Gildre · Chicago, IL
Chicago builds companies on grit and execution. Gildre is where those builders find each other.
Gildre is a private founder membership for Chicago’s active builders. Monthly dinners. Weekly introductions made by hand. A room with standards.
250+
Active Members
$2.4B+
Member Valuations
Weekly
Curated Intros
15+
Cities Represented
Why founders join and stay
Most founder communities give you more noise.
Gildre gives you meaningful, curated conversations.
The dinner is the visible part. What actually changes is who you call on a Tuesday when something goes sideways.
They're actively building
Not planning to build. Building. Gildre members are shipping, closing, and navigating the hard stuff in real time. The conversations match.
They give before they ask
The community runs on reciprocity. Every member comes in ready to contribute. That standard is what separates a Gildre dinner from every other founder event you've sat through.
Every industry. One standard.
SaaS, consumer, healthcare, hardware, creator economy, services. Gildre Chicago has members building across all of it. The filter isn't your sector. It's whether you're serious enough to be useful to someone else.
Past the point of no return
Most members crossed a line where the company stopped being a project and became the thing. That changes how honest they are, how much they share, and how much they help.
Your Future Peers
The curated founder room designed to
unblock your growth.
Gildre members are hand-selected founders, operators, and builders who are active, giving, and at your level. Not LinkedIn connections. Actual peers.
Cody Graham
COO & Head of Product · SoGo
Cody is building SoGo, a personalized restaurant curation app that learns who you are, not just what’s nearby. He brought SoGo from concept to product in Chicago’s hyper-competitive restaurant market, and is one of the most thoughtful product operators in the Gildre community.
Read his story →
Jason Jacobsohn
Founder & Connector · Propellant Ventures
Brittany Canty
Founder · Inciteful App
Ivan Rahman
CEO & Founder · Avistar.ai
Lauren Basler
Founder · Conscious Ascent
Curated Dinners
Wicker Park, Chicago
In-Person Events · Chicago, IL
More than dinners. A full calendar built around founders.
Gildre Chicago events run the full range — from intimate curated dinners to escape rooms, co-hosted startup events, and seasonal BBQs. Every format is designed for one thing: getting the right people in the right room.
- ✓
Founder Dinners
Seated. Small. Every attendee selected. Twelve founders around a good table — no panels, no pitching. The conversations here don't happen anywhere else in Chicago because the room was built for them.
- ✓
Team Building Experiences
Escape rooms, off-sites, and challenges designed to build trust faster than a conference ever could. The best peer relationships start when you're solving something together.
- ✓
Co-Hosted Events with Other Startups
Gildre partners with top Chicago startups and ecosystem organizations to co-host events. Curated cross-pollination — access to complementary communities, not just ours.
- ✓
BBQs & Social Gatherings
Some of the best founder relationships start over good food. Gildre hosts seasonal social events where the agenda is just being around the right people.
From Gildre Members
What building inside Gildre
actually feels like.
Being in Gildre feels like having founder co-workers that actually get it. They've saved me hours of research just by sharing what's worked for them.
Caitlin Van Berkel
Founder · Silver Lining Career Coach
The structure at Gildre is impressive. It's truly a space where founders challenge each other and mentorship isn't abstract.
Christof Mannfeld
Founder · Solvee
I wanted to surround myself with others going through similar growth and challenges. Gildre gives me exactly that, a community where I can both give and gain exceptional value.
Elise Madrick
Founder · Cerené
Selection Criteria
Membership isn’t automatic. That’s what makes it worth having.
We review every application. Not to be difficult — because who’s in the room determines what the room is worth. If the bar drops, the conversations drop with it. The people already inside are the reason you want in.
Chapter Leads
Meet the team leading Gildre’s Chicago Chapter.
Brian Lee
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Gildre
Brian is a 2X exited entrepreneur who has spent the past decade working with bootstrapped and venture-backed companies. He launched his first company in 2015 and has since co-founded multiple 7-figure ARR startups. His most recent role was Head of Product at a global accelerator working with hundreds of Series A-Pre Seed founders across high-growth industries. He currently sits on two advisory boards and mentors for organizations like Founders Institute, Techstars and Watson Institute where he serves as their Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
LinkedIn →
Dan Hernandez
Co-Founder, HUPR · Chapter Lead, Gildre Chicago
Dan is a Chicago-based entrepreneur and creative operator building HUPR, a tech platform that helps basketball players discover pickup games, connect with local community, and grow the culture of pickup hoops. He brings a background in experiential marketing and digital solutions, working at the intersection of sport, culture, and technology to build brands that actually connect with people. As Creative Director at Cruz Capital, Dan works with founders and growth-stage companies to sharpen how they show up in the market. He brings that same builder's energy to Gildre Chicago, creating a high-trust peer environment where founders can be honest about the hard parts and get real, tactical support.
LinkedIn →Chicago FAQ
Questions about Gildre Chicago.
How are 1:1 founder introductions curated in Chicago?+
Every week, Gildre's team actively reviews your profile, stage, and goals to match you with a specific Chicago founder or operator who is solving a complementary problem or has directly relevant experience. These are warm, intentional introductions, not algorithm-generated requests you have to cold-follow up on.
Where are Chicago founder dinners and events held?+
We host monthly founder dinners and curated events throughout Chicago. Venues rotate across the city, so no matter where you're based in the metro area, you're in range.
What types of founders join Gildre's Chicago Chapter?+
Gildre Chicago welcomes founders across all industries, from consumer tech and creator economy to healthcare, logistics, and B2B software. The community is defined less by vertical and more by mindset: you are actively building, serious about peer accountability, and ready to give as much as you get. Members typically range between the Build (<$500K) and Growth ($5M+ ARR) stages.
How is Gildre different from 1871 or other Chicago startup communities?+
Gildre is a curated private membership, not an open coworking hub or events calendar. Every introduction, dinner, and roundtable is built around you specifically. 1871 is a great physical space; Gildre is the high-signal peer layer that operates inside and beyond it.
Can I attend a Chicago event before becoming a member?+
Occasionally Gildre opens select Chicago events to prospective members by invitation. The best path is to apply and mention your interest in a Chicago preview dinner. We regularly prioritize local applicants so you can experience the community firsthand before committing.
Chicago, IL
The next dinner already has a guest list. Apply to be on it.
Applications take less than five minutes. If you’re a fit, you’ll hear from us within a week. The founders you’ve been trying to get in the room with are already members.
© 2026 Gildre, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy · Back to Gildre.com