Founders Guild

FOUNDERS GUILD

Improving financial outcomes and quality of life for founders worldwide. Clarity, insight, and edge to succeed in both business and in life.

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Chapters
16 Worldwide
Status
501(c)(3) Nonprofit
Membership
No Fees, No Equity
The Town SquareLive from the Guild
The Ledger · WritingEssays, guides, and playbooks — shared knowledge for founders building seriously.The blog
The Guild
10,000+
Founders worldwide
Membership · No fees, no equity
Join the Guild
Below
The Register
Sixteen Chapters
Four continents · your city
The Directory
Partner Offers
Browse
501(c)(3) · Tax-deductible
Back the Guild
Donate

EXISTENCE

SEC [01]

Building a company is one of the most ambitious paths you can take, and no founder should have to navigate it alone.

The Founders Guild exists to give founders the clarity, perspective, and connections they need to succeed on their own terms. We bring together a global community of driven founders and great investors and partners, helping them make smarter decisions, build stronger businesses, and achieve meaningful financial and personal outcomes.

When founders thrive, their companies, and the world around them, benefit.

DRIVE

SEC [02]FOUNDER-FIRST

We’re not just here to help you pitch. We’re here to help you build something that lasts.

Founders create real economic value, and the best outcomes happen when they stay deeply invested in the mission that got them started. We help founders come to the table prepared, aligned, and ready to build lasting partnerships with the investors who back them. When founders and investors share a vision and values, companies grow stronger and more durable.

Empowering founders is the core of our mission. That’s why we exist.

PROGRAMS

SEC [03]04 PROGRAMS

Four ways we show up for founders.

Collective Force

We build collective power so founders can shift the norms of fundraising toward founder-friendly terms. Certify good investors. Change who wins.

Founder Circles

Founder-to-founder events and retreats with no fluff, no pitch decks, and no agenda other than honest exchange. No matter where you are in your journey.

The Vault

Playbooks on fundraising, hiring, scaling, mental health, and more, sourced from founders, vetted by data. Not what sounded good on stage.

Pro Bono Power

Legal, marketing, finance, and operations support pro bono, from experts who’ve been in the trenches. Founders shouldn’t need money to access good advice when they are starting.

CHAPTERS

SEC [04]16 CHAPTERS

Your city. Your chapter. The same mission.

The Founders Guild has active chapters across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, connecting founders through events, workshops, peer circles, and roundtables.

We don’t compete with local founder communities. We partner with them. Each chapter reflects its local ecosystem but shares the same founder-first mission: truth, transparency, and real impact.

  • San Francisco, CAChapter
  • New York, NYChapter
  • London, UKChapter
  • SingaporeChapter
  • São Paulo, BrazilChapter
  • Berlin, GermanyChapter
10,000+
Founders Globally
16
Active Chapters
60+
Events in 2025
15
Global Legal Partners
7
Well-Being Partners

Join the GUILD

SEC [05]OPEN TO ALL

Open to any founder, anywhere, at any stage.

No equity taken, no fees, no gatekeeping. The Guild is for founders who are building seriously, and who believe that how you build matters as much as what you build.

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Our PARTNERS

SEC [06]17 ORGANIZATIONS

The institutions, corporations, and firms in the Guild’s orbit — across research, industry, capital, and counsel.

  • MIT
  • The Stanford Robotics Center
  • Goldman Sachs
  • UBS
  • General Motors
  • DHL Group
  • Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
  • Optimist Legal
  • Snell & Wilmer
  • A3 — Association for Advancing Automation
  • MHI
  • Draper University
  • Plug and Play
  • 3Laws
  • The Hertz Foundation
  • The Ritz-Carlton
  • The City of Half Moon Bay, California

Sponsorship

SEC [07]501(C)(3)

Want access to the most trusted founder network on the planet?

Our sponsors don’t just get logos. They get credibility, with the founders who are building what’s next.

We partner with organizations that share our founder-first values. Sponsorship means alignment with the mission, not just a transaction. Access 10,000+ vetted founders, $26B+ in combined ecosystem valuation, and direct relationships across Fortune 500s, leading investors, and the world’s top engineering universities.

  • Founding Sponsor5 globally

    $150K one-time / $200K yr

  • Strategic Sponsor15 globally

    $175K / year

  • Program SponsorUnlimited

    $87.5K / 6 mo

  • Community SupporterUnlimited

    $43.7K / 3 mo

Join the Guild