Learn how you can use a financial model to create confidence when presenting your startup to potential investors. Nail your presentation and close more checks.

If you have a startup idea or a growing company and you want to expand your network in Chicago, then join us for the in-person 'Founder Night Out' event. At this informal networking event, you can connect with other early-stage entrepreneurs, startup mentors, and advisors from the Founder Institute network. Socialize over drinks with potential co-founders, advisors, mentors and partners. Most of all, get away from the computer and have fun!

NachoNacho - The B2B SaaS & AI + Services Marketplace, Deel, Gunderson Dettmer, and GPT Trainer are hosting this exclusive Founder + Investor happy hour event alongside key high-profile brands and VC firms. This networking event will be exclusively for SaaS & AI Founders, C-Suites, investors, tech media, and tech leaders (partnership leaders are definitely welcome, too). This event will include sponsored drinks, but not food. Please grab a bite to eat before or after the event.

​Join Executive Mentor, Henri Schauffler in the September Gildre Innovation Roundtable Session: "Designing Your Repeatable Sales Engine: Discovering Why You're Not Closing At The Rate You Need".

​In his first roundtable event for 2025, these sessions will help members set benchmarks and hold each other accountable for goals while mastering fundamental sales elements.

Do you want to ask questions to startup investors about fundraising in a friendly, judgment-free environment? Are you looking to raise funding in the future, and want to learn what investors look for and how they evaluate potential investments? Then join us for this live, interactive Q&A event featuring Rich Maloy, Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures.

Learn how a great financial model can show you how much capital you should raise, and exactly when to raise it. Get better insights and make better decisions for your startup.

Join Executive Mentor, Diana Stepner in the August Gildre Innovation Roundtable Session: "Scaling with Purpose".

​In her fourth roundtable event for 2025, these sessions will help members set benchmarks and hold each other accountable for goals while mastering fundamental product elements.

The event will start by providing guidelines to create a compelling elevator pitch, and then attendees will have the opportunity to share their pitch with other entrepreneurs, advisors, and investors at virtual tables for instant feedback. Even if you don't want to share your pitch, you can still join to hear other startup ideas and witness how the experts review a pitch.

​Join us for an essential executive workshop that could save your startup. Poor cash flow management remains the #1 killer of startups—but it doesn't have to be yours.

​Featured Speaker: Logan Burchett, Founder of Forecastr
Logan brings deep expertise in financial modeling and cash flow optimization, having helped countless startups navigate their most challenging financial periods and emerge stronger.

We're excited to host Gildre's August Speed-Networking event! We want to make sure everyone has the chance to continue to connect with amazing individuals across the globe.

Forget the recycled LinkedIn fluff.

We're not holding anything back in this one. I’m sharing real growth strategies that are working right now to book hundreds of demos per month:

• How to send 100k cold emails/month and hit inbox

• How to manipulate LLMs like Grok with Generative Engine Optimization

• How to book 50+ demos using advanced relationship mapping

• How to poach your competitors affiliates at scale

Due to its unpredictable nature and constantly evolving best practices, teaching the art of entrepreneurship presents a great challenge for educators. Since 2009 the Founder Institute has empowered thousands of first-time founders to launch successful companies across 6 continents, learning many pertinent lessons about entrepreneurial education along the way. On this live and interactive event, Jonathan Greechan (Co-Founder & CEO of Founder Institute) will share some of the best practices the global accelerator uses to inspire and empower new entrepreneurs worldwide.

Propellant Ventures is pleased to provide an engaging virtual discussion to talk about innovation in the Renewable Energy industry. We will kick-off the event with a Breakout Room so attendees can get to know one another.

​Join us for an intimate and transformative session with Armando Vera Carvajal, who turned his immigrant experience into entrepreneurial triumph as CEO of Hangtight. In this exclusive Gildre event, Armando will share the mindset strategies and resilience frameworks that enabled him to navigate challenges, acquire competitor technology, and build a thriving social planning platform.

