Last night at the end of the work day I walked down the hall at Atlanta Tech Village to a The Founder Institute info session. I did it primarily because I wanted to hear what The Founder Institute was all about.

It's good stuff. The Founder Institute rightly positions itself somewhere between Startup Weekend and tech accelerators such as Atlanta Ventures and Flashpoint. The group is set up to help gainfully employed thirty or forty something corporate director/VP types that have an itch to strike out on their own.

They take the folks that are accepted into the program, charge them about $900, and put them through a rigorous curriculum. A curriculum that gets them to the point of either stopping or to graduation. In order to graduate a founder needs their concept validated by program mentors, a business plan of some sort, work done toward a funding event, incorporate a company, and complete all the program assignments. Basically get them in a position to quit their day job.

During the meeting I was asked my thoughts on the program by an entrepreneur. My honest assessment is that their positioning is spot on and if someone has not started a company before this program seems to have the expertise and rigor to increase the odds of success.

If you have an interest you can apply here. The initial application can be completed in less than 30 minutes.