Establishing an organization is the coolest thing on this earth. Doesn’t matter whether the company is big or small, the founders always dream high and work harder. Running an organization is a breakless journey of chasing visions and being persistent.
Even after working 16 hours a day, being the most efficient leader of the company, the business may go up and down. The founder spends sleepless nights to ensure the service stays forever. Amidst this tough journey, the founder deserves a chill-pill, right?
That’s why the founder’s card exists. This first-of-a-kind clanship offers entrepreneurs access to unprecedented facilities and exclusive networking opportunities. Dive into the article to know in detail.
What is a Founders card? When was it founded and why?
FoundersCard is a private membership club for founders, designed to provide members with various elite statuses, VIP treatment, and top benefits.Â
In addition, FoundersCard fosters an ambitious, social community of similarly driven people from different industries, helping to facilitate networking opportunities, connections, and more.
Now, When was it founded, and why?
FoundersCard was founded in 2009 by Eric Kuhn, a new Austin-based venture for a veteran entrepreneur of the 1990s and early-2000s. While the card initially grew its network and offerings slowly and had a few early bumps in the road.
 It’s made leaps and bounds over the past few years as an organization. Since running into a few issues in its early years, it has bolstered its membership and made connections with a lot of travel, lifestyle, and business services companies.
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How does it work? Is it like a credit card?
To join FoundersCard, you have to complete an application, because the organization is designed to be exclusive and specially curated to be useful and enjoyable for members, everyone isn’t always accepted. The process is fairly subjective.
You can apply for a preview membership to get a better sense of which benefits are currently active.Â
From there or right away, if you don’t care about the preview, you can fill out the complete application. You have to enter your personal details, including your company name and your title
 Now, FoundersCard is open to people other than strictly company founders, as well as your contact and billing information.
If you’re approved, your payment method will be charged the first year’s annual dues 395 dollars, with FoundersCard’s exclusive offer for Business Insider readers, or 595 dollars without, and a one-time 95 dollars initiation fee, all are waived for Business Insider readers.
What are the benefits you get if you buy FoundersCard?
FoundersCard offers a wide range of benefits that can be loosely broken into three categories: savings and discounts, VIP treatment and perks, and exclusive events.
Airline discounts and elite/VIP perks:
- Cathay Pacific offers 5-25% off flights, as well as a complimentary upgrade to Silver elite status. That status includes priority check-in, complimentary advance seat reservations, access to business class lounges while traveling on the airline in any class, and an extra baggage allowance. The status is valid for a year, after which you’ll need to re-qualify through normal methods.
- British Airways offers FoundersCard members up to 10% off most round-trip fares between the US or Canada and the UK.
- Alaska Airlines offers 5% off fares within the Continental US, Hawaii, and Canada.
Car Rent and chauffeur service discounts:
- Complimentary Preferred Plus membership at Avis, and up to 25% off rentals.
- Platinum membership at 15% off rentals at Sixt Rent a Car.
- 20% off all Silvercar reservations — the founder of Silvercar is a FoundersCard member.
- Credits and discounts with major car services including GroundLink, EmpireCLS, Carey, and Getaround.
Business Discounts
Since, the FoundersCard is exclusive for business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals you can mine value from various business benefits. The perks you enjoy are great and very much useful for the business.Â
Some of the benefits of FoundersCard are-
- FC Coworking Program
- Marketing
- Work From Home
- Business EssentialsÂ
Perks at various hotels brands, including:
- Marriott
- Kimpton
- W Hotels
- Ritz-Carlton
- Hilton
- Rosewood
- Park Hyatt
- Peninsula
- Graduate Hotels
- The Standard
- Four Seasons
- Mandarin Oriental
- Kempinski Hotels
- Caesars Entertainment
- Omni Hotels & Resorts, and more.
Lifestyle and retail discounts, including:
- Discounts when you buy or lease a new Audi.
- 20% off at John Varvatos.
- Up to $10,000 off when you buy or lease a new BMW.
- A complimentary $100 credit at Trunk Club — the founder and CEO of the company is a FoundersCard member.
