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For international founders building in the U.S.

Where International Founders Connect, Grow, and Succeed

Visas, U.S. banking, hiring, fundraising. Practical answers and introductions from founders who have done it, starting in Austin.

Become a member
A wide circle of people seated in conversation across a daylit floor, several of them turned toward the camera and one standing at the back mid gesture, with IFN meetup slides on two screens and downtown Austin through a full height glass wall.

Built for founders starting from zero in a new country

IFN is a free monthly room in Austin for international and immigrant founders, plus an optional membership for the weeks between. It has met in Austin every month since January 2026.

  • Monthly meetup (free)

    Usually 4th Thursday, downtown Austin. Confirm on Luma. Paired conversations so you leave having talked to people.

  • Optional membership

    Private member channel, monthly members-only call, first access to guides when they publish.

  • Not an accelerator

    No equity. No application. Not legal or immigration advice. Peers who have done the step, and intros to people they used.

How a night works

Free monthly meetup. Structured one-to-ones, then open room. Membership is optional for the weeks between.

  1. Show up

    Register on Luma first, then come to the room. Free. No membership required to walk in.

  2. Short paired conversations

    Our format partner runs structured one-to-ones so you leave having talked to people, not standing around hoping someone starts a conversation.

    One founder mid gesture in a small seated circle with the others listening, an IFN meetup slide on the screen behind them and the city through the window.

  3. Open room

    Founders who already opened the bank account, filed the paperwork, made the first hire. Membership adds the private member channel, monthly members-only call, and first access to guides as they publish.

  • Free to attend
  • Open to anyone building here
  • Come once and decide
Register on Luma (opens in a new tab)Become a member

Built from real founder questions

IFN began as a room full of international founders in Austin. The membership, the resource library and this website came afterwards, built out of what people kept asking for in that room: how to handle a visa while running a company, how to open a U.S. bank account, how to raise from investors who have never heard of your last company, how to rebuild a professional network from nothing.

We are a small, founder-run organization, so we would rather show you what already exists than describe a plan. We host the meetups in downtown Austin, and the rest of IFN is built from the questions founders keep bringing into the room.

Every month, in person
Monthly meetups in Austin, with every date published openly on Luma and Meetup.
Hosted in downtown Austin
A regular place to gather in the middle of the Austin startup community.
Structured one-to-one networking
Founders are paired for short conversations, so nobody spends the meetup standing alone.
Three people standing together in an open room, the one in the middle speaking with a raised hand, two of them holding drinks, with an IFN meetup slide on the screen behind them.

The next meetup in Austin

One meetup a month, in person. Open to anyone building a company here, and to the investors, attorneys and operators who work with founders crossing borders. Free to attend, whether or not you are a member.

Showing the next 3 meetups.

Also on the calendar

Synced from Luma. That calendar is the source of truth. Luma has the current dates (opens in a new tab).

See all meetups

Who we work with

Three named partners, and what each one does

  • Station Austin
  • Reuneo
  • Yani Partners

Station Austin hosts. Reuneo runs speed networking. Yani Partners is the technology partner for founders. These are working relationships, not paid placements. Nobody on this page bought their way onto it.

Sponsor a meetupMeet our partners

What a meetup looks like

Photographs from the meetups in Austin. The rest are on the gallery page.

A line of people standing shoulder to shoulder facing the camera in front of an IFN meetup screen at the end of the evening.
About a dozen people seated in a wide circle in conversation, with daylight coming through a full height glass wall behind them and an IFN meetup slide on a screen at the left.
An IFN meetup slide lit on a wall mounted screen at night under a pendant lamp, with a second screen to the left and the slide reflected twice in the window glass over the city.
Meetup Photographs

Written guides for the parts nobody explains to you

Guides, templates and checklists on visas, banking, incorporating, hiring and raising here, sorted by the kind of founder you are and the stage you have reached, in the order the questions actually come up.

The library is being built now from questions founders bring to IFN. The first guides are being prepared for publication.

Use the left and right arrow keys to scroll through the stages.

  • Pre-Arrival

    Preparing to enter the US market from abroad.

    Being written

    • US Visa Pathways for Entrepreneurs
    • US Market Research from Abroad
    • Remote US Entity Formation Guide
    • 3 more in this stage

  • Landing

    Setting up your legal, financial, and physical presence.

    Being written

    • SSN & ITIN Acquisition Guide
    • US Business Banking Setup for Non-Citizens
    • Finding Legal Counsel Checklist
    • 3 more in this stage

  • Establishing

    Building credibility and operations in the US.

    Being written

    • US Credit Building Playbook for Immigrants
    • US Employment Law Basics for Foreign Founders
    • US Go-to-Market Strategy Guide
    • 3 more in this stage

  • Growing

    Scaling your US business and team.

    Being written

    • Fundraising as an International Founder
    • Building an American Professional Network
    • US Tax Obligations for Foreign Nationals
    • 3 more in this stage

  • Thriving

    Long-term success and giving back.

    Being written

    • Green Card Through Business Pathways
    • International Estate & Asset Planning
    • Giving Back: Mentorship Framework
    • 1 more in this stage
Browse our resources

Something missing that you needed? Email [email protected].

Questions founders ask us

Direct answers about what IFN is, what it costs (nothing for the meetups, $149 a year for optional membership), and what it does not do.

Who comes, and what happens

No. Registered company, idea-only, or full-time job you haven't left yet: all fine. International students building a first venture too. If you're building in the U.S. and you're from somewhere else, you're in the right room.

Structured one-to-ones (Reuneo): short paired conversations, then open room. Free. Downtown Austin. Register on Luma.

Attending, and membership

What IFN does not do

Something else? [email protected]

Next step: register for the Austin meetup

Free to attend. Membership is optional and separate: private member channel, monthly members-only call, first access to guides when they publish.

Register on Luma (opens in a new tab)Become a member

What you are signing up for

  • Every month, in personMonthly meetups in Austin since January 2026.
  • Hosted by our venue partnerThe address is on every event listing.
  • Structured one-to-one networkingYou are paired for short conversations, one person at a time.
  • Free to attendRegister on Luma or Meetup. Membership is a separate, optional layer at $149 a year.

Membership is the paid layer and it is optional: the private member channel, monthly members-only call, and first access to guides when they are published.