01 GTM
Potential customers.
Real buying personas sit at your table during the GTM block. Some conversations turn into design partners. Some turn into contracts. Either way you'll get real feedback from real customers.
Rise. For the most ambitious,
high-velocity companies.
Using the experience from 16 previous batches to create a more targeted version of Rise. Three blocks of working together, including one trip abroad. The customers, experts, and peers that help you get to your next inflection point.
No 01 · Who you'll meet
People who move the needle.
Customers, investors, experts, and peers — selected for the conversation you're trying to have, not the conference circuit.
02 Capital
Investors who add value.
Top-tier investors from leading multi-stage funds. Partners who are able to lead your next round and intro you to the right customers and senior hires.
03 Expertise
Experts on your problem.
Every expert reads your deck and your main challenges before they walk in. You'll get specific, opinionated answers from some of the best practitioners in each area.
04 Network
Peers with similar ambition levels.
Five other founders going through similar challenges right now. The kind of relationships that make the next decade of scaling easier.
No 02 · Format · Calendar
Three blocks. One trip abroad.
Then Circle.
Five touchpoints across roughly four months. Companies submit their main challenges before every block, tackled by experts and peers. Each new block opens with an implementation follow-up.
Block
Duration
Theme
Experts in the room
Pre-program
1:1 deep-dive
Mapping out your key challenges
Just you and us — setting the agenda for the blocks ahead.
Block 1 · Abroad
Four days
Capital, GTM, and best practices from some of the fastest-growing companies
Top-tier international VC partners and operators from fast-scaling companies. Previous trips have gone to San Francisco — including partners at leading US funds and leaders from frontier AI labs.
Block 2 · AMS
Two days
More and larger contracts, sharper product and pricing
Enterprise CxOs. Recent B2B founders 2–3 years ahead. Infrastructure and engineering leaders. Unicorn C-Suite and sales leaders.
Block 3 · AMS
Two days
Hiring that defines culture, efficient operations and scaling
Founders who have scaled abroad. Unicorn COO/CHROs. Recruiting and comp experts. Lawyers.
Circle
Every two months · post-Rise
Continuation
Same cohort, same experts available, accountable cadence.
No 03 · What we'll work on
The five conversations
that move companies.
Each one is a working block — preparation, an in-the-room session with the right experts, and an implementation follow-up at the next block.
GTM Tactics and ICP.
Enterprise & developer-led GTM operators · Successful founders 2–3 years ahead · Growth leaders at scaleups
Whatever your motion — enterprise sales, developer-led adoption, or product-led — the work is similar: sharper ICP, faster cycles, the path from current customers to the next ten and the next hundred. Pilots into multi-year contracts. Bottom-up traction into top-down deals. International expansion.
The next raise.
Top-tier VC partners
The next round isn't a longer version of the last one. Sharper narrative, the right funds, and a process that creates real competition rather than polite passes.
Product, defensibility, and pricing.
Product & pricing scaleup execs · Infrastructure and engineering leaders
Where the moat actually sits as your market shifts. Pricing that holds up as you scale, without margin collapse. Product discipline that survives enterprise security review.
Hiring who actually builds the company.
Scaling-stage operators · Dutch talent specialists
The first senior hires past the founders. Where the best Dutch talent really sits, and how to win them against a US or UK offer. The 30% ruling, equity packages, and selling the long arc.
The founding journey.
Experienced founders · Founder coaches
Co-founder dynamics as the company gets bigger. Vesting, leaver scenarios, and the conversations you don't want to have reactively. Sustainability over a decade, not just the next raise.
Process. Companies submit their main challenges before every block to be tackled by experts and peers. Each new block opens with an implementation follow-up.
Rise 3.0 · the cohort
Six companies at similar inflection points.
All building at a similar pace, in the same generation. The working group during the programme and the peer relationship most founders only develop years later.
Chatham House Throughout — roadmaps, pricing, and pipeline stay in the room.
Programme fee
€10,000
per company
Covers the full Rise programme, the trip abroad and all logistics, Techleap membership, and Circle continuation.
No 04 · Track record
16 batches. 151 companies.
First batch July 2020. Themed cohorts since (Health, Fintech, AI-native). Every cohort, every company, where they are now — on a separate page.
Cohorts
16
since 2020, including themed Health and Fintech cohorts
Companies
151
graduated through Rise
Years
6
first batch July 2020
No 05 · There's more
The community doesn't end here.
Three more to walk into.
Rise is one of four ways the community shows up. The others run on the same network — different commitments, different shapes.
Foundation membership Connect
The front door to the room.
Member directory, dinners, AMAs and WhatsApp. The everyday network you turn to first when something's broken or the next call is wrong.
Inside Connect Premium add-on Circles
Get tough love.
Eight founders. Same room. Quarter after quarter. Honest peer advisory on the problems you can't put on a deck.
Join a Circle International Cities
Take it abroad.
Twenty seats. London, New York, San Francisco. Curated investor + customer days, alumni dinners, the rooms you'd struggle to book alone.
See the trips