cohort 2 · September–December 2026 · 10 seats
You’ve done the course. You’ve got the strategy deck. Ten weeks of installing it is what’s rare — ten founders, weekly working sessions, a dashboard that keeps score, and advisors who’ve built before you.
There's a real business: revenue, customers, something to grow — not just a deck.
You're the bottleneck. Decisions, quality, follow-through: it all routes through you, and it's costing you.
You can commit two hours a week live — Saturday mornings — plus the work between sessions.
You're coachable. You want a thinking partner and a room that pushes back — not a lecture.
And plainly: this isn’t for coaches selling coaching, spectators, or anyone who wants applause more than progress.
Ten founders max, cross-industry, every week. Your roadblocks get worked in-session by people who've hit them; marketplace opportunities move across the table because the industries don't compete. Plus one-on-one time with a strategic advisor throughout.
In week one you make your declaration pitch: what you're building this quarter, in front of the cohort. Then the dashboard tracks the metrics you chose — leads, sales, margin, hours — every week, in the open. Write the plan and make it plain.
Forge sessions turn what's working into documented process — so the business runs on systems, and stops running on you.
Two to three systems documented and installed, not just planned.
A tracking method you'll keep long after the ten weeks.
And hours back — most founders reclaim five to ten a week by the end.
1
About seven minutes. Honest answers beat polished ones — the committee is reading for fit, not grammar.
2
Every application gets read, and you hear back either way.
3
Your letter arrives with the details and the invoice, and a window to commit your seat.
4
Onboarding, then you tell the room what you're building this quarter — and they hold you to it.
Not accepted this cohort? You’ll hear it straight, with the why — and Founders After Hours is open to you either way.
I’ve sat in rooms that changed my business — and paid for a few that didn’t. The difference was never the content. It was whether the room expected something of me.
This one does.
“We’re not here to make you feel good; we’re here to forge founders who can scale the thing.”
If that reads as pressure, it isn’t your room yet. If it reads as relief — apply.
— Justin Shaw
The investment is shared at acceptance, with time to decide before you commit. Partial scholarships exist — ask in your application. Either way: no surprise fees, no upsells inside the room.
Life happens; patterns don't get to. Sessions are recorded for the cohort, but the room only works if you're in it — miss enough and graduation math gets hard.
Because twelve is a class and eight is a clique. Ten founders means everyone's business gets worked on, every month, out loud.
A private tracker for the metrics you declared — updated weekly, visible to your cohort. Not surveillance; a scoreboard. The board doesn't lie.
Then you don't graduate — and we'll both know exactly why, which is worth more than the certificate.
Those programs teach, some brilliantly — and many are free; go do them. This room is for installing what you already know, with people who won't let you drift. Think of it as the after-program.
It grew from it. The pilot cohort ran January–March 2026 under IAMJS; Ventriq runs it now, same architect.
Early 2027, most likely. But you're reading this now, and the September room has ten seats.