Foundry, Public Benefit Co.

42% of startups fail because there is no market need. The best companies are built to solve real problems. We believe founder education should be no different. Our students don't spend a semester building hypothetical companies. They spend it building, testing, and becoming founders around a problem that already matters. They ask questions. They listen. Because entrepreneurship isn't learned by studying. It's learned by building. #ThisIsFoundry #FoundryPBC #FounderEducation #StudentFounders #Entrepreneurship #Innovation

These are the founders of Trickle Inc., a survey software company built by our second Sparks cohort at South Puget Sound Community College. These 16 students recently received their official stock certificates, marking their transition from students to founders and owners of the company they built. Congratulations to the entire Trickle team, and thank you to Omey Nandyal for leading and continuing to prove what's possible when students are given the opportunity to build. Learn more about our Sparks Program: https://lnkd.in/g2v9eRvy #ThisIsFoundry #StudentFounders #Entrepreneurship #HigherEducation #Innovation #FoundryPBC

We do not simulate entrepreneurship. We practice it. This is the operating model behind Foundry. Students don't merely study entrepreneurship or write theoretical business plans. They engage with customers. They test products. They confront uncertainty. They learn by doing. In our first two Sparks cohorts, students have launched two real companies solving real problems. SoundGen Financial is helping students with financial aid. Trickle is helping organizations turn traditional surveys into adaptive conversations that uncover better insights. The power of Foundry is that the work is real. Real customers. Real products. Real capital. Real risk. Foundry turns entrepreneurship from an academic concept into lived experience. Learn more about our Sparks Program: https://lnkd.in/g2v9eRvy #FoundryPBC #ThisIsFoundry #StudentFounders #Entrepreneurship #HigherEducation #Innovation

A program is only as strong as the promises it keeps. Sparks is our 12-month startup studio where student founders build real companies alongside mentors, partners, and peers. Every student founder accepted into Sparks receives the same four commitments from day one. Here's what every founder can expect. #ThisIsFoundry #FoundryPBC

Our first founders didn't just complete a program. They built a company. SoundGen Financial was born at South Puget Sound Community College when a group of students identified a real problem affecting students and financial aid systems and set out to solve it. Over the following months, that idea became customer conversations, validation, product development, and ultimately a business. For us, SoundGen is more than a success story. It's proof that when students are given the opportunity to build, they often exceed every expectation. #ThisIsFoundry #FoundryPBC #Entrepreneurship #StudentFounders

Education still rewards memorization, compliance, and preparation for jobs. But the future belongs to people who can identify problems, create solutions, and build. No class can teach someone what it feels like to hear "no" from a customer. To make a decision without knowing the answer. To take ownership of a real outcome. That's why we built our Sparks program: A 12-month Startup Studio for student founders who don't just want to learn about entrepreneurship, they want to practice it. See how it works: https://lnkd.in/g2v9eRvy #ThisIsFoundry #FoundryPBC #Entrepreneurship #StudentFounders

Many of these students didn't think entrepreneurship was for them. Today, they're building real businesses. Guided by Omey Nandyal at South Puget Sound Community College, our first student founders discovered what's possible when students are given the chance to build. Their words tell the story better than we ever could: https://lnkd.in/gaC6MAYg #ThisIsFoundry #FoundryPBC #Entrepreneurship #StudentFounders

“I can do this.” That moment is everything. The moment a student realizes they are capable of leading, building, selling, deciding, failing, recovering, and creating value is the moment the work becomes transformational. That is exactly what happened with our first student founders at South Puget Sound Community College. They identified a real problem affecting students and financial aid systems and built a real solution: SoundGen Financial, a student-led FinTech company designed to help colleges and universities simplify how financial aid and scholarships are distributed and accessed. Not by learning about entrepreneurship. By practicing it. As founders. #Entrepreneurship #HigherEducation #StudentFounders #FoundryPBC

Foundry does not replace what colleges teach. We take students further than most programs were built to go. Beyond theory. Into real customers. Real funding. Real ownership. Because entrepreneurship is not something students should only study. It is something they should experience. See what we’re building: https://lnkd.in/g9yEEWt7

Talent is universal. Opportunity is not. Too often, the current system rewards the visible, funds the familiar, and overlooks the rest. We are here for the rest. We started Foundry because too much student talent goes unseen. Not because it does not exist, but because too many students are never given access to the networks, support, and opportunities that help people build. Foundry exists to unlock the overlooked. The student at a regional university. The builder without a network. The thinker who was never told they could lead. We are a Public Benefit Company by design because profit and purpose go hand in hand. The current system was not built for most people. We are here to change that. This is Foundry. #Entrepreneurship #HigherEducation #StudentFounders #FounderEducation #FoundryPBC