​Join Executive Mentor, Diana Stepner in the July Gildre Innovation Roundtable Session: "Product Leadership in High-Growth Environments".

​In her third roundtable event for 2025, these sessions will help members set benchmarks and hold each other accountable for goals while mastering fundamental product elements.

AI startups face high stakes when it comes to Responsible AI as decisions made early can't be undone. At this live online event, attendees will learn how to adopt robust responsible AI frameworks from day one to stay compliant and competitive. Fion Lee-Madan, Technical Co-Founder of Asenion, will share how early-stage founders can navigate AI governance, risk, and compliance. If you're building with AI and want to learn about responsibility from the ground up, don't miss this essential session.

Are you ready to witness innovation in action? Gildre invites you to our 2nd Startup Pitch Panel where entrepreneurs will showcase their groundbreaking ideas in a rapid-fire format.

​What to Expect:

• ​Inspiring Pitches & Investor Guidance: Experience a series of 5 minute pitches from four of your fellow Gildre members.

• ​Expert Panel: Our distinguished panel of judges will provide valuable feedback and insights.

• ​Networking Opportunities: Connect with like-minded individuals and industry experts.

• ​Interactive Q&A: Engage with the presenters and panelists in a lively Q&A session.

In this hands-on session, we'll demystify agentic workflows and show you how to use tools like MCP to automate parts of your business. You'll get behind-the-scenes looks at real systems in action—from how HeyVail manages calls to how CrowdTamers and Insight use AI-driven agents to run marketing.

When it comes to fundraising, there are three key stages. In this webinar, we'll go through each stage in detail and walk you through how to successfully execute each of them.

We're excited to host Gildre's August Speed-Networking event! We want to make sure everyone has the chance to continue to connect with amazing individuals across the globe.

Do you want to ask questions to startup investors about fundraising in a friendly, judgment-free environment? Are you looking to raise funding in the future, and want to learn what investors look for and how they evaluate potential investments? Then join us for this live, interactive Q&A event featuring Sonam Velani, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Streetlife Ventures.

Join us to see how to separate yourself apart from the rest beginning with your approach to preparation. We'll guide you through a proper timeline and a practical to-do throughout the process.

Financial models are not just for fundraising. Learn how a model can give you an in-depth understanding of your business and show you new opportunities to improve.

Finding the time to create good content and build a social media presence as a startup founder can be very challenging. AI tools can certainly help, but relying too heavily on them can result in bland content that doesn't connect with your customer. In this interactive online workshop, we will guide you through practical, step-by-step strategies to use AI tools to amplify your message, scale your marketing, and create content that matches your unique voice.

Join us for an intimate conversation with Alex Bean, who co-founded Divvy and scaled it to a remarkable $2.5 billion acquisition by BILL. In this exclusive Gildre workshop, Alex will share the raw, unfiltered story of building a fintech unicorn and what comes after achieving the "ultimate" entrepreneurial dream.

​Join Executive Mentor, Diana Stepner in the June Gildre Innovation Roundtable Session: "Achieving Product-Market Fit".

​In her second roundtable event for 2025, these sessions will help members set benchmarks and hold each other accountable for goals while mastering fundamental product elements.

Want to get better at managing your startup's finances? Join a live AMA with Robert Burnett, Director of Startup Banking at Grasshopper Bank, as he breaks down budgeting, cash flow, financial statements, and banking essentials. With experience as a fintech founder and in venture, legal, and fundraising roles, Robert offers tactical advice you can apply right away. Ask your questions live and walk away with practical tools to make smarter financial decisions.

We're excited to host Gildre's August Speed-Networking event! We want to make sure everyone has the chance to continue to connect with amazing individuals across the globe.

We're excited to host our Q2 in-person event for Gildre Chicago founders in 2025! This event is capped at 11 people so please only RSVP if you are able to attend.

​We'll be getting drinks/dinner at The Standard Bar & Grill (1332 N. Milwaukee) in Wicker Park then playing "Operation GRANIE" at Escape Artistry Escape Rooms located next door at 1342 N. Milwaukee 2nd Floor.