founder city: confidential founder peer forum groups

The Founder City ProjectFounder-centric network of startup/scale-up founders that’s grown from 2 to 200+ in a few months; heading to 1,000+ founders.

Founder City: Toronto/Kitchener/Waterloo (T/K/W)

2

Founders Have Become Society’s New Heroes

… but they are lone wolves.

Many operate in isolation, despite being excellent collaborators.

Attracted to challenges they can tackle with peers.

To join us, follow this link — http://bit.ly/ForumFormQs

http://bit.ly/ForumFormQs

3

Founders Have a Tough and Lonely Job30% of all entrepreneurs experience depression, according to a

study by Dr. Michael Freeman, a clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

Many serious business and personal issues cannot be discussed with co-founders, investors, employees, even spouses.



4

Forum CommunityEngaging the right people in the right way opens big doors for founders and their businesses.



5

“I love what Ben is doing because I believe Founders are disadvantaged without access to this essential resource. The time that I spend with my Forum group is some of the most valuable time that I spend every month.” — Jeff Booth, Founder, BuildDirect



“Ben isn’t taking shortcuts with his Forum approach, so, in particular, I'd encourage experienced founders to join one of the senior groups. Forum is the critical copilot that every entrepreneur needs during their challenging journey. When there are challenges that can't be discussed with employees, investors, cofounders, even certain peers -- there's Forum.” — Razor Suleman, Founder, Achievers



7To join us, follow this link — http://bit.ly/ForumFormQs

Jim told me:

I’ve found West Point grads are happier and more fulfilled than Stanford grads, because the structure they shared forced them to connect at a deeper, more honest level.




The Toronto Hypothesis


Toronto can amplify its attractiveness to tech employees and families through building the most open, interconnected, trusted and supportive founder community in the world.

Forum has proven its ability to help founders become ~90-100% open and honest.*

It’s argued that communities like Silicon Valley are ~70% open and honest, but founders hold back for competitive reasons.**

Toronto is not naturally open, like Silicon Valley, so there’s more demand from its founders to create a community of openness, honesty and interconnectedness.

* Numbers are an estimate, used for comparative purposes.

** Jim Collins, management author & researcher, in conversation with Ben Baldwin at the Drucker Institute board meeting, October 20 2015.


Ben Zifkin Founder @ Hubba.

Jim Murphy Founder @ Boltmade (acquired by Shopify).

Allen Lau Founder @ Wattpad.

Eva Wong Founder @ Borrowell.

Mike Shaver Founder @ Mozilla, ScaleDriver;

Partner @ Real Ventures; Ex-Facebook.

Jessica WeiszCCO @ Soapbox.

Alex NormanFounder @ TechTO.

Heather PayneFounder @ HackerYou, Ladies Learning Code.

200+ Leading Founders, Advisors and My Own Forum


Karl Martin Founder @ Nymi.

Chris YuFounder @ Uken Games.


Forum Foundation


Complete confidentiality. What’s said in the room, stays in the room. Strongly enforced. If a member misses a session, they cannot ask about it outside of the forum itself.

Gestalt language protocol: speak from experience. Stories are easier to learn from. Non-judgmental, non-emotional, safe. Ask clarifying questions. Don’t hide advice as part of a question.

Non-solicitation. Discourage business dealings. They can create conflict in a forum. No poaching Forum members’ employees (Forum members are on a “do not call” list), but we cannot prevent people from applying. Keep it confidential and remove yourself completely until the final step, then give your Forum mate a courtesy call.

Consequence of foundational non-compliance = ejection.


Forum Structure


6-8 founders, with “similar enough” fundraising & scaling issues. Don’t get too specific because variety is good: you will learn more. Table size, keeps attendance consistent, intimacy.

3 hours. Friday afternoons are often best (travel schedules), but up to you. Meet 6-10x per year; calendar set a year in advance. Quorum = 66% attendance. Miss 2x in a 12 month span = ejection. Requires majority vote to re-enter. Soft start 15-30 mins early. Late for soft start = $10/minute to charity; held accountable at next mtg.

