01
Operational
Excellence
Improve every decision you make by integrating the experiences of your peers. Solve problems faster and achieve better operational results.
Connect, collaborate, and conquer business challenges together!
A COMMUNITY EXCLUSIVELY FOR VENTURE-
SCALE FOUNDERS
Where elite founders spend the most impactful hour of their week
FounderNexus connects you with other talented, experienced Founders in your area and around the world. Intended for ALL Founders, regardless of role. We help you build your team, get immediate advice on current challenges, and learn from other successful entrepreneurs.
This community is for established Founders looking to expand their business, as well as experienced Founders looking to start something new.
Our promise: TRIPLE your odds of success
I can say with confidence that I get far more value from FounderNexus than the cost of the membership, and I'm not even taking full advantage! This community is going to be an important part of my journey as I continue building and growing my company.
Steve Tout
founder, Identient
I really loved how welcoming the vibe felt from the moment I arrived.
Katrina Romatowski
founder, reSpace
It was awesome
Edan Shahar
founder, Wild Zebra
The event was great! Highlight: Encouragement of diverse viewpoints and good founder mix
Darian Parrish
founder, PwrOn
I think the breakout sessions are a loose but useful way to get people talking about challenges and resolutions.
Mark Fiebig
founder, Payscore
I was initially hesitant to join yet another group as there is no shortage of people claiming to help entrepreneurs, but Court Lorenzini and FounderNexus are the real deal. Any serious founder will benefit immensely from joining FounderNexus.
Jasper Kuria
co-founder, ConversionMagic
Great event, I learned a lot! Looking forward to next one
Shama Keskar
founder, Mudita Studios
FounderNexus fills a gap for entrepreneurs by complementing traditional incubator and early investment programs with a high-quality peer founder network.
Bob Lach
founder, Lightbridge Solutions
I also felt a sense of real community for the first time as a founder. You're all onto something special here!
Elias DeFaria
co-founder, SDF Labs
This was a fast track to relevant experience/advice in a room where you hold nothing back.
Nicole Resch
Co-founder, Imperative
I have attended events nationwide and joined so-called “MasterMind” groups, but nothing comes close to the network and support I have experienced at FounderNexus.
Arthur Baranovskiy
co-founder, ARY Engineering
What is
FounderNexus?
FounderNexus is an engaged community of experienced Founders dedicated to helping each other excel throughout their Founder’s journey. We provide the opportunity and tools to connect, learn, and succeed together.
This community turns the entrepreneurial journey into a collective endeavor, where shared knowledge and experience become key drivers of individual and communal success.
Operational
02
Challenge
Validation
Being a founder is really hard! Find support and experience to make your own journey less challenging and lonely.
03
concept
Development
Improve your products, operations and management techniques by hearing the results of what others have tried.
04
Team
Building
Add founder-level talent to your existing team, or find the ideal co-founder for your next venture. FounderNexus makes sure you find the best possible fit.
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
AI for Founders & CEOs: The Five Levels of Thought Partnership (Remote only)
15
April
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Zoom
Sam Keller
"Incredible event that taught me a LOT about how to use AI to help me be a better leader."
"This was my favorite event! I loved the feeling of learning. It felt like being in a college class again."
After a successful first event in San Francisco, FounderNexus is partnering with Gen AI Academy again to bring back an exclusive AI workshop. This time virtually, so everybody can join from wherever they are.
This isn't another AI overview or hype session. It's a practical deep dive built around one core promise: you leave with tools and skills you'll use the very next day.
Led by Sam Keller, Co-Founder of Gen AI Academy, this session has already transformed how 300+ leaders think about and use AI — and now it's coming to you, wherever you are.
Before the workshop, you'll receive a personalized AI Self-Assessment so the session is calibrated to exactly where you are and where you want to go.
What You'll Walk Away With
In just three hours, you'll learn how to:
• Pressure-test your biggest decisions: use AI to challenge assumptions and stress-test strategy in real time
• Get dramatically better outputs: brief AI the way you'd brief your sharpest executive
• Build your AI Dream Team: specialized assistants working for you around the clock
• Automate with AI Agents: move beyond insights into real execution: research, workflows, and action
• Win in high-stakes moments: from strategic planning to major negotiations, have AI in your corner
What Leaders Are Saying
"Best one this year by far!! Immediately valuable."
"I was literally blown away - I will be utilizing the new tools immediately."
"This will take our company to the next level. We are already applying it."
"Now I have a much deeper understanding of how to use AI tools in my work."
About Gen AI Academy
Gen AI Academy has an origin story unlike most: in 2023, founder Sam Keller and his 12-year-old son Kaz sat down to explore the promise and pitfalls of ChatGPT. That father-son experiment quickly grew into something much bigger, as hundreds of leaders joined their workshops hungry to make sense of this powerful new technology.
