By Andreas Pettersson, Founder, Leaders ADAPT
You raised a seed round six weeks ago. The plan says you double the team by spring. Your co-founder wants to build, your lead investor wants a board deck, and the only people who have done this before are the people you are trying to impress. So you search for a tech founder peer group, and Founders Network is one of the first names you see.
Founders Network has run since 2011 and says it has helped more than 2,000 startups. It is built for one kind of company: tech startups, measured by revenue or by capital raised. Where I sit: I run the Leaders ADAPT CEO Mastermind, a virtual room with no revenue gate and never more than 14 members, so for a tech founder past the first million I am one of the alternatives. This is its entry in the CEO Peer Group Index. Sourced, field by field.
Quick answer: Founders Network is an invitation only peer mentorship community for full time tech founders, founded in 2011. It publishes three tiers billed annually, $75, $134 and $249 a month, set by revenue or capital raised. Members get roundtables, chapters, events and webinars. Roundtable size, cadence, facilitator and cancellation terms are not published.
What Founders Network is, in 12 fields
Founders Network is an invitation only peer mentorship community for full time tech founders, with tiered annual dues, Peer Advisory Roundtables, chapter meetings and a mentorship platform. Each value was read from foundersnetwork.com or Fortune in October 2026.
| Field | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Invite only peer mentorship community "for Full-Time Tech Founders Only": roundtables, chapters, events, a mentorship platform | Home, Membership |
| Cost and year one | Launch $75, Scale $134, Lead $249 a month, all billed annually, so about $900, $1,608 or $2,988 in year one. "We do not take equity." Joining fee and increases: not published. Fortune in 2023 cited an older $699 a year entry tier and a $10,000 lifetime option | FAQ, Benefits, Fortune |
| Gates | Full time tech founder, not a service firm. Launch: pre revenue to $10K, or self funded to $100K raised. Scale: $10K to $1M revenue, or $100K to $3M raised. Lead: $1M+ revenue or $3M+ raised. Invitation from a member. Age and headcount: not published | Home, Membership |
| Group size | Peer Advisory Roundtables in every plan. Size: not published | FAQ |
| Time commitment | "100+ events per year, in person and virtual", "40+ live webinars per year", chapter meetings. Roundtable cadence: not published | Home |
| Facilitator model | Staff Success Coach or Success Team for onboarding. Roundtable facilitator: not published | Home |
| Contract and cancellation | "Memberships are annual commitments." Cancellation terms: not published | FAQ |
| Format and geography | Hybrid. Chapters in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, New York "and beyond" | FAQ |
| Industry mix | Tech startups only | Membership |
| What members say | "The community prevents you from learning the hard way", a member quoted by Fortune, member opinion. The benefits page carries vendor testimonials only | Fortune, Benefits |
| Founded and size | Founded 2011. "600+ experienced tech founders". "Helped 2,000+ startups" | Home, FAQ |
| Best for and not for | For tech startup founders from idea stage to $1M+ who want a low cost, invite based network with mentors and introductions. Not for non tech owners, service businesses, or CEOs who want a chaired confidential forum | Read of all sources above |
What Founders Network does well
The price is on the page. Three tiers, monthly figures, billed annually, no equity taken. In an Index where most organisations make you book a call before you see a number, the Founders Network cost is one of the easiest to find and one of the lowest.
The tiers are honest about stage. A pre revenue founder and a founder with $3M raised are not dropped into the same pool. The gate is written in the language of venture capital, revenue and dollars raised, which tells you who the room is built for: startups on the funding path. If you count your company in rounds, you will know in ten seconds which tier you belong to.
The entry process is fast and peer run. An invitation request is reviewed within 48 hours, a member can act as nominator, and the Membership Committee decides. Approved founders get a 30 day onboarding programme. That is a short path from search to first event.
And the volume is real. More than 100 events a year and more than 40 webinars means a founder in San Francisco can find a room most weeks. For someone who needs answers more than accountability, that density is the product.
What Founders Network does not publish
The roundtable. The network includes Peer Advisory Roundtables in every plan and publishes nothing else about them: not the size, not how often they meet, not who runs them. If you came looking for a Founders Network forum on the YPO or EO pattern, the record does not show one.
The facilitator. Onboarding is handled by a staff success coach or team. Whether a trained moderator, a staff member or a peer holds the roundtable is not stated.
The exit. Memberships are annual commitments. The terms page could not be read, and no cancellation rule appears elsewhere.
Independent reviews. One member quote in Fortune and two vendor testimonials on the site make up the whole record for Founders Network reviews. For a community of 600+ founders running since 2011, that is thin.
Who Founders Network is not for
A founder who does not build tech. The membership page says tech startups only, and service firms are out. An agency owner, a distributor or a home care operator will not get in, and should not want to.
A bootstrapped owner past the startup years. The Lead tier opens at $1M in revenue, so a profitable company well past that line qualifies on paper. But the language, the events and the introductions are built around the startup arc. If you are not raising, half the calendar is not for you.
A CEO who wants the same people in the room every month. The published model is a community you dip into, with roundtables whose shape is not public. Founder groups and Hampton membership both publish a fixed group with a moderator, and that is a different structure.
