This Autumn we hosted our 8th cohort AI Founder Retreat in the French alps: another 10 super-smart founders, from all stages of growth - pre-seed and seed to scale-up and post-exited, and role - CEO, CTO, Product, AI Eng, etc.
Alexander Volz, Caitlin Cockerton (PhD, CPCC) and I take a lot of time and care to curate a cohort of cool people who we think will both benefit from the time and place we create for them, and gel with the other participants and contribute to their experience. (Yes we need more women applicants, we often struggle to get that balance in the cohort. Please see the link below and forward it to any founders you think would enjoy it!)
Everyone in the tech and AI world is completely absorbed in their daily dopamine streams, orchestrating multiple agents, following the weekly or sometimes daily industry news, and a pace of building that's so fast it's hard to down tools.
The first objection we typically get from founders when we invite them is "I don't have the time"; the most common piece of feedback by the end is "this was the best use of time I didn't realise I needed".
When people leave their mobile phones and laptops in their rooms, and spend 3-4 days in nature - hiking, swimming, talking, enjoying the amazing food and hospitality of our partners AliKats Mountain Holidays - something really magical starts to happen, usually during the 2nd day. The conversations and connections deepen, people listen (and really listen) to their fellow participants, and when we return to conversations of AI and work later on, it's grounded in a more essential and authentic human level.
By the time people leave, they have come back to their world of work with something important for them: a decision about fundraising (or not); a key hiring plan; a sharpened business or product strategy. And always: new connections, new ideas, new friendships.
If that sort of thing sounds like your sort of thing, you can register interest in future retreats here.