Comparison · 11 material differences
Founders Network vs South Park Commons
This comparison was generated on request from the records. It carries no editorial verdict and is not indexed. The published comparisons are listed on the compare page.
Read down each column for one organization, across a row for the difference. A bronze mark at the left of a cell means the organizations differ on that row. A dash or “not published” means the organization does not disclose the fact; it is not a zero.
Verified September 2026
Networking organization
Verified September 2026 Founders Network
Full-time founders of technology startups, from idea stage through post-Series A, who want peer mentorship rather than capital or an accelerator programme.
Invitation-only community
South Park Commons
Technical founders, researchers and domain experts between things - the site's phrase is "-1 to 0" - who can commit full time and live in San Francisco, New York or Bengaluru.
What the records say
- Role or title: Founders Network: Must be a full-time founder of a technology startup; South Park Commons: No published role or title.
- Geographic restriction: Founders Network: No published geographic restriction; South Park Commons: Must live in and work from San Francisco, New York City or Bengaluru.
- Industry restriction: Founders Network: Technology startups only; service firms are excluded; South Park Commons: No published industry restriction.
- Annual dues: Founders Network: $900 a year; South Park Commons: $0 a year.
Side by side
| Founders Network | South Park Commons | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Networking organization | Invitation-only community |
| Founded | 2011 (The About page credits founder Kevin Holmes, a former tech startup founder, with starting the organization in 2011.) | 2016 (The Our Story page dates the community to 2016 and describes its origin as ten people reading AI papers around founding member Ruchi Sanghvi's dining table, before a physical space opened in San Francisco's South Park neighbourhood.) |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, United States | San Francisco, United States |
| Geographic footprint | Members in more than 25 cities worldwide; in-person chapter meetings named for San Francisco, Silicon Valley, New York, London and Mexico City. | Physical communities in San Francisco (380 Brannan St), New York City and Bengaluru; members must live in one of the three hubs. |
| Members | 600as of September 2026 | 175as of September 2026 |
| Chapters | The organization does not publish a chapter count. Its About page says members are in "over 25 cities"; individual chapter events are announced case by case. | 3 |
| Primary audience | Full-time founders of technology startups, from idea stage through post-Series A, who want peer mentorship rather than capital or an accelerator programme. | Technical founders, researchers and domain experts between things - the site's phrase is "-1 to 0" - who can commit full time and live in San Francisco, New York or Bengaluru. |
| Typical member | The organization describes its members as vetted full-time tech startup founders; it states that members have collectively raised more than US$5 billion, that average funding per member is US$1.1 million, and that 50 percent are serial entrepreneurs. Service firms are explicitly excluded. | The FAQ states that about 70 percent of members are founders who aspire to start a company and 30 percent are researchers and experts going deeper in new fields. Members are expected to be full-time; those holding a full-time job are generally not accepted, with rare exceptions for visa or vesting reasons. Applicants who want to leave or take a sabbatical from university or academia are considered. |
| Qualification | ||
| Role or title | Must be a full-time founder of a technology startupStated as "You are working full-time on building your tech startup. No service firms."verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published role or title |
| Geographic restriction | No published geographic restriction | Must live in and work from San Francisco, New York City or BengaluruThe FAQ answers "Do I need to be located in SF, NYC, or Bangalore?" as yes; members are expected to work from SPC spaces through the week.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Industry restriction | Technology startups only; service firms are excludedThe membership requirements text explicitly excludes service firms.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published industry restriction |
| Invitation required | Sometimes | No |
| Sponsor required | Sometimes | No |
| Application process | Applicants either arrive with a member invitation or request one through the site. The published flow is a short application of about two minutes plus an optional longer addendum. A membership committee reviews complete applications by the last Friday of each month and notifies applicants of the decision the same day. | Applicants apply online to either the Member Residency or the Founder Fellowship. The organization says it reads every application and that applicants generally hear back within one to three weeks; those advancing are invited to an interview. Residency applications are accepted on a rolling basis year-round, while the Fellowship runs spring and autumn cohorts with application cut-offs and concentrated interview periods before each start. |
| Selectivity | Not publicly disclosed. The organization calls itself invite-only and says it researches applicants' backgrounds, but publishes no acceptance rate or rejection statistics. | Not publicly disclosed. SPC publishes active member and alumni counts but no application volume or acceptance rate. |
| Cost | ||
| Annual dues | $900 a yearLaunch Plan (idea-stage founders), listed at "$75/mo billed annually" on the benefits page; the annualised figure is derived from the published monthly rate.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | $0 a year"Is there a membership fee? No, we do not charge fees or dues." The India page repeats that the six-month residency is at "No cost or equity".verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Programme fee | All memberships are annual commitments; monthly payment plans are offered on some tiers. Discounts are advertised for portfolio companies of partner venture funds and accelerator graduates, without published amounts. | $0 one-timeThe six-month Member Residency carries no fee and no equity. The separate Founder Fellowship is an investment, not a fee: US$400,000 for 7 percent via a SAFE plus US$600,000 guaranteed in the next venture round.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Membership term | Annual commitment, renewed annually; monthly payment plans available on some tiers | Six-month Member Residency; Founder Fellowship recipients become lifetime members of the community |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Continuous online forum; roughly 100 events a year including about 40 webinars, plus city chapter meet-ups and two annual conferences | Members work from SPC spaces through the week; peer accountability groups, learning forums, speaker series, workshops and roundtables run on an ongoing basis |
| Peer forums | An online mentorship forum open to all members, plus peer advisory roundtables at the top tier; there is no standing confidential forum group of assigned peers | Peer accountability groups and member-led learning forums rather than assigned confidential forums; Fellowship cohorts are kept small at roughly one partner per two companies, with no demo day |
| Confidentiality | The organization describes the platform as a confidential space for founders; it does not publish a confidentiality agreement. | Not publicly disclosed |
| Time commitment | Not documented | Full time. The residency page states that "-1 to 0 isn't a side project. It's a full time endeavor." |
| Organized as | Virtual, Chapter-based, Forum-based, Event-focused | Clubhouse premises, Cohort-based, Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Yes | Yes |
| Local chapters | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual membership | Yes | No |
| Online community | Yes | Yes |
| Member directory | Yes | Not documented |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Partial | Partial |
| Retreats | No | No |
| Travel | No | No |
| Family programming | No | No |
| Spouse and partner programming | No | No |
| Next-generation programming | No | No |
| Investment discussions | Yes | Yes |
| Investment opportunities | Partial | Yes |
| Philanthropic component | No | No |
| Networking emphasis | High | High |
| Social emphasis | Low | Medium |
Next
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Founders Network · South Park Commons