The next program will be run in summer of 2025 in Finland, June 11-15 on the private island Fagerholm.

This is a different type of founder bootcmap and we are choosing to run it in an environment that is distinct from the usual silicon valley outposts. We also want participants to be far enough away from their normal location that they fully immerse themselves into the program. What better than a remote island?

Note that our Venture sponsors will assist with optional business meetings in London prior to the bootcamp to help founders traveling from the US get the most from their visit.

Food, lodging and local transportation from Helsinki airport are provided. Accommodations are comfortable, but not luxurious. Food is excellent and discussions are superb!

Attendees are responsible for their own travel to and from Helsinki airport.

Fourthbox.org is run on a break-even basis as a not-for-profit foundation. All attendees are responsible for their travel to and from Helsinki airport. For attendees nominated by Venture partner sponsors, there is no additional charge. For other attendees there is a nominal charge to help offset the costs of food and lodging.

We focus on the discussions CEOs can’t have elsewhere. Not with their management team or event heir board. We provide practical guidance without judgment.
Topics will be determined based on the interest of the participants, but typically focuses on a wide range of problems including founder dynamics, managing performance, finding product/market fit, hiring talent, pricing, competition, scaling, fundraising, M&A and more.

The attendees include CEOs and founders of venture-backed startup companies from around the world. Attendees come from a range of companies and backgrounds. There will be attendees from B2B companies, B2C companies, AI companies and many other diverse acronyms. Companies will range in size from sub $1m in ARR to $50m.

Participants are founders or CEOs of venture-backed startups. They must be willing to share and learn from others. This is a hands-on active offsite, where everyone is expected to participate and lead discussions.

Founder / CEOs are typically nominated by a sponsoring VC firm or by advisors and mentors to the program. You can also use the Contact form to self-nominate.

Participants must be from companies that have at least $1m in external funding and have a product or service that is generating revenue.

The sponsoring VCs include Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures, Lifeline and Scale Venture Partners. These sponsors will nominate founder/CEOs and have input into the design of the program. However, the bootcamp itself is private. No information from the sessions is provided back to the sponsors.

The mentors behind FourthBox.org met at MySQL where they built the business to $100m in ARR and sold it for $1 billion in the largest M&A transaction of that year. Each of the mentors has different areas of expertise and has had multiple exits. We are also inviting special guest mentors.

• Marten Mickos, former CEO HackerOne, MySQL

• Clint Smith, Chief Legal Counsel Discord, former General Counsel MySQL

• Zack Urlocker, COO Crescendo.ai, former CEO Gatsby, COO Duo Security, COO Zendesk, EVP Products MySQL

We’ve learned a lot and earned a lot in our careers and we realize that the most impact we’ve had is in developing new executives. So we have created a program that provides opportunities for personal and professional development for a diverse set of founders from around the world .
For all our accomplishments and past sins, this seems like a good way to pay things forward.

That’s more of a statement than a question, but it’s a fair observation. We seek to promote diversity among the attendees and also have two great guest mentors Kelly Battles and Anna Binder, who have deep expertise in organizational development and finance respectively.

The Fourth Box Club is a name given to the management team at MySQL where we worked together. But as to its exact meaning, you’ll need to attend in person to learn that.