What Sam kept hearing was the same thing: leaders didn't just want technical how-tos. They needed the mindsets, skills, tools, and habits to weave AI into strategy, culture, and daily work. Gen AI Academy was built to answer exactly that need. Today they've trained 1,000+ professionals, including 300+ Founders & CEOs, delivering hands-on training, custom-built AI tools, and governance frameworks that make adoption powerful and responsible.
Featured in Forbes. genaiacademy.ai
Spots are limited. Reserve yours now and show up ready to lead differently.
Innovator's Edge
Sam Keller is Founder and President of Gen AI Academy, where he works directly with CEOs and executive teams to turn AI into a competitive advantage, while helping their broader organizations adopt AI in practical, high-impact ways. Rather than treating AI merely as a productivity tool, he helps leaders use it as a strategic thought partner – sharpening decision-making, accelerating execution, and increasing leadership leverage. He has trained 350+ CEOs and dozens of executive teams to integrate advanced AI capabilities into how they think, plan, and operate.
Before launching Gen AI Academy in 2023, Sam spent more than two decades building and scaling venture-backed companies. He held senior leadership roles at five startups and, at Roofstock, led cross-disciplinary teams building machine-learning and data analytics capabilities during the company’s rapid scale to unicorn status.
Sam is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University. He completed UC Berkeley’s Executive Program on AI for Business Strategy and Execution. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNBC, and The Today Show.
upgrade your approach with our community
Experience transformative knowledge exchange and problem-solving through our curated group discussions. We use proprietary algorithms to ensure you're matched with the perfect peers for maximum insight and impact.
Members only
expert event
Venture Insights with Elevate Capital
01
May
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Zoom
Benjamin Nahir
This is your chance to sit down with an investor who brings a scientist's precision and a builder's empathy to every deal he evaluates.
Ben Nahir is a Partner at Elevate Capital, a venture fund backing early-stage founders building at the application layer of AI — with a particular focus on industries where regulation and compliance create real competitive moats, including healthcare, legal, industrial automation, security, and finance. Ben oversees investments across Elevate's expanding funds and works hands-on to help scale early-stage companies into thriving, sustainable businesses.
What Elevate Capital looks for:
- Stage: Primarily Seed, but will evaluate opportunities from Pre-Seed to Series A
- Check size:
- Pre-Seed: $500K
- Seed: $1–1.5M
- Series A: $2–3M
Investment thesis: Application layer AI in verticals with a regulatory and/or compliance component — with a broad commitment to supporting diversity at the founding and leadership levels.
Before Elevate, Ben spent over a decade as a cornerstone of Oregon's startup community through TiE Oregon Angels and TiE Global Angels, providing strategic guidance and capital insights to early-stage entrepreneurs. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for OTRADI and the Oregon Biosciences Incubator. A neuroscientist-turned-investor, Ben brings a rare data-driven lens to identifying and backing breakout companies — and is widely known for his collaborative, mentor-first approach within the ecosystem.
He holds a BS in Mathematical Biology from Harvey Mudd, an MBA from Portland State University, and a Doctorate in Neuroscience from the University of Florida.
This is a members-only session. Come with your questions about AI investing, how compliance-heavy industries create defensible moats, or whether your company fits Elevate's thesis.
expert event
Why Your Funnel Is Leaking
04
May
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Zoom
Lara McKeithan
Every seed-stage business that's getting traffic is losing out on valuable customers due to a few key errors. When you're wearing seventeen hats, those leaks are easy to miss. Sometimes you just need a fresh set of eyes and that "oh, duh!" moment. In this session we'll come ready with four diagnostic questions (Each founder comes ready to answer four questions: Where does your traffic come from? What does a visitor see first when they land? What are you asking them to do? And what percentage actually do it?) and walk through funnel best practices to help each founder pinpoint what's broken and walk away with tangible, specific fixes to improve conversion rates.
Key Sub-Topics:
- Conversion rate optimization
- ICP messaging
- Website optimization
- Traffic sources and channel fit
- Call to action strategy
- Trust and social proof
- Funnel analytics and tracking
event attendance and Club admission
We select club members based on a number of different experiential aspects. Everyone must complete the application process to qualify for participation.
Application process:
01
Submit your application.
We curate event attendance based on a standard application process. You must be selected to attend an event. Additional screening is required to join the organization.
02
Qualify for attendance.
All applications will be reviewed for proper community fit. Applicants with no prior experience as Founders, and service providers (lawyers, accountants, etc.) will be deferred to a future date.
03
Receive invitation.
You will receive an invitation to attend an event once your application has been reviewed. Event attendance does not guarantee future club admission.
Candidate requirements:
01
1+ startup as a Founder
Co-Founded at least 1 company
02
3+ years as a founder
Prior experience as a venture-scale founder
03
Successfully raised outside capital
Prior experience raising capital from angels or VC
04
Building a venture-scale business
Business targeting over $100M ARR
Interested in starting a FounderNexus chapter in your area?
If you're an experienced venture-scale founder that's passionate about growing your local entrepreneurial community and likes being at the center of things, we'd love to connect. We've got everything you need to get a local chapter started.