extends the platform through company building, healthcare infrastructure and technical execution.

Managing partner

David Grossblatt

Grossblatt built the original Dojo environment in South Park and shaped the culture that made it matter: give sharp, unconventional founders real room to work, keep talent close and let the right projects collide without institutional drag.

That role is not just historical. The current Dojo still draws much of its identity from David's network, taste and long-term presence inside the founder community, which is why the right framing is managing partner rather than distant founder emeritus.

Dojo roots

South Park, 2008

Public profile

Real-life Erlich story

Core edge

Network, culture, founder taste

Read David's profile

Managing partner

Rishi Sachdev

Sachdev brings operator and technical depth to the partnership. He is the CEO and technical founder of TalkDoc, and was also the CTO and technical co-founder of Rooster, with prior operating experience at Coinbase, Google Fiber and a Berkeley background in computer science and applied mathematics.

The healthcare infrastructure behind that work runs deeper than software. Rishi's background includes Bay Area Doctors / Csolutions International, a family-run California clinician staffing operation tied to prison and government behavioral health work, with public profile materials describing more than $100M in combined revenue and care delivery reaching hundreds of thousands of incarcerated patients.

TalkDoc

$1.8MM peak ARR

Rooster

Technical co-founder

Healthcare platform

$100MM staffing base

View TalkDoc View Rishi profile

Support stack

What founders actually receive in the residency

Free stay in San Francisco

Each company receives one month of free stay in San Francisco so the team can work in proximity, build momentum quickly and use the city itself as part of the program.

Free office space and stipend

We provide office space and a stipend so founders can spend the month focused on the company instead of carrying unnecessary operating drag while they are in residency.

An advisor bench with real weight

The support system includes industry leaders, exited founders, respected venture capitalists and active angel investors who can help founders tighten strategy and accelerate the right introductions.

Full-team support during the residency

This is not light-touch programming. Founders get the concentrated help of the managing partners and the broader team for the full month.

2% for aligned, practical help

We take 2% because the program is designed to be genuinely useful, highly involved and tightly aligned with the companies we believe can create outsized outcomes.

Syndication after graduation

Graduation is not the end of the relationship. Every company in the residency is one we intend to syndicate through the fund if the work and company quality justify it.

June 2026 batch

Six companies. One month in San Francisco. Full-team support.

We are looking for early-stage founders with meaningful outcomes already on the board, a company that is clearly making an impact, and a credible path to much larger scale if the right people get deeply involved. The residency includes free stay, free office space, a stipend, intensive mentorship, 2 percent economics and post-program syndication through the fund.

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