Founders Forum
Founders telling each other the truth.
Capital is scarcer and later than in other markets, customers pay late, currencies move, and many founders are building the first company of its kind in their country. The forum is where they compare notes honestly.
Open to every member. Join now and help shape what it builds next.
What we work on
Four problems define this community’s work right now. Every sprint, review and essay here comes back to one of them.
Finding the first paying customers
Selling before the system is finished, and learning what people will actually pay for.
Fundraising
When to raise, from whom, on what terms, and what investors here really look for.
Hiring the first team
Finding, paying and keeping the first engineers when big companies are competing for them.
Unit economics
Pricing, margins and cash, so growth does not quietly burn the company down.
Questions we are working through
No one has settled these yet. They come up in every sprint, and members argue them out in essays and reviews.
- Should you raise now or grow on revenue for another year?
- How do you price for customers who are very price-sensitive but still value quality?
- When should a founder stop writing code?
From the field
No essays here yet. Members write about what actually happens on the ground, and every essay is edited before it is published. Apply to write
Your first build
New members pick one of these for their first month. Each is small enough to finish and real enough to show an employer or an investor.
A one-page plan
The problem, the customer, how you reach them and how you make money, on one page another founder can attack.
- Strategy
- Writing
- Pricing
Ten customer conversations
Talk to ten potential customers this month and bring back what they said, not what you hoped.
- Customer research
- Sales
- Notes
A fundraising model
A simple model of runway, burn and milestones that shows exactly why you are raising and how much.
- Finance
- Spreadsheets
- Planning
Words you will hear
New here? These come up in your first week. Plain meanings, no jargon.
- Runway
- How many months the company can operate before the money runs out.
- Burn rate
- How much cash the company spends each month beyond what it earns.
- Pre-seed
- The earliest outside funding, usually to prove the idea and build the first version.
- Dilution
- The share of the company founders give up each time new investors buy in.
Who you will meet
- Founders at idea stage through Series A
- Operators thinking of starting something
- Angel investors
- Technical co-founders
How the community runs
- Every week
Build sprint
Bring a real problem from your work in the sector. Leave with progress, reviewed by people who have shipped the same thing.
- Every week
Office hours
Drop in with a model that will not converge, a regulator question or a hiring decision. Practitioners answer.
- Every month
Demo day
Members show working systems to the community, mentors and invited investors. Demos, not decks.
The team behind it
Lead the Founders Forum
We are looking for experienced practitioners to lead this community: host one session a month, review members’ work and shape what it builds next.
Tell us about your workJoin the Founders Forum
One payment of $15 makes you a member for life: every community, its sprints, reviews and events. No subscription.