- Complimentary Diamond Total Rewards status at Caesars resorts and casinos, plus 20% off most rooms.
- 20% off at 1-800-Flowers.
- 15% off headphones, speakers, and more from Bang & Olufsen.
- Discounts at other retailers including Adidas, Reebok, Indochino, Rent The Runway, Cole Haan, Tommy John, Todd Snyder, and Jonathan Adler, and more.
- Discounts or credits at gyms, fitness studios, and wellness centers, including Equinox, Crunch, SoulCycle, Bliss Spa, Peloton, CorePower Yoga, and more.
How much does the FoundersCard cost?
FoundersCard membership normally comes with an annual fee of $595. During different promotions in the past membership has been as low as $295 per year with a two-year commitment. As of the time of posting, the best deal is $395 per year.
Between that, and the opportunity to network with like-minded and similarly focused entrepreneurs, FoundersCard presents a unique and potentially valuable opportunity – whether it’s worth the $395 annual fee (with the Business Insider discount) depends on you.
Is it worth buying or just a waste of your money?
FoundersCard hosts an ongoing series of networking events in cities with high concentrations of members, thanks to business travel, though, there are often different people and new faces at these mixers, even if you go to two in a row in the same city.
Usually, with 100 to 200 members, the networking events offer attendees an opportunity to mingle, make connections, and share the experience with members from a wide spectrum of industries.
Other benefits tend to change as promotions become active, things become available, or FoundersCard negotiates a new partnership or improvement to an existing one, so it’s difficult to share a comprehensive picture of what membership entails.Â
There are also a ton of different benefits — this is a deliberate move to appeal to the widest possible cross-section of members so that there are appealing things to many different people.
The following are examples of some perks available at the time of the original publication. FoundersCard provided Business Insider with a temporary active account in order to access the full benefits portal.
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How valuable a Founders card can be and how much you can save with it?
As you already know, FoundersCard is an amazing private membership club that consists of more than 25,000 members.
The main advantage is you have smooth access to get discounts from hundreds of merchants, agents, and travel partners giving you a royal or elite status while staying in hotels, airlines, and various rental car companies.
Hence, it all comes down to how you make use of the perks. Many people who used the FoundersCard have saved well over $500 through trips between British Airways Discounts, Tripit Pro, Phone.com.
Also, the Caesars Diamond Status, Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is a much appreciated one.
What do people think about this? According to internet research and people’s review
Here are the people’s reviews for FoundersCard from the broad research-
Final Verdict
Ultimately, if you have grown the business as a successful one then you can easily enjoy the FoundersCard benefits like discounts on shipping, travel, IT services, and many more. Apart from these, you can find valuable offers available that far outweighs the annual fee you’re paying.Â
FAQs
1. Is the FoundersCard a credit card?
FoundersCard is a Membership community, not a credit card. Your Membership provides you access to a portfolio of over 500 benefits that can be accessed through our website
2. Is FoundersCard any good?
Yes, FoundersCard is worth it.
Combining the discounted airfare value of roughly $200 a year and the discounted rates at the W, plus the value of the Hilton elite benefits, you easily save enough to justify the annual cost of the card.
3. How do I cancel my FoundersCard?
To cancel your FoundersCard membership, either call 800.963. 1988 or send an email to memberservices@founderscard.com including your name, email address, and member number (if possible). Email memberservices@founderscard.com and ask them to cancel your account.
4. What are the business benefits of a founder’s card?
Business discounts, including:
- 15% off voice and data plans with AT&T Wireless.
- Up to 47% off UPS.
- Up to 50% off Dell computers.
- 20% off business cards and stationery orders from MOO — the company’s CEO is a FoundersCard member.
- A free year of service from the Phone.com virtual office service.
5. Is FoundersCard elite worth?
As of writing, FoundersCard is $395 a year with waived initiation fees for Out and Out readers. If you can make good use of 2 or 3 benefits, it can easily save you that much – and often more. For example, my AT&T phone bill is ~$110 per month for 2 lines.
