FoundersHK Unbound
Build in Asia. Win globally.
What We Believe
The next generation of global companies can start anywhere. Building one takes vision, grit and the know-how to turn ambition into traction.
FoundersHK Unbound is a hands-on program for founders across Hong Kong and Asia ready to win customers, build teams and scale beyond their home markets.
Our inaugural cohort focuses on breaking into the U.S. market, bringing together Silicon Valley startup playbooks, practical AI workflows and hard-earned lessons from entrepreneurs, investors and operators who have built and scaled across borders.
Who it is for
Technology startup founders with a live product, early users or initial revenue—and the ambition to break into the U.S. market within the next 12 months. Already expanding overseas? Join to sharpen your strategy and unlock your next stage of growth.
Our inaugural cohort will focus on software, AI and technology-enabled businesses, bringing together founders tackling similar challenges as they enter new markets.
Bring a real business challenge and a commitment to put what you learn into action. Work through the decisions that shape your next chapter: where and when to launch, how to win customers, whom to hire, when to raise and more.
10 Unbound Modules
Find Your Global Wedge
Choose an initial customer segment, understand buyer expectations, map competitors and decide what to localize. Assess whether the founder needs to relocate and where the company should establish a presence.
Raise Funding With a Plan
Understand your startup-venture fit, investor expectations, fundraising milestones, dilution and runway. Translate an Asian track record into a credible global investment story.
Build Your First Global Team
Decide which roles to hire first, where they should sit and what the founder must continue to own. Cover compensation, equity, interviewing, remote execution and practical uses of AI in recruiting.
Build a Growth Engine | Beyond Marketing
Clarify positioning and test channels: founder content, communities, partnerships, paid acquisition and search, including discovery through AI assistants. Measure qualified demand and acquisition economics.
Always be Closing | Selling to Overseas Customers
Practice founder-led sales, customer discovery, cold outreach, demos, objection handling and paid pilots. Learn how buying decisions differ across enterprise and consumer businesses.
Price for Growth and Margin | Pricing 101
Test willingness to pay, packaging, subscriptions, usage-based pricing and outcome-based offers. Model inference costs, support costs, gross margin and discounting before scaling.
Build an AI-Native Company
Identify where AI can improve internal workflows and perations. Explore agents for research, sales and support; build-versus-buy choices; evaluation, reliability, data permissions and human review.
Set Up to Scale Legally
Map the questions founders need to resolve on entities, financing structure, IP ownership, employment, contracts, tax and data obligations. Discuss investment, trade and sector restrictions when relevant to the company's market entry.
Tell a Story That Travels | PR 101
Explain the company to unfamiliar customers, investors and journalists. Build a founder story, identify credible proof points and distinguish earned media from paid distribution.
Build Toward a Great Outcome | Exits 101
Understand strategic acquisitions, IPO readiness, secondary liquidity and the option to remain independent. Explore buyer incentives, diligence, cap-table consequences and founder goals.
How the program works
20–25 companies over ten weeks.
One founder per company, with a co-founder or relevant team member able to join selected workshops.
Each weekly session runs for approximately 2-3 hours:
- An operator teardown of a real business decision, including what failed.
- A practical workshop using participants' companies.
- Peer feedback and targeted office hours.
- Founders conduct customer interviews and run experiments between sessions.
English will be the primary working language to support participation across Asia and preparation for the U.S. market.
Each founder presents the target customer, evidence gathered, pricing, acquisition plan, hiring needs, capital requirements and next 90 days. Operators and investors challenge the assumptions and help sharpen the plan. An optional Silicon Valley immersion can follow. Its value should come from customer discovery, buyer feedback and working sessions with relevant operators.