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	<title>Betabeat &#187; FoundersCard Is Like AmEx Black, But For Startups</title>
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		<title>Betabeat &#187; FoundersCard Is Like AmEx Black, But For Startups</title>
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		<title>FoundersCard Is Like AmEx Black, But For Startups</title>

		<comments>http://betabeat.com/2010/12/founderscard-is-like-amex-black-but-for-startups/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 12:49:19 -0400</pubDate>
					<link>http://betabeat.com/2010/12/founderscard-is-like-amex-black-but-for-startups/</link>
			<dc:creator>Adrianne Jeffries</dc:creator>
				
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.betabeat.com/?p=1031</guid>
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<p><div id="attachment_1035" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-1035" href="http://www.betabeat.com/2010/12/09/founderscard-is-like-amex-black-but-for-startups/founderscard/"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1035 " style="margin: 5px 10px;" title="founderscard" src="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/founderscard.jpg?w=300&h=164" alt="" width="300" height="164" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"> FoundersCard members seem to really enjoy board sports. </p></div></p>
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<div>
<p>Foursquare is a member. So is Facebook.</p>
<p>"It always struck me as odd that these executives at these investment  banks and these top companies would get these fantastic perks, and it  was the entrepreneur, sort of the true value creators, that were left  out," New Yorker Eric Kuhn, who created FoundersCard, <a href="http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/6334-q-a-eric-kuhn-on-founders-card">told  Econsultancy in July</a>.</p>
<p>It sounds like Kuhn had a rough time with his previous venture,  Varsity Books, which was <a href="http://www.theeagleonline.com/news/story/varsitybooks-com-settles-industry-lawsuit/">sued  by the National Association of College Stores and had to settle</a>:  "When I was thinking about a new business, I kind of remembered the  loneliness and the challenges of being an entrepreneur attempting to  really convince the whole world that you're gonna build this great  company and feeling like everyone was against you and everything was a  great struggle," he said.</p>
<p><a href="https://founderscard.com/">FoundersCard</a> is a rewards  program that offers discounts and benefits like hotels, airlines, gym  and The Metropolitan Opera. The price tag for "leading entrepreneurs and  innovators" is just $149 a month. Members also get deals from startups  like fashion-rental service Rent The Runway and real-time advertising  provider OneRiot.</p>
<p>The other perk to getting a shiny FoundersCard—besides being able to  brag about it—is networking. FoundersCard hosts events in New York and  San Francisco where founders rub elbows at the Fairmont Hotel or Apple's  corporate headquarters.</p>
<p>Kuhn has kept pretty quiet about FoundersCard, preserving the sense  of exclusivity by relying on word of mouth (<a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=founderscard">read: Twitter</a>)  to advertise.</p>
<p>But for all the talk of helping out the little guy, execs from plenty  of major coporations like Google and Yahoo are also members.</p>
<p>We'll find out how picky FoundersCard is soon—there's an <a href="http://founderscard.com/events/34">event coming up</a> in NoHo  next month.</p>
<p><strong>ajeffries [at] observer.com | <a href="http://twitter.com/adrjeffries">@adrjeffries</a></strong></p>
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<p><div id="attachment_1035" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a rel="attachment wp-att-1035" href="http://www.betabeat.com/2010/12/09/founderscard-is-like-amex-black-but-for-startups/founderscard/"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1035 " style="margin: 5px 10px;" title="founderscard" src="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/founderscard.jpg?w=300&h=164" alt="" width="300" height="164" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"> FoundersCard members seem to really enjoy board sports. </p></div></p>
</div>
<div>
<p>Foursquare is a member. So is Facebook.</p>
<p>"It always struck me as odd that these executives at these investment  banks and these top companies would get these fantastic perks, and it  was the entrepreneur, sort of the true value creators, that were left  out," New Yorker Eric Kuhn, who created FoundersCard, <a href="http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/6334-q-a-eric-kuhn-on-founders-card">told  Econsultancy in July</a>.</p>
<p>It sounds like Kuhn had a rough time with his previous venture,  Varsity Books, which was <a href="http://www.theeagleonline.com/news/story/varsitybooks-com-settles-industry-lawsuit/">sued  by the National Association of College Stores and had to settle</a>:  "When I was thinking about a new business, I kind of remembered the  loneliness and the challenges of being an entrepreneur attempting to  really convince the whole world that you're gonna build this great  company and feeling like everyone was against you and everything was a  great struggle," he said.</p>
<p><a href="https://founderscard.com/">FoundersCard</a> is a rewards  program that offers discounts and benefits like hotels, airlines, gym  and The Metropolitan Opera. The price tag for "leading entrepreneurs and  innovators" is just $149 a month. Members also get deals from startups  like fashion-rental service Rent The Runway and real-time advertising  provider OneRiot.</p>
<p>The other perk to getting a shiny FoundersCard—besides being able to  brag about it—is networking. FoundersCard hosts events in New York and  San Francisco where founders rub elbows at the Fairmont Hotel or Apple's  corporate headquarters.</p>
<p>Kuhn has kept pretty quiet about FoundersCard, preserving the sense  of exclusivity by relying on word of mouth (<a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=founderscard">read: Twitter</a>)  to advertise.</p>
<p>But for all the talk of helping out the little guy, execs from plenty  of major coporations like Google and Yahoo are also members.</p>
<p>We'll find out how picky FoundersCard is soon—there's an <a href="http://founderscard.com/events/34">event coming up</a> in NoHo  next month.</p>
<p><strong>ajeffries [at] observer.com | <a href="http://twitter.com/adrjeffries">@adrjeffries</a></strong></p>
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