I didn’t start this company to change the world, I was just trying to solve a problem I couldn’t get rid of.
When I was leading my first business, the last thing I needed was another founder trying to sell me something I’d never buy. I needed five or six founders I could actually tell the truth to. I needed people who understood what it felt like to be up at 2 a.m. staring at the ceiling wondering how to make payroll. I needed people who cared enough about me to call me out when I was avoiding the hard stuff, and who would celebrate with me when I finally got it right.
That’s what we built with Thrive. This is how it works.
My team spends (a lot of) time helping us find the perfect-fit founders
Jack is my co-founder, and he is the genius behind finding the right people. He has spent his career in sales, and he knows how to spot patterns, how to see potential, and how to move fast. Jack builds out the attributes of every person he finds, their stage of business, their skill set, their energy, the way they talk about what they’re building. He prepares everything I need so that when I sit down with someone, it never feels random.
That’s the reason your experience with Thrive feels the way it does. From the very first time you hear about us to the moment you join your peer group, Jack has already been working in the background to make sure you belong here. You never see most of what he does, but you feel it the second you step into your first call.
01
I talk to every founder myself one on one
Then it’s me and you.
I talk to every single person who wants to join Thrive. That has never changed (and I hope it never will).
In those conversations, I’m not trying to convince you to join. I want to know your story. I want to know what you’re building and why you care about it. I want to know what feels heavy right now, what you’ve been avoiding, and what kind of life you’re really trying to create. And I want to figure out if you’re the type of person who makes everyone around you better, or the type who just wants to look impressive.
Because here’s the truth: Thrive only works if the people in the room are people you admire. People you respect enough to listen to. People you’d actually trade numbers with and call when you’re stuck. If that doesn’t click, nothing else matters.
02
We place you into a peer group that feels like it was built just for you
If it feels like a fit, we place you into a peer group of six founders.
Six is not random. It’s big enough to bring in perspective, small enough that no one can hide. With six, everyone matters. But the number isn’t what makes it work, the mix is.
You need to be with people at a similar stage, so their struggles feel like your struggles. You need people you’d actually grab a beer or a coffee with if they lived down the street. And you need people whose ambition lines up with yours, so when you talk about where you’re going, you don’t have to explain why you care so much.
When you sit down with your group for the first time, it should feel like the room was built for you. That’s the goal.
03
We kick it off with a three day retreat experience in Milwaukee
Every group begins in person, with a three-day retreat in Milwaukee.
This is where the walls come down. On day one, you walk in as strangers. By day three, you know each other’s insecurities, you’ve shared your goals, you’ve opened up about the things you usually keep to yourself. You’ve made commitments that you know you’ll be held to, and you’ve started to see your peers not just as other founders, but as people you trust.
We built the retreat so it doesn’t feel like anything else. It’s not a conference. It’s not a seminar. It’s not a vacation. It’s three days designed to strip away the surface-level stuff and leave you with a group of people who know you in a way very few others ever will.
From the second you land to the moment you fly home, every detail is intentional. You will leave different than when you arrived.
04
Twice a month you meet for 90 minutes and leave better than when you came in
After the retreat, the rhythm begins.
Every group meets twice a month for 90 minutes virtually. These aren’t casual chats. Every session is facilitated, so the structure is there to keep the conversation real. The goal is not to lecture or to teach, it’s to create space where honesty is the norm.
We ask questions you don’t see coming. The ones that make you pause and realize you’ve been avoiding something important. The ones that make you rethink how you’re showing up as a founder, as a leader, as a person. And then you answer, honestly. Sometimes uncomfortably. Always with people who get it.
Those conversations are the heartbeat of Thrive. It keeps you honest, motivated, and forces you to show up for people who really do care about you.
05
Beyond your group you find conversations that always feels small, vetted, and real
Your group is the core, but Thrive doesn’t end there.
You’ll meet founders in your city. You’ll jump into calls across groups when a specific topic matters. You’ll join conversations and realize the thing you have with your six peers exists at scale too, with hundreds of founders who were all vetted the same way.
But no matter where you are, whether it’s six people on Google Meet or a dinner table of twelve, the feeling doesn’t change. It always feels small. It always feels vetted. And it always feels real.
06
Together, we figure out if this is where you belong
That’s how it has always worked, and that’s how it always will.
If you want to see if Thrive is the right place for you, the next step is simple.