Founder peer group in Australia for tech founders and CEOs
A founder peer group in Australia gives you a small, confidential room of founders at your stage to test decisions with. At Innovation Bay, founders are vetted and placed in forum groups of 8 to 10, and 50% of members say their group is their most valuable business support when making decisions.
Membership is by application and starts with a short, no-pressure conversation.
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What is a founder peer group?
A founder peer group is a small, closed group of founders or CEOs who meet regularly to talk through what they are dealing with and learn from each other's experience. It is sometimes called a CEO peer group or a founder forum.
Unlike a mentor or advisor, the group does not tell you what to do. Members share what happened when they faced the same call, which is often more useful. It works best when everyone is at a comparable stage and the room is confidential. It sits at the centre of our wider entrepreneur community.
How Innovation Bay forum groups work
Peer-driven knowledge: sharing experiences, not advice.
Apply and get matched
Founders are vetted and placed with 8 to 10 others at a comparable stage, so everyone in the room is facing similar decisions.
Meet behind closed doors
A confidential, peer-to-peer setting to share triumphs, challenges and failures openly.
Build on it all year
Your group sits inside a wider calendar of founder events, retreats like Expedition and introductions across 3,000+ members.
Peer groups matched to your stage
Canopy
For early-stage founders and CEOs. A closed-door, peer-to-peer setting to share triumphs, challenges and failures with founders building at the same pace.
Summit
For later-stage and growth-stage founders and CEOs. An invite-only community, launched in 2019, and a safe space for leaders of scaling companies.
Guided by founders
A Founder Advisory Board of founders and CEOs from companies including Hutly, HowToo, black.ai, Mentorloop and HIVERY shapes how the community runs.
Is a founder peer group right for you?
Peer groups work best for founders who recognise most of these.
- You make calls no one inside the company can help with. Board, co-founder, hiring and personal decisions that are hard to talk through internally.
- You want experience, not advice. You would rather hear what happened to someone who made the call than what they think you should do.
- You are ready to share openly. The group only works when everyone brings real problems, not highlights.
- You can commit to showing up. Trust builds over repeated meetings with the same people.
- You want founder wellbeing taken seriously. The community supports founders as people, not only their companies.
"As a founder who has directly benefited from this I can highly recommend it on all levels. It's very well run, and is a super respectful/humble/open format."
Iain McDonald, Founder, 8seats
Join a founder peer group
Join the founder community
Get matched into a forum group of 8 to 10 founders at your stage, plus the events calendar and member network. Membership starts from $5,000 a year and is by application.
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Founder peer groups: common questions
What is a founder peer group?
A founder peer group is a small, confidential group of founders or CEOs at a similar stage who meet regularly to share experiences and work through decisions together. It is also known as a CEO peer group or founder forum.
What is the difference between a peer group and a mentor?
A mentor gives advice from their own experience, usually one to one. A peer group brings together several founders who share what happened when they faced similar decisions, without telling each other what to do. Many founders find the mix of perspectives more useful.
How big are Innovation Bay forum groups?
Innovation Bay founders are vetted and placed in forum groups of 8 to 10 founders at a comparable stage. Fifty percent of members say their group is their most valuable business support when making decisions.
What is the difference between Canopy and Summit?
Canopy is Innovation Bay's founder community for early-stage founders and CEOs. Summit is an invite-only community for later-stage and growth-stage founders and CEOs, launched in 2019.
How much does it cost to join a founder peer group?
Innovation Bay membership starts from $5,000 a year and includes your peer group, the events calendar and the member network. You apply through the form on this page and start with a short conversation to check the fit.
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