A founder who wants a chair who has done it. That is the gap, and it needs its own section.
The structural gap: answers versus a standing room
At Arcules I hired 30 people in the first three months. By year two we were at 70, and more than 80 of the hires over those years went through me personally. Nobody hands you a guide for that. Every hire changes the room you lead.
A community gives you answers. Post the question, someone who hired their first sales leader last year replies within the hour. That is valuable, and this network does it well.
What a community cannot do is watch you make the same mistake three months running. Answers come from whoever is online. Accountability needs the same people, in the same seats, every month, remembering what you said last time.
A low price does not signal low value. It signals a different product. This one sells access to people who know things. A standing peer group sells a fixed room that will not let you off the hook, and someone in the chair who has sat where you sit.
The Leaders ADAPT room, on the same 12 fields
My room goes through the same 12 fields. It is not the better choice for an idea stage founder who wants mentors and investor introductions. It is a different structure, and the CEO peer group compare tool puts the two side by side.
| Field | Leaders ADAPT CEO Mastermind | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A virtual CEO mastermind, led by an operator, for founders and CEOs past the first build | CEO Mastermind |
| Cost and year one | Kept off the blog. Discussed once fit is clear | This page |
| Gates | No revenue gate and no capital raised test. You must have built something before | This page |
| Group size | A fixed room, at most 14 members | This page |
| Time commitment | A monthly virtual session plus weekly office hours | This page |
| Facilitator model | Me. I scaled an AI company to more than 150 people and exited it to Canon | This page |
| Contract and cancellation | No multi year contract | This page |
| Format and geography | Virtual. Members matched by fit, wherever they live | This page |
| Industry mix | Tech is welcome, and so are home care, flooring, title services, aviation services, wellness, logistics and lending | This page |
| What members say | Members stay unnamed on this site, so no quote is shown | This page |
| Founded and size | Leaders ADAPT, founded by Andreas Pettersson. One standing room | This page |
| Best for and not for | For owners of $1M to $20M+ companies, tech or not, who want the same peers every month. Not for a pre revenue founder hunting for investors, and not for anyone who wants a soft room | This page |
The same 14 seats, every month
The Leaders ADAPT CEO Mastermind is a fixed room, not a feed. Virtual, at most 14 members, no revenue gate, chaired by an operator who scaled a company to 150+ people and exited to Canon.
Each monthly session runs one mechanism. A scored check in tracked over time, so the room sees who is trending down. One company on the hot seat against a ten slide template. Feedback on five fixed prompts, including what the presenter is not seeing. Then one committed action per member, with an owner and a date, checked next month. Weekly office hours fill the gaps.
It is not for a founder who needs a warm introduction to a seed fund.
Founders Network FAQ
What is Founders Network?
Founders Network is an invitation only peer mentorship community for full time tech founders, founded in 2011. Members get Peer Advisory Roundtables, chapter meetings, more than 100 events a year in person and online, more than 40 live webinars and a mentorship platform. It reports more than 600 experienced tech founders as members and says it has helped more than 2,000 startups.
How much does Founders Network cost?
It publishes three tiers, all billed annually: Launch at $75 a month, Scale at $134 a month and Lead at $249 a month, which works out to about $900, $1,608 and $2,988 a year. It states that memberships are annual commitments and that it takes no equity. A joining fee and future price increases are not published.
Who can join Founders Network?
Membership is for full time tech founders only, not service firms, and entry runs through an invitation from an existing member. Tiers are set by stage: Launch for pre revenue to $10K or up to $100K raised, Scale for $10K to $1M revenue or $100K to $3M raised, and Lead for $1M or more in revenue or $3M or more raised.
How does the Founders Network membership process work?
A founder requests an invitation, which is reviewed within 48 hours. If needed, the founder is matched with a member who acts as nominator. The nominee completes a two minute application, staff screen it, and the Membership Committee makes the decision. Approved members start a 30 day onboarding programme with a staff success coach or success team.
Is Founders Network a forum like YPO or EO?
Not on the published record. The network includes Peer Advisory Roundtables in every plan, but it does not publish the roundtable size, how often a roundtable meets, or who facilitates it. Its published model is a broad community of events, webinars, chapters and mentorship, rather than a fixed confidential forum that meets on a set monthly schedule.
What do Founders Network reviews say?
Few independent reviews are on the record. A member quoted by Fortune in January 2023 said the community prevents you from learning the hard way. The testimonials on its own benefits page praise the staff for thoughtful conversations and warm introductions, but those are vendor testimonials hosted by the organisation itself, not independent member reviews.
Founders Network: the verdict
If you are a tech founder between idea and your first $1M, Founders Network is one of the cheapest, fastest ways to get experienced founders on the other end of your problem. The price is public, the tiers make sense and the entry path is short. Request the invitation. Ask how big your roundtable is, how often it meets and who runs it, before the annual commitment starts.
If you are past that stage and the problem is no longer what to do but whether you are doing it, look for a fixed room.
Who will notice next month if you skip the thing you promised to do this month?
