This is me and my first co-founder in a coffee shop. It was one of our clients. We had just signed a really big deal.
We looked excited. But inside, I was feeling immensely isolated. We ended up running the whole company out of cash 18 months later.
I knew I wanted to be a founder, but I clearly wasn’t ready. So I moved to Philly to work at a small startup. It was the best decision I could have made. In three years I learned how to sell, manage people, forecast, and handle money. We grew to more than 15 employees and crossed a million in revenue. It was the coolest feeling ever.
The more I sold to founders building real companies, the more I realized how common my story was. Building a company is tough. Founder after founder told me the same thing: they didn’t have intimate conversations with other founders, but they wished they could.
I remember asking the founder I worked for why he never went to networking events in the city. He said, “They all suck. They let anyone in, and you never really meet anyone. You just talk to a lot of people.” He was right. None of those events were built for founders to be vulnerable or real. Half the time you didn’t even need to be a founder to get in.
Back when I was building my first company, I didn’t want a room with 100 people just to say I was there. I wanted the right room, with the right people. A space where I could say what was really happening and not feel lesser for it. People I could trust to run high-impact decisions by.
That’s when I decided to start Thrive. It’s turned into the coolest thing I’ve done by a mile. It’ll be a big deal one day I think.
- Eric Harrison
Where We Are Now
Our members are doubling and even tripling their revenue. They’re making the right hires, landing clients through referrals, and in some cases, even finding co-founders. Two people met through Thrive, teamed up, and grew their company past a million in revenue.
Being around founders you believe are smarter than you is an absolute cheat code. It’s like having a living library of real experience at your fingertips. You’ll have their cell phone numbers. You’ll know about their families and personal lives. You’ll share financial goals, insecurities, and passions. These are the kinds of relationships where you don’t have to pretend.
Thrive includes founders who have bootstrapped to seven and eight figure exits. Founders who have raised capital and built technology that changes lives. Founders whose products create real, local economic impact. Founders who use their profit to fund charities and causes they care about.
The common thread isn’t what they’ve built, it’s who they are. Ambitious, generous, humble. The kind of people you’re proud to call your peers.
Where We’re Going
Every founder group that scales faces the same temptation. They grow too fast, loosen the standards, dilute the value, and lose what made it feel special in the first place.
We’re not interested in building a 10,000 person Slack or hosting webinars with celebrity founders. That kind of interaction doesn’t change anyone’s life.
Our focus is to be the most valuable source in the world for intimate founder conversations. No matter how large Thrive becomes, the rooms will always feel small, vetted, and intentional. Members will grow with their peer group for decades, or as long as they’re a founder.
The goal is simple: for every founder in Thrive to jump into their peer group and have the best conversation of their month.
That’s what real community feels like. It’s what I would have given anything to find when I was building my first company. And it’s what I’ll spend my life making sure the right founders can experience.
The Questions That Actually Get Asked
Inside Thrive, the conversations sound different. They’re the questions founders don’t have anyone else to ask.
How do I raise my prices without losing my best clients?
Q
Should I take on a partner, or is that just me avoiding the hard stuff?
Q
What do I do when the business is working, but I’m exhausted and my family feels it?
Q
What do I do with the money I’m finally making, where should it actually go?
Q
What am I supposed to do when I hit my goals and still don’t feel satisfied?
Q
My revenue is up, but my profit isn’t, how do I change that?
Q
I think I hired the wrong person, how do I fix it without breaking trust with my team?
Q
These aren’t questions for a networking event. They’re questions for a table of people who get it. People who want you to win, and will tell you the truth.
What Happens Next
Thrive isn’t something you just sign up for. Every founder who joins starts with a conversation. Eric personally vets every single person who’s interested, and he always will.
Who’s in your peer group matters a ton. It’s what makes the conversations real, and the relationships worth investing in.
If you’re curious about joining, the next step is simple: talk to Eric. Share what you’re building, what you’re working through, and where you want to go. From there, you’ll both know if Thrive is the right place for you.