Founder Institute launches its Paris program

[France] As entrepreneurs and entrepreneur hopefuls flooded the Salon des Entrepreneurs in Paris during this last week, the Founder Institute released the details of its Paris program for Spring 2010.

TechCrunch published a previous article on the international launch of the Silicon Valley-based Founder Institute, which is offering additional programs in Singapore and Asia Pacific this spring.

The program itself screens and selects an exceptional group of entrepreneurs to be mentored by stars from both Silicon Valley and the French tech space. Over a period of 4 months beginning on March 16, entrepreneurs meet once per week to be mentored by some of the most successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. A unique equity model has been developed for the program in order to eliminate competition and motivate both mentors and participants to collaborate and help each other succeed. Ultimately, the goal is to develop their ideas and put their businesses into practice – some companies even score funding before the 4 weeks are up. Additionally, the program offers various discounts with service providers, which can help reduce the cost of starting a company by up to 80%.

One company to come out of the Silicon Valley-based program is Skimble, the iPhone application for tracking outdoor activities and fitness. Co-Founders Maria Ly and Gabriel Vanrenen launched their application after completing the program on January 1st, which has been downloaded over 20,000 times since and featured alongside.The application has been translated into French and is waiting for approval from the iTunes store before its official release.

For the Paris program, the line-up of mentors includes some of the hottest names in tech and is well worth a shot. Mint’s Aaron Patzer, Evernote’s Phil Libin and Blippy’s Philip Kaplan will be representing Silicon Valley. From the investment community, Managing Partner, Jean-Marie Chauvent, from LC Capital has been selected. And from the French tech scene, there is Gandi’s Pierre Beyssac, Prylos’s Caroline Noublanche, EVE’s Luc Burgun and serial entrepreneurs Joe Betts-Lacroix and Mathieu Nouzareth.

The application procedure costs €50 and involves a series of aptitude exercises. Space will also be limited after the first round of applications, which will close on February 15th for the Paris program.