Phoenix Forum, Founding Cohort • May 2026
Revenue doesn’t fix resentment.
But it helps to have people who know both.
A peer advisory room for sober entrepreneurs. Once a month. Ten vetted people. Your only job: be honest about what’s keeping you up at night.
“Ego just got a promotion.”
Book a 20-minute meeting →No pitch. We vet both ways. $249/month. Full refund at 6 months if the room hasn’t 2x’d your investment.
The room you’ve been looking for
You can’t say certain things in the boardroom. And you can’t say them in a meeting either.
You can’t tell your mastermind forum about the third DUI that almost cost you the company. You can’t bring up recovery at the investor table. And you can’t tell your home group that you just closed the deal of your life. You’re terrified about what comes next.
That’s the loneliness of being a sober entrepreneur. Not the obvious kind. The quiet kind. The kind where you’ve built something real and you can’t take it to either room you belong to.
Phoenix Forum is where both sides of you show up at the same time. Your recovery is identity. Your business is real. The people in this room get both, and their only goal is to help you.
“Unmanageability shows up in spreadsheets.”
Predictable. Committable. Nothing else like it.
Once a month
Second Friday. Same time. Every month. The cadence is the whole design: rare enough to protect, frequent enough to matter.
Vetted both ways
A 20-minute fit call before you’re in. We both decide. The room works because neither side took a shortcut into it.
2x or your money back
Stay six months. If the room hasn’t 2x’d your investment, by your own definition, we refund everything. No questions.
Six things that make this room different from anything else you’ve tried.
The Hot Seat (Hour 1)
Every member shares an update, then the room hears what’s keeping you up at night. You leave with a plan. Nine people are tracking your commitment.
The Founder’s Compass (Hour 2)
Each month, one member walks the room through their full life story (recovery, business, what’s next). A structured deep-dive. Total attention. No agenda but theirs.
Ten People. Not Thirty.
Intimate by design. The same faces every month. The intimacy is what makes honesty possible. Honesty is what makes the room work.
Mutual NDA + