Founder Dinner Series - F26
The series starts September 21. A few seats are still open, and applications are reviewed as they come in.
The Founder Dinner Series is hosted by
Builders Club and
Barn Ventures: home cooked meals, honest founder conversation, and a workshop built on the lived experience of this community, not theory. Every lesson in it comes from founders who did the thing, refined over three terms. Alumni have gone on to raise from YC,
Afore.vc, Garage VC, and others. Founders from
Datacurve.ai, Voltra,
Automax.ai, and many more have sat at this table.
You do not need to be qualified for this. Look at the first table two years ago. You can see where those founders ended up, but that is not what they looked like then. For most of them the willingness to show up was the first signal they could build something. Not sales. Not funding. Not the pitch.
We're deeply wired into YC and San Francisco, and this community has spent twenty years learning how to use SF to build from here: when to go, what to take, what to bring home. You can learn that on your own. It just takes years, and time is the most expensive thing a founder spends. This table is where that experience is already collected. If you're serious about building, this is for you.
The F26 speakers: Mazin Al-Ani (co-founder, Definite, YC S26), Gavin Yuan (founder, Aestus Industries), Ryan Gariepy (co-founder, Clearpath Robotics and OTTO Motors, acquired by Rockwell Automation), Marcelo Cortes (co-founder, Faire), Roger Kirkness (founder, Convictional), and Michelle McBane (Managing Director, StandUp Ventures).
Each week has two parts. Monday at noon is an optional one-hour workshop on Google Meet, where we work that week's theme: how to start, the demo, things that don't scale, getting paid, default dead or alive, how VC works. Tuesday at 5:30 is dinner at Builders Club with a founder who has lived it. The dinner is the commitment.
The F26 dates: workshops on Mondays September 21, September 28, October 19, October 26, November 16, and November 23 (12:00 PM, Google Meet). Dinners on Tuesdays September 22, September 29, October 20, October 27, November 17, and November 24 (5:30 to 7:00 PM, 165 King St W, Kitchener).
15 seats, full stop. The series is capped at 15 people this term, and the same 15 people are at the table all six weeks. That consistency is what makes the conversations honest, useful, and high-trust.
The commitment: you need to make most of the dinners. One miss is fine. If you already know you'll miss three or more, this isn't the term to apply. There will be more.
• Founders, builders, and operators actively working on something
• People who value candid conversation over polished stories
• Early is fine. Not sure you want to go the VC route is fine. You do not need to have it figured out.
No pitches, no panels, no performative networking
Workshops built on what founders here actually did, with something to take away every week
Honest founder conversations, including what didn't work
Space to build, ask questions, and get unstuck
If you want to build something meaningful, apply below. This is meant to educate you in a way a workshop series will not, from the experience of your peers.
Can you make most of the dinner dates?
*
Tuesdays: Sep 22, Sep 29, Oct 20, Oct 27, Nov 17, Nov 24. The group is capped at 15 and every seat matters at every dinner.
What are you hoping to get from this dinner series?
*
What are you working on?
*
Are you enrolled in an accelerator program?
*
Do you plan on applying to YC?
*
What uni or college program are you in or completed?
*
Is there anything else you would like to share?