The rooms a founder can choose from
Broadly there are five. Large founder networks with city chapters, a dense event calendar, and membership in the thousands. CEO peer groups such as Vistage, EO, and YPO, which put a dozen or so executives in a facilitated forum, usually local, often with dues in the five figures a year. Church men's groups, which are free, local, and built around discipleship rather than business. Online communities and courses, which scale infinitely and ask almost nothing. And small masterminds, which is what we are.
None of these is wrong. They answer different questions.
Side by side
The general pattern, with the usual caveat that any given group may differ.
| Large founder network | CEO peer group | Church men's group | The Founders Table | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size | Hundreds to thousands, city chapters | 8 to 16 per forum | Varies, often open | A handful, one table |
| Faith | Neutral | Neutral | Central | Central |
| Business depth | Events and intros | Deep, facilitated | Light | Deep, peer-run hot seats |
| Men only | No | No | Usually | Yes |
| How you join | Apply, revenue floor | Apply, often a chair interview | Show up | Referral or request, then a call with a founder |
| Cadence | 150+ events a year, optional | Monthly forum, annual retreat | Weekly | Monthly call, annual retreat |
| Retreat | Extra cost | Often extra | Occasional | The main event, by invitation |
| Cost | High four figures plus retreats | Five figures a year | Free | $20 a month for the community; a retreat seat from $3,000 |
When a large network is the better choice
If what you need is reach, a large network wins. Thousands of members and a hundred events a year mean a dinner in most cities and an introduction to almost anyone. If you are raising capital, hiring at scale, or looking for a buyer, that breadth is worth paying for. What it cannot give you is a room where everyone knows your wife's name.
When a CEO peer group is the better choice
If you run a company with a leadership team and a board, a facilitated forum with a professional chair is a serious tool, and the best of them are excellent. They are deliberately neutral on faith, which is a feature for many executives and a gap for a man who wants to be asked what his company is for.
When a church men's group is the better choice
If you are not an owner, or your business is not the thing weighing on you, your church is the right room and it is free. We are not a substitute for it, and we assume every man at the table has one. What a church group usually cannot do is read your profit and loss statement and tell you what it sees.
When this table is the better choice
You own or lead a real business. You follow Christ and you want Him at the center of it. You would rather be known by a few men than connected to a thousand. And you can take a hard question about your margins and your marriage in the same hour. If that is you, there is a seat, and the way to it is a referral or a short request and a call with one of the founders.
Questions
- Is The Founders Table a Christian alternative to Vistage, EO, or YPO?
- In spirit, yes: it is a peer group for owners with a monthly meeting and an annual retreat. In form it is smaller, peer-run rather than chaired, men only, and built on a shared faith, at a lower price with the retreat included.
- Can I be a member of The Founders Table and another group?
- Yes. Several members are in other rooms as well. We only ask that you show up to the monthly call and the retreat, and that you are honest in the hot seat.