First batch
June 1, 2026Batches every two months. First batch starts June 1, 2026.
A San Francisco residency program for founders already creating real outcomes.
Founder's Dojo FU ND is building a recurring San Francisco residency program for early-stage companies that already have traction, real impact, and clear leverage if the right operators, investors, advisors, and peers get deeply involved. Batches begin every two months, starting with a six-company inaugural batch on June 1, 2026.
Batch size
6 companiesCadence
Every 2 monthsResidency
2 months in SFEconomics
2% + syndicationWhy this works
The Dojo already knows how to gather the right people around ambitious companies.
The older Dojo material points to four useful truths: the network started in South Park in 2008, it kept unusual founders close to one another, it accumulated real outcomes across companies and initiatives, and San Francisco remains the right place to run intense two-month batches.
The Founder's Dojo FU ND began as collaborative start up studio in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood in 2008.
The older startup-program language supplied the clearer operator frame: connect capital, talent, and wisdom to accomplish the amazing. The FU ND now turns that into a more specific offer for founders who already have something working and need sharper leverage to scale.
Archive quote
“"It's a collaborative, start-up community and home to superstars who do amazing things"”
— Ryan Hoover, Founder of Product Hunt
What carried over
The older Dojo material clarified what the Fund should keep.
A rich heritage from South Park in 2008, updated to power a high-leverage studio model.
Origin
South Park, free desks, high talent density
The Dojo started in 2008 as a shared workspace near South Park, San Francisco, bringing together an elite group of early-stage builders and operators. This high-density environment quickly became a launchpad for tech refugees who went on to build platforms like Kickstarter, Uservoice, and SFBETA. From its origins as a space for collaborative, hands-on work, the community proved the immense value of proximity to top-tier talent and immediate peer sounding boards.
Operating model
Capital, talent, and wisdom in one room
Since 2007 hundreds of founders, projects, initiatives and movements have come through the Dojo. The Founder's Dojo FU ND Start up program is the iteration and culmination of those experiences. The Dojo is a tool box, Dojians are the crafters.
Current shape
Residency first, proof behind it
The FU ND now uses that history as an advantage: six companies at a time, two months in San Francisco, direct partner involvement, and a network that already understands how to help founders move faster.
Residency program
The main offer is clear now.
The older startup-program material gave the Fund language and operating principles. The current site turns that into a cleaner founder offer.
Included
Free stay, free office space, stipend
The residency removes living and workspace friction so founders can spend the two-month residency building instead of solving logistics.
Mentorship
Operators, founders, VCs, and angels with real weight
The program is built around direct access to people who have actually built, exited, invested, and helped companies scale.
Alignment
2 percent, full-team support, syndication after graduation
The economics are intentionally simple: tight alignment during the residency, then continued backing through the FU ND when the company earns it.
Proof
The Dojo points to real outcomes, not just vibes.
Selected companies built, scaled, or supported closely within our network.
DTC exit
Native Co
The Dojo orbit helped shape Native Co before its sale to Procter & Gamble in a $100M outcome.
Decentralized infrastructure
Akash
Akash appears in the Dojo story as a category-defining decentralized cloud project with value measured above the billion-dollar mark.
Developer tooling
Scout Monitoring
Scout Monitoring is described as a leading distributed monitoring system that later sold to SolarWinds.
Global consumer brand
Linjer
The Dojo story positions Linjer as a leading global fashion brand and one of the largest DTC operators in its category across the Pacific Rim.
Media exit
The Hustle
The Hustle shows the Dojo's range beyond software, with the company eventually selling to HubSpot.
Web3 security
Quantstamp
Quantstamp appears across the community and decentralization material as proof that the Dojo has long been close to the open internet and security stack.
Explore the site
The site is organized around the strongest parts of the Dojo story.
Discover the core aspects of our footprint, community records, initiatives, and full terms.
Residency
Program structure, founder fit, economics, and what founders actually receive during the two-month residency.
Community
Company outcomes, South Park history, and the people-and-place context that make the residency credible.
Locations
San Francisco as the residency base, plus Tahoe and Las Vegas as part of the current footprint.
Initiatives
Decentralization, advocacy, nonprofit work, and the impact-oriented edge that shapes the FU ND's taste.
Pitch Deck
The master pitch deck for Founder's Dojo FU ND, with the thesis, model, track record, leadership, and current ask.
Current footprint
Three locations, with San Francisco as the residency base.
From active workspaces to quiet deep-work resets and energetic networking nodes.
Residency base
San Francisco
San Francisco is the active home of the residency program, with the first batch starting June 1, 2026. The Dojo story points to a 10,000-square-foot work and event environment with views, gathering space, and enough density to keep founders in the room with each other.
Sprint and reset
Lake Tahoe
Dojo Sierra is located in the Lake Tahoe area in the picturesque East Sierra Mountain range. Located in historic downtown Carson City, NV Dojo Sierra is an excellent location for team off sites, heads down sprints and refreshers. It is part of the current footprint for off-sites, heads-down sprints, and sharper working sessions away from the city.
Experience and convening
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is the Silicon Valley of human experience. Art, hosting, gaming, global conventions, risk and reward are all here, and so is the Dojo, Located between the world famous Fremont Street cooridor and the fabled Las Vegas Arts District, the Vegas Dojo vibes and builds in teh classic Las Vegas style. Viva Las Vegas, Viva LV. We present it as part of the FU ND's current broader footprint: a place for high-energy convenings, brand moments, and founder collisions around culture, risk, and hospitality.
Taste
The Fund likes companies and projects with real stakes in the world.
Serious open infrastructure, policy advocacy, and public interest systems.
Decentralization
Manifest Network
Manifest Network sits alongside Akash and Quantstamp as part of the Dojo's long-running commitment to decentralized infrastructure.
Decentralization
Akash
Akash stands as proof that the Dojo does not just admire open systems in theory; it has worked close to category builders inside that movement.
Decentralization
Quantstamp
Quantstamp reinforces the FU ND's bias toward security, open internet infrastructure, and technically serious founders.
Managing partners
David Grossblatt and Rishi Sachdev lead the Fund together.
Active operators who work directly with founders on product, engineering, hiring, and capital.
Managing partner
David Grossblatt
Grossblatt built the original South Park Dojo environment and the operating culture behind it: keep unusual founders close, remove unnecessary drag, and let strong people create leverage together.
That history still shapes the FU ND's taste today, from the free-desk origin story to the companies, initiatives, and spaces that define what kind of founder community the partners want to build around.
Original base
South Park, 2008Operating edge
Network and founder tastePublic profile
The Hustle featureManaging partner
Rishi Sachdev
Sachdev brings operator, technical, and healthcare infrastructure depth to the FU ND, spanning TalkDoc, Rooster, engineering leadership, and a staffing platform tied to $100MM gross revenue, $20MM revenue (post-paying clinicians), and care access for hundreds of thousands of incarcerated patients.
That mix matters for the residency: the FU ND is not designed as passive programming. It is built for direct partner involvement on product, growth, capital, hiring, and execution with founders who already have something real working.
TalkDoc
$1.8MM peak ARRRooster
Technical co-founderHealthcare platform
$100MM gross / $20MM post-paying cliniciansScenes from the Dojo
The people, rooms, and moments behind the network.
A visual snapshot of real encounters, workspaces, and historic milestones.
First batch starts June 1, 2026
The FU ND is looking for companies that already matter and are ready to compound much faster.
The right team already has outcomes on the board. The residency exists to compress the next stage of company building, not to create generic startup theater.