[jochemg]

Hello HN,

This is a community that actually started as a hobby back in 2018. I was working on a blockchain startup, and found it difficult to meet like-minded people. To solve this, I started hosting offline meetups for startup founders.

Since last year, we moved everything online and I’ve made it my goal to connect as many entrepreneurs as possible. The reason: I find that there’s so much value in accountability and sharing experiences. To this end, I’ve created a member database (WordPress + some custom development), memberships (through Stripe), and Slack community.

We currently provide a variety of tools/services such as mentors, startup deals, weekly Q&As with experts, feedback sessions, mastermind groups, and more. The community consists of about 45 people from the Netherlands, UK, Romania, Czech Republic, etc.

Let me know what you think - I appreciate any questions or feedback!

[Oras]

Hi, I am somehow in your target audience. I am launching a product soon and can see the value of having a small support group.

I have some questions:

- How do you form these small groups? like what is the ratio of first time founders vs seasonal founders?

- I haven't joined any paid membership group before so I would like to see more comments regarding the pricing. Is that in the low/med/high range?

- In your Mastermind Member features, you have "Weekly check-in to hold you accountable for your business goals" are these check-ins automated or there is someone actually doing it?

- Same membership, you have "New motivation, ideas, and growth" what does that mean?

[jochemg]

Hey Oras. Thanks for the questions, I'll answer them one-by-one. (and if you want to ask me a question privately, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter; https://twitter.com/jochemgerritsen).

- How do you form these small groups? like what is the ratio of first time founders vs seasonal founders? It depends on the group. We create groups with people who are more or less in the same stage of founding a business — that way, they're struggling with similar questions and can help each other well.

- I haven't joined any paid membership group before so I would like to see more comments regarding the pricing. Is that in the low/med/high range? I guess I would be a bit biased answering this, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Our non-mastermind membership is in the low range (€30/m) — other similar communities often ask a bit more. The mastermind model (€75/month) is low to mid-range. There are mastermind groups (especially in the US) that ask thousands of dollars per year. But also, there are smaller groups that ask anywhere between €50-€100 per month.

- In your Mastermind Member features, you have "Weekly check-in to hold you accountable for your business goals" are these check-ins automated or there is someone actually doing it? There is someone actually doing this, and sending you a message through our Slack server.

- Same membership, you have "New motivation, ideas, and growth" what does that mean? These 3 things were most often mentioned by members of our mastermind groups. Specifically, that means that: 1) You get motivated by fellow members to work 'on' your business instead of 'in'. 2) If you're a solo founder (or even if you have a co-founder) you're often stuck in a bit of tunnel vision. So by sharing your situation with fellow founders, you get new ideas to tackle these challenges that you would otherwise not get. 3) Due to each person holding each other accountable, and giving each other new ideas and feedback, you grow faster both in terms of your business/product and on a personal level.