Gildre · New York City, NY
The most useful thing that will happen to your company this year is a dinner in New York.
Gildre is a private founder membership for New York’s active builders. Monthly curated dinners. Weekly 1:1 introductions. A community where everyone was chosen.
Applications reviewed weekly · Limited spots per chapter
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 fewer, better conversations.
The dinner is the visible part. What actually changes is who calls you on a Tuesday when something goes sideways.
They move faster than the city.
In New York, everyone is busy. Gildre members are actually shipping, closing, and navigating the hard parts in real time. The conversations match the pace — and then some.
They give before they ask.
The community runs on reciprocity. Every member comes in ready to contribute introductions, candid feedback, and operator knowledge. That standard is what separates a Gildre dinner from every other NYC event you've been invited to.
Every industry. One standard.
Fintech, consumer, media, healthcare, SaaS, creator economy. Gildre NYC 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.
They've already said no to the wrong rooms.
Most members tried the open meetups, the accelerator cohorts, the casual networking dinners. Gildre is what they found after they realized those rooms weren't built for what they're actually doing.
Your Future Peers
The room you’ve been trying
to get into.
Gildre members are hand-selected founders, operators, and builders who are active, giving, and at your level. Not LinkedIn connections. Actual peers.
Aytekin Tank
Founder & CEO · Jotform
Aytekin bootstrapped Jotform to over 20 million users without ever raising venture capital — proving that a disciplined, founder-controlled approach can compete with, and outlast, companies with ten times the funding. His perspective on building a durable business without dependency is one of the most valuable in the Gildre community.
Read his story →
Chris Tsakalakis
CEO · StubHub
Aytekin Tank
Founder & CEO · Jotform
Sharon Gai
Keynote Speaker · Alibaba / AI
Frances Pratt
Author & Advisor · More Sales Less Marketing
Monthly Founder Dinner
New York City, NY
In-Person Events · New York City, NY
More than dinners. A full calendar built around founders.
Gildre NYC 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 New York 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 startups and ecosystem organizations across New York 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 behind Gildre New York City.
Michael J. Frank
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Gildre · NYC Chapter Lead
Michael is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Gildre, where he has built a global community of 250+ founders and innovators spanning AI, machine learning, and high-growth sectors. A non-linear strategist whose career spans startup founding, board leadership, mentorship, and arbitration, he has guided companies through capital raises, pivotal scaling decisions, and the hard conversations that define a founder's trajectory. He has mentored MBA students at Zicklin School of Business and engaged at Columbia Business School, bringing institutional-grade thinking to early-stage operators. Michael leads Gildre New York with the conviction that the right room, built intentionally, is one of the highest-leverage moves a founder can make.
LinkedIn →
Darshita Raval
Founder, MindHappy · NYC Chapter Lead, Gildre
Darshita is the founder of MindHappy, a creative wellness platform making mindfulness accessible through hands-on, screen-free experiences built from her own discovery that making things is one of the most powerful ways to reset. She came to the U.S. at 15 and built her foundation in operations and supply chain at Amazon and Boeing before turning to entrepreneurship full-time. Featured in Forbes for her work on accessible wellness, she brings a builder's grounded perspective and a people-first approach to the Gildre New York community.
LinkedIn →NYC FAQ
Questions about Gildre New York.
How are 1:1 founder introductions curated in New York City?+
Every week, Gildre's team reviews your profile, stage, and goals to match you with a New York founder or operator with directly relevant experience. These are warm, intentional introductions, not algorithm-generated requests in a crowded platform.
Where are NYC founder dinners and events held?+
Gildre NYC hosts monthly founder dinners and curated events throughout the city. Venues rotate across Manhattan and Brooklyn so no matter where you're based in the metro area, you're in range.
What types of founders join Gildre NYC?+
Gildre NYC welcomes founders across every industry — SaaS, consumer, healthcare, creator economy, hardware, services, and beyond. What members share is not a sector. It's a stage of seriousness: actively building, accountable to peers, and ready to give as much as they get. Members typically range between the Build (<$500K) and Growth ($5M+ ARR) stages.
How is Gildre different from NYC's existing startup communities?+
NYC has no shortage of founder events. Gildre is the curated, private layer: selected members, intentional 1:1 introductions, and small-group dinners where every person in the room was chosen deliberately. No open applications. No panel speaker pitches.
Can I attend a NYC event before becoming a member?+
Occasionally Gildre opens select NYC events to prospective members by invitation. Apply and mention your interest in a New York preview dinner. We regularly prioritize local applicants so you can experience the community before committing.
New York City, NY
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.
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