founders founders

What founders founders does

Founders Founders (F2) is a privately held founder community and accelerator based in Porto, Portugal, founded in 2017 by five entrepreneurs who had previously scaled, exited, or raised capital for their own startups. The company operates a multi-product ecosystem targeting scale-up founders (post-seed to Series A) and their leadership teams, offering peer-to-peer mentorship, structured programs, coworking infrastructure, and curated events. Its core products include Big Bang Bada Boom (an 8-week in-person acceleration program priced at €3,000 per company), Office Spaces (a 4,000m² coworking facility with private offices, meeting rooms, a 100-seat auditorium, and amenities), Virtual Residency (a remote membership providing a Portuguese legal address and community access), and F2 Club (an invite-only network of 100+ scale-up founders). Supporting the core offerings are content-driven sub-products including the Exit Stories documentary series, Incinerator failure-learning series, Unconference, Founder Meets Founder talk show, Bang Week (sales bootcamp), Boom Week (growth bootcamp), and the Barcelos Ignition Program.

The business model is diversified across four revenue streams: cohort-based program fees (professional services), recurring office residency subscriptions, hourly space booking fees (meeting rooms from €7.5/hour, auditorium from €40/hour), and virtual residency subscriptions. The company employs a community-led go-to-market motion with invite-only or referral-based club membership, word-of-mouth acquisition, and event-driven marketing. Notable achievements cited include 100+ startups supported, €1.29B in funding raised by community members, 27+ exits, and €433M in yearly revenue generated by member companies. The organization has no external institutional funding, operates as founder-led, and maintains strategic partnerships with municipal entities (Câmara Municipal do Porto, Município de Barcelos), ecosystem organizations (ANJE, ScaleUp Porto, UPTEC, Endeavor, Startup Portugal), and Portuguese VC firms (Armilar Venture Partners, Índico Capital Partners).

Name

founders founders

Legal name

Founders Founders

Website

https://founders-founders.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Founders Founders is a Porto-based founder community and accelerator founded in 2017, offering scale-up programs, 4,000m² coworking space, virtual residency, and invite-only networking for post-seed to Series A startup founders in Portugal.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Startup Accelerator / Founder Community

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Venture Studios / Company Builders (FSANAAAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Entrepreneurship Foundations & Startup Basics (EDAMAHAA), Entrepreneurship, Business & Innovation Camps (EDAMALAL)

Keywords

• Startup founder community
• Scale-up accelerator
• Coworking space
• Peer mentorship program
• Virtual residency service

Headquarters

HQ city

Porto

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Scale-up Program Fees: Big Bang Bada Boom 8-week acceleration program: €3,000 per company covering up to 16 participants across 4 modules. Revenue from cohort-based program fees.
2. Office Residency: Membership-based office space access in 4,000m² coworking facility. Private offices, shared hubs, meeting rooms, auditorium, and amenities (gym, restaurant, 24/7 security). Revenue from resident membership fees.
3. Space Booking: Hourly rental of meeting rooms (from €7.5/hour) and auditorium (from €40/hour) for both residents and non-residents. Additional revenue from catering services for events.
4. Virtual Residency: Remote membership providing legal Portuguese company address, mail handling, community access, event invitations, meeting room credits (1 hour/week), and on-site coworking access. Revenue from virtual residency subscription.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Founders Founders (F2) runs a Porto-based scale-up founder community offering an 8-week in-person acceleration program (Big Bang Bada Boom), a 4,000m² coworking and office space, a virtual residency with a legal Portuguese company address, and an invite-only F2 Club of 100+ scale-up founders. The business generates revenue from program fees, recurring residency subscriptions, and hourly event-space rentals, while member startups have collectively raised €1.29B in funding.

Product overview

Founders Founders (F2) is Portugal's leading scale-up founder community based in Porto, offering a multi-product ecosystem designed to help startup founders grow faster through peer-to-peer learning and collaborative workspaces. The portfolio comprises four core offerings: (1) Big Bang Bada Boom—an 8-week acceleration program with peer mentoring and workshops across four modules; (2) Office Spaces—a 4,000m² coworking facility with private offices and amenities; (3) Virtual Residency—remote access to the community with a Portuguese legal address; and (4) F2 Club—an invite-only network of 100+ founders. Supporting these are event-based sub-products including Exit Stories (exit documentaries), Incinerator (failure learning series), Unconference (founder-led knowledge sharing), Founder Meets Founder (talk show series), Bang Week (sales bootcamp), Boom Week (growth bootcamp), and Barcelos Ignition Program (regional entrepreneurship initiative).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Big Bang Bada Boom (BBBB): An 8-week acceleration program in Porto for post-PMF startup founders and leadership teams that need structured support to scale. Covers Leadership, Product, Fundraising, and Go-To-Market modules.
• F2 Club
• Exit Stories
• Incinerator
• Unconference
• Founder Meets Founder
• Bang Week
• Boom Week
• Barcelos Ignition Program

