Starting a B2B Software Startup? Founders Club Cohort 20 Is Open
Starting a B2B software startup has never been more accessible.
AI tools, no-code platforms, global communities, and remote work have made it faster and cheaper to move from idea to prototype. In many ways, becoming a founder has become more democratic.
But building a real company is still hard.
The challenge is not just creating a product. It is finding a painful problem, forming the right team, validating with real customers, building an MVP, learning how to sell, and becoming investable.
That is why the Founders Club exists.
A fair question is: why would a VC-backed startup ecosystem care about people at the very beginning of the startup journey?
After all, venture capital looks for winners. But winners rarely appear fully formed. They are shaped through pressure, feedback, discipline, access, and execution.
At Startup Wise Guys, we are on a mission to uplift people, economies, and global ecosystems through entrepreneurship. Over the years, we have worked with thousands of founders. We have seen what works, what does not, what founders repeatedly get wrong, and what they absolutely need to do to build something real.
Founders Club was created from that experience: not as another startup course, but as a practical environment for people who want to step into the startup world with structure, access, and accountability.
And this time, we are opening applications for a special milestone: Founders Club Cohort 20. Twenty cohorts is a bold number.
It represents years of work behind the scenes: founders supported before they had traction, teams formed before they had companies, ideas tested before they became products, and countless lessons learned through customer interviews, pivots, pitch decks, MVPs, failures, and first wins.
For me personally, this milestone means a lot. I have been part of Founders Club since its early days, first as an assistant, then as Project Manager, and now as Managing Director. What keeps me excited is simple: great founders are not born ready. They are built through structure, feedback, pressure, and action.
How do you start a B2B software startup from zero?
There are many ways to become an entrepreneur. Some founders start with a problem they know deeply. Others start with a technical insight, a market opportunity, or simply the ambition to build something of their own.
But to create a scalable B2B software startup, a few things are always needed:
- A real problem that companies care enough to pay for.
- A team with complementary skills.
Customer discovery with actual buyers. - A focused MVP.
A business model that can scale. - A clear go-to-market strategy.
And a story that explains why this problem, why now, and why this team.
An idea is only the beginning. The real work is creating the conditions for that idea to survive contact with the market.
A new generation of founder-building programs
In recent years, new models have emerged to help ambitious people become founders. Some call them venture builders. Others call them talent investors, startup studios, founder programs, or pre-accelerators.
Programs like Antler and Entrepreneur First helped popularize the idea that strong individuals can be backed before they have a company, a co-founder, or even a fully defined idea.
Founders Club by Startup Wise Guys belongs to this broader movement, but with a specific focus: helping people build B2B software startups from zero or zero-plus.
- You do not need to already have a complete team.
- You do not need to arrive with a perfect idea.
- You do not need to already have a working business.
What you need is ambition, relevant experience, openness to feedback, and the willingness to build with other serious people.
What makes Founders Club different?
Founders Club is built for senior professionals in career transition, not for the garage-founder myth.
Many strong founders are people who have spent years inside companies, industries, and markets. They have seen inefficiencies from the inside. They understand how businesses operate, buy, and make decisions. They bring experience in sales, product, strategy, finance, operations, engineering, or leadership.
For them, Founders Club offers a soft landing into entrepreneurship. Full-time commitment is preferred as teams become more serious, but the program allows participants to test the founder path before taking unnecessary risks too early.
The program is fully online, bringing together different geographies, cultures, and perspectives in one cohort. And it is focused on B2B software, creating an environment of like-minded people building scalable, business-oriented startups.
But the real difference is not only the format. It is the access.
Founders Club is not an “all-in-one guide” to building a startup. It is a doorway into the Startup Wise Guys ecosystem: mentors, investors, operators, portfolio founders, case studies, resources, and people who can help founders make better decisions faster.
We can open doors, windows, and connections. The founder’s job is to make them human, personal, and real.
Helping founders before they become “someone”
The earliest stage is often the hardest.
It is the space between ambition and evidence. You may have an idea, but no customers. A team, but not full alignment. A prototype, but no proof that the market cares. Energy, but no repeatable sales motion.
This is the so-called “Death Valley.”
Supporting founders in this phase requires honesty. Not every idea should survive. Some teams need to change. Some founders need to pivot. Some need to fail once before they understand what building really requires.
That is why Founders Club focuses on building founders, not just ideas.
Ideas can change. Markets can push back. First assumptions are often wrong. But founders who learn how to test, sell, adapt, and keep moving become stronger with every iteration.
Founders Club is not about pretending every idea will become a unicorn. It is about helping ambitious people build the muscles to execute.
20 cohorts in numbers
Cohort 20 is not just another launch. It is the result of everything we have learned so far.
Across previous editions, Founders Club has supported experienced professionals, aspiring founders, early-stage teams, technical builders, commercial profiles, and operators from different countries and industries.
Behind this milestone, there is a growing track record:
- 20 cohorts launched
- 750+ founders supported
- 180 teams created
- 480+ startups invested by Startup Wise Guys
- 600+ mentors and experts in the wider SWG network
These numbers matter. But the real value is also in the people founders meet along the way: mentors, investors, operators, portfolio founders, potential co-founders, and peers going through the same journey.
Success is not measured only by investment. It is also measured by founder development, team formation, customer validation, network access, and the ability to make better decisions faster.
Built around validation, not startup theater
The program is designed to push founders toward real validation, not just better-looking slides. As Karlis Jonass, Lead Coach of the Founders Club Product Sprint, puts it:
“We are all human, and it’s initially hard to encounter potential customers. Let alone sell anything. The program pushes founders outside the building and provides them with a safe space to reflect and regroup for the next iteration.”
One example is GEO2MILL, a Founders Club Cohort 16 team building an AI-powered SaaS platform for the mining industry. After the program, they moved from a first paid pilot to additional pilots, then to a $6,000/month recurring contract, and were selected for Startup Chile / CORFO, receiving $18k in equity-free support. For the team, one of the biggest shifts was learning to sell outcomes instead of features:
“At the start, we gave them a list of features: the what. Now, we focus on understanding their specific needs and motivations: the why,” shared Yuri Andrés Olivares from GEO2MILL.
A bridge to Startup Wise Guys
Founders Club does not replace Startup Wise Guys’ full-time accelerator programs. It complements them.
For many teams, Founders Club is the step before they are ready for a full-time accelerator. It helps them form the team, validate the problem, define the MVP, understand customers, and prepare for serious conversations with investors and scouting teams.
The most promising teams can also be short-listed and introduced to the Startup Wise Guys scouting team.
In that sense, Founders Club is both a program and a bridge: from ambition to evidence, and from early validation to a more investable startup journey.
Applications are open for Founders Club Cohort 20
Applications for Founders Club Cohort 20 are now open.
The program starts on July 22, and the final application deadline is July 12.
However, applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and candidates are considered first come, first served. Waiting until the deadline may mean applying too late.
If you are ready to stop only thinking about becoming a founder, and start testing whether you can become one, this is your next step.
Learn more about the program and:
