Being a founder can be hard.
Long hours. Constant demands. The work never lets up.
And then there's the part no one talks about:
The weight you carry.
The pressure to always know the right next move.
The responsibility to hold it all together, no matter what is happening behind the scenes.
It gets lonely.
You can’t vent to your team.
You can’t be real with your investors.
Friends and family try to understand, but they don’t fully get it.
So most founders do what they’ve always done:
Push through.
Carry the weight alone.
Pretend they’re fine.
But what if you didn’t have to?
What if instead, you had a circle of other founders on a similar journey?
Each one ready to have your back, challenge your thinking, and help you see what you can’t see alone.
A private space for the conversations that don’t happen anywhere else:
The leadership challenges that AI can't solve for you.
The fears you don’t say out loud.
The big decisions that keep you up at night.
Not random advice.
Not surface-level networking.
Just real allies, committed to helping you win (both inside and outside the business).
Founder Circles are private, curated peer groups for startup founders ready for something more honest, more powerful.
This isn't a course.
This isn't coaching.
It’s a trusted group where you can:
Say what’s really going on.
Get clarity on the hard decisions.
Be held accountable by people who understand the stakes.
Every founder applies.
Every group is carefully curated.
Spots are limited.
How Founder Circles Work:
Apply & Interview: A highly selective process ensures perfect fit for each member of a circle.
In-Person Kickoff: A full-day, in-person kickoff to quickly build connection, trust, and real business impact.
Bi-Weekly Sessions: Your circle meets for 80 minutes every two weeks. Sessions are professionally facilitated to ensure that time is well spent.
Founder Circles are not for everyone.
They’re for founders who:
Have raised Seed or Series A funding
Are leading teams, navigating growth, and feeling the pressure
Want to show up with full honesty, without needing to impress anyone
Believe that how you lead yourself is inseparable from how you lead your company
Know that learning is key to both your company's success and a meaningful life.
Your Facilitators Are Also Founders
Andrew Hapke
Andrew coaches founders and leaders who view their personal growth as essential to their company’s success.
Drawing on his own experience as a founder and as a leader at high-growth startups, he brings firsthand insight into both the thrill and the grind of building businesses.
Todd Emaus
Todd has founded multiple businesses, raised venture capital, led rapidly growing teams, and knows just how challenging and lonely it can be as a leader. His clients have included founders and leaders at some of the most iconic and ambitious organizations of our generation.
We’ve coached leaders at:
Apply & Learn More
We’re currently enrolling circles for Seed and Series A founders.
Each group is limited.
Apply to reserve your spot.
Enrollment ends Sept 26th.
We’ll review your application and follow up with a short intro call.