Products and services

• Big Bang Bada Boom (BBBB) An 8-week in-person acceleration program in Porto for post-PMF startup founders and leadership teams, featuring peer mentoring, board simulations, hands-on workshops, and execution-ready playbooks across four modules: People & Ops, Product Strategy, Finance & Capital, and Go-To-Market. Priced at €3,000 per company covering up to 16 participants across the four modules, with weekly in-person sessions, board dinners, and limited to 15 startups per cohort.
• Office Spaces (Coworking Residency) A 4,000m² coworking and office space in Porto offering private offices, shared hubs, meeting rooms, a 100-seat auditorium, cafeteria/restaurant, phone booths, gym, showers, parking, bike racks, high-speed WiFi, HVAC, CCTV, and 24/7 secure access for startup founders. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed.
• Virtual Residency A remote membership providing a legally valid Portuguese registered company address, mail handling, community access, event invitations, 1 hour/week of meeting room credits, and on-site coworking access in Porto for founders operating outside Porto. Recurring monthly subscription; price not publicly disclosed.
• F2 Club An invite-only circle of 100+ scaling founders in Portugal providing peer networking, mentorship, and exclusive founder-only events for trusted knowledge sharing among startup leaders. Membership is invite-only or referral-based.
• Co-working & Event Spaces (Bookable) Bookable meeting rooms (up to 12 seats, from €7.5/hour) and a 70-seat auditorium (from €40/hour) with video conferencing, high-speed WiFi, smart TV, whiteboard, and catering options, available to both residents and non-residents via WhatsApp booking.
• Exit Stories Video documentary series featuring Porto startup founders sharing unfiltered behind-the-scenes stories of successful exits, designed to guide and inspire the next generation of founders. Produced with support from Câmara Municipal do Porto.
• Incinerator A six-episode series where founders reflect on failed startups and the lessons that shaped their next steps, based on Lavoisier's principle that nothing is lost and everything is transformed.
• Unconference Founders-only event designed to foster knowledge transfer and experience sharing among Portugal's tech leaders, where the founders themselves set the agenda. Supported by Vertical Coworking in 2025.
• Founder Meets Founder An unmoderated talk show series where two founders explore each other's professional journeys, diving into building teams, raising capital, international expansion, and scaling products. Produced with support from Câmara Municipal do Porto.
• Bang Week A five-day bootcamp dedicated to building world-class sales operations for scale-ups, featuring 25+ international experts and bringing together 150+ founders, sales leaders, and operators.
• Boom Week A five-day growth bootcamp created in partnership with ANJE, Porto Design Factory, ScaleUp Porto, and UPTEC, hosting 25 workshops across different venues dedicated to key stages of the growth journey.
• Barcelos Ignition Program A program created in partnership with Município de Barcelos to ignite local entrepreneurship beyond Lisbon and Porto, providing mentoring, workshops, and free access to the F2 community.

Quantifiable outcome

• €1.29B in funding raised by community members
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ANJEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of BOOM Week growth bootcamp, a 5-day event with 25 workshops across Porto venues dedicated to startup growth stages.
• Porto Design FactorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in BOOM Week growth bootcamp bringing together founders, marketers, and sales practitioners.
• ScaleUp PortocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey ecosystem partner for BOOM Week and other F2 events including Exit Stories, Incinerator, Founder Meets Founder, and Unconference. Part of Porto innovation ecosystem.
• UPTECcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of BOOM Week. Science and technology park of University of Porto supporting startup ecosystem development.
• Câmara Municipal do PortocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMunicipal government partner supporting Exit Stories documentary series, Incinerator series, Founder Meets Founder talk show, and Unconference events. Provides funding and legitimacy to F2 initiatives.
• Município de BarcelosminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMunicipal partner for Barcelos Ignition Program designed to ignite local entrepreneurship beyond Lisbon and Porto with mentoring, workshops, and F2 community access.
• EndeavorminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupporter of F2 community and programs. Global entrepreneurship organization supporting high-impact founders.
• Startup PortugalminorGTM or Marketing PartnerNational startup ecosystem organization supporting F2 programs and initiatives.
• Vertical CoworkingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporter of 2025 Unconference event for founders.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Antler: Global early-stage venture firm and founder accelerator running cohort programs across multiple geographies. Comparable as a cohort-based founder accelerator focused on early-stage and seed-stage startups with a strong community thesis.

Broad incumbents

• Station F: The world's largest startup campus in Paris, combining massive coworking space with on-site accelerator and partner programs. Comparable as a hub-and-spoke startup community operator combining real estate, programs, and partner ecosystem engagement.
• Wayra: Telefónica's corporate-backed global startup accelerator with hubs across Europe and Latin America. Comparable as a structured accelerator with cohort programs and corporate mentorship, though investor/corporate-operated rather than founder-operated.
• Techstars: Global accelerator operator running 3-month cohort-based programs worldwide. Comparable as a structured equity-backed accelerator with mentor networks, though at much larger scale and with explicit investment terms that differ from F2's program-fee model.
• Y Combinator: The world's most prominent startup accelerator, running twice-yearly cohorts and an extensive founder community. Comparable as a scale-up founder community and program operator, though operating at vastly greater scale and with an investment model.

Direct peers

• Startup Lisboa: Portugal-based startup incubator and community based in Lisbon, providing programs, coworking, and founder support. Directly comparable to Founders Founders as the leading Lisbon counterpart, often cited alongside F2 in the Portuguese startup ecosystem.
• Beta-i: Lisbon-based non-profit accelerator and innovation hub running startup programs, corporate innovation projects, and large-scale events (Web Summit). Comparable as a Portuguese founder community operator running programs and events, though with a Lisbon rather than Porto anchor.

Regional players

• UPTEC: Science and technology park of the University of Porto supporting tech startups and scale-ups. Directly comparable as a Porto-based startup hub with incubation and acceleration programs; already a strategic partner of F2.
• Endeavor Portugal: Portugal affiliate of global high-impact founder support organization Endeavor, selecting and supporting scale-up founders. Comparable as a high-impact founder community operator in Portugal with selective membership and mentorship focus; already a partner of F2.
• IE University (IE Business School entrepreneurship programs): Madrid-based business school running entrepreneurship and startup programs across Iberia. Comparable as an entrepreneurship education/community operator in the Iberian market, though primarily academic rather than founder-community-led.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/founders-founders

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about founders founders