Roles: 1. Moderator (constant for 12 months) 2. Time-keeper (can change each forum) 3. Language cop (can change each forum)


Forum Format ComparisonYPO / EO Founder City

Foundation Complete confidentiality; “Forum Mindset” protocol; Non-solicitation

Complete confidentiality; “Forum Mindset” protocol; Non-solicitation

Diversity (industries/roles) Diverse industries, founders, CEOs, family businesses Tech founders only, to start

Qualifications for entry Rigorous Rigorous; focused on matching with Forum mates

Forum training Rigorous initial training Rigorous initial training; 3 YPO-moderated sessions; 6-month follow up check-in

Frequency of meetings 10x year 6-10x year

Attendance, lateness rules Strict Strict

Peer coaching for presentations Yes No

Interconnected community with social consequence Yes Yes

1) Define the category (business or personal or both).

a) What is the single, most important core issue or challenge? (This should be a single sentence.) b) What type of experiences would be helpful for you to hear from the forum? 2) Prepare an outline of the presentation.

a) Background b) Current situation c) Future options

5 minute intro

20 minute presentation, at right

10 minutes to ask clarifying questions

20 minutes for members to share relevant

experiences

“Traditional” Forum Presentation Example

Coaching, Mentors, ConsultantsForum

Forum multiplies intellect/insight for critical or time-sensitive decisions, challenges, opportunities.

vs.

What’s Special About a Forum

Huge demand: 200+ top tech founders; growing to 1,000+.

When the proper Forum structure is followed, Forum groups last and can provide years of value, if not decades.

Integrates with/strengthens additional Forum experiences, i.e. YPO, EO, OneEleven, AceTech, etc.

Community of “cells” of 6-8 founders per Forum group; structured 3-hour meetings every 1-2 months; founders can connect between meetings. Community interconnected and policed by Ben Baldwin.

Founder City

Founder Forum

Founder Forum

Founder Forum

Founder Forum

Founder Forum

Founder Forum

Founder Forum

Founder Forum

Founder ForumFounder

Forum

And more and more and more

Founder Forums ê

Founder Forum

Founder City: A Forum Community



All founders are trained on the Founder City format and rules.

Members from different Forum groups can reach out to others in the community — expect the same confidentiality and non-judgement.

Members provide more value than they hope to receive.

Double opt-in email introductions for all intros.

58/2: listen for 58 minutes, talk for 2.

Founder City Format



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Late Stage Founders

Late Stage Founders

Late Stage Founders

Mid Stage

Founders

Mid Stage

Founders

Mid Stage

Founders Early FoundersEarly

Founders

Early Founders

Early Founders

Early Founders

Mid Stage

Founders

Mid Stage

Founders Early Founders

Network Of Trust

Shared constitution of confidentiality, respect, communication and competitive/recruitment etiquette.

What’s Next? Creating a Forum group costs nothing; we can help provide the structure. However, the majority of senior founders are opting for Forum training, because of its high ROI.

1. NOW: Scheduling one-day Forum training in batches of 10-12 founders, covering (i) confidentiality and (ii) Forum best practices from YPO’s top Forum trainers is optional at $850, but highly recommended. Forum training is $0 for female founders.

2. NEXT: Assembling trained Forum groups: Founders will be placed with other groups members at a similar stage in their business. Untrained founders cannot join a trained Forum groups, because they will not perform at the same level.

3. THEN: Assembling untrained Forum groups.

4. ONGOING: Ben strengthens the community for Founder City founders.



Who is behind this?

Ben Baldwin Mission: Unrelenting advocacy for innovators.

4x Toronto founder and multi-patent-holder in predictive analytics for human work behavior. Board Member at Drucker Institute, Member of Silicon Valley

i4j think tank. Wall Street Journal Startup Guru, Inc Magazine Columnist.

founder city: confidential founder peer forum groups

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