A Circle is a monthly virtual small group session where you can confidentially share your struggles, swarm solutions, learn best practices, and grow your skills.

Sometimes people refer to this type of thing as an executive roundtable, peer advisory group, or mastermind.

CEOs often participate in this type of group since it is extremely valuable to problem-solve with peers and to have the emotional support and understanding of other startup founders as they tackle the rollercoaster that is a startup journey. It's about time the COOs come together for all those same reasons!

The headcount of your startup determines which Circle makes sense for you to join. If you have 5-25 people then you'll join the Seed Circle. If you have 25-100 you'll join Spark, 100-200 joins Scale, and if you have 200+ you'll join Summit.

All Circles require an application and interview so you can be paired within a group that we ensure has no one with a competitive or conflicting interest. It's important that you feel comfortable to be open and authentic, so we also have a no jerks policy!

Once you complete your application you'll receive an invitation to schedule your interview.

If you feel like there is a reason for you to join a different Circle than your current headcount dictates, you can explain that in your application.

Every Circle is a full year commitment, so your membership will renew annually.

Your Circle membership includes your Connections community membership ($444 value!), gets you $200 off your ticket to COO Camp, and includes other awesome perks. 

Most peer circles hide their fees and try to get you into a high-pressure sales situation to "help you help yourself." While we are big fans of helping you in every way, and we sincerely believe you'll grow in ways you can only imagine from joining a Circle, we don't vibe with hiding the info.

Challenge yourself to step up to the plate and invest in your growth (or sanity, haha). We let you know the fees front and center so you can determine when it's the right time for you!

2024-2025 Circle Rates

There is a one-time non-refundable $500 initiation fee to join a Circle. That is due once your application is approved as it holds your spot in your Circle. 

Every membership is a full year commitment, but you can choose to pay quarterly or annually. You save lots by paying annually! 

Seed Circle: $200 for the full year if paid at once, or $300/qtr if paid quarterly.

Spark Circle: $4000 for the full year if paid at once, or $1200/qtr if paid quarterly.

Scale Circle: $7000 for the full year if paid at once, or $2100/qtr if paid quarterly.

Summit Circle: $10k for the full year if paid at once, or $3k/qtr if paid quarterly.

For context, most other executive peer advisory groups split their fees into a few pieces so it's a little hard to track, but they generally charge about $1500 per month (that adds up to $18k/year) on top of their $2500-$3500 initiation fee. While participants consistently report they'd pay triple those fees for the value they get, that's way too steep for early to mid-stage startups to afford! And, even more importantly, most groups aren't dedicated to startups, which means the attendees are mostly companies who have been around for a long time offering a predictable service to a predictable market and growing maybe 2-5% per year. That's a totally different culture and mindset, let alone problem set, so most startup execs find that environment lacking in value and rather frustrating. 

Christie Kerner, the Startup COO Club founder, has been facilitating executive roundtables for over 10 years. As an ambitious company builder, she felt that culture mismatch frustration firsthand and became determined to create an experience that is startup relevant. She did just that, then went on to spend over 7 years running startup CEO roundtables. Her favorite role is COO, so she is now exclusively focused on bringing this important experience to those mission-critical startup COOs. That's you!

We open up new circles every season, so there is usually a chance to jump in every couple months. Simply apply and we'll be in touch with current deadlines.

During your interview you'll learn the available time slots of Circles for you to join, but they are often held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each Circle gets assigned a specific day and time that is fixed for the full year (ie: something like the first Thursday of every month from 10-12 PST).

You'll attend all Circles virtually, but make sure to save the date for each annual COO Camp! Getting to meet your Circle besties in person + meet the rest of the community is a *ton* of fun.

Simply fill out the form at the bottom of this page!

Once you complete the application, you'll be invited to schedule a short interview. At the interview we'll also answer any questions you have and go over the schedule options for the Circles available for you to join.

We generally give you an update within two weeks of the interview so you will know if you were approved pretty quickly.