1 - Continuous Innovation - We were the first to bring T-groups to startup leaders, and our Stanford-trained foundations are solid. But we also stay on top of the latest research in emotion science and social psychology to ensure our T-group content and activities are maximally relevant for modern-day startup leaders. We offer advanced weekends with all-new designs every year so that alums can return as often as they wish to challenge themselves anew.
2 - Startup Empathy - Our facilitators are all current or former startup operators who bring a blend of “lived experience” with expertise in facilitation and coaching. When you attend a T-group with us, you will be surrounded by peers who share your startup context and supported by facilitators who “eat their own ice cream” (i.e., actually use T-group skills) in both their personal lives and their professional lives working in tech.
3 - Mix of Leadership Perspectives - As a founder, you don’t lead an exec team of other founders. And as a senior startup leader, you’re often thinking about how to be more influential to the CEO or other founders. So, in a T-group setting, it helps everyone to have access to both founder and non-founder leaders for realistic practice and pragmatic feedback. We intentionally compose all our T-groups to be a mix of founders and other startup leaders.
4 - Inviting & Accessible - The tech startup scene tends towards elitism, and we work hard to buck that Silicon Valley norm. You don’t have to “know anyone”, “get nominated,” or have a certain title/fundraising record to attend our T-groups. You only need to apply with thoughtful goals for how you want to grow interpersonally as a leader. We conduct outreach and form referral partnerships with groups across the U.S who work with leaders from underrepresented backgrounds (gender, race, geography and political beliefs.) And to ensure access for cash-strapped founders, we also offer a few discounted registrations to every intro weekend.
5 - Living Room Vibe - We tailor our entire T-group experience to foster an informality that creates the conditions for deeper connection & learning. We meet in a cozy couch-filled living room or a quiet and shady backyard; not a stark hotel conference room. We share concepts through stories, not PowerPoint slides. We learn your favorite snacks and then make sure they magically appear right when you need that hit of fuel or comfort. But all this informality is not because you’re going to chill—it’s about creating the intimacy and amping the intensity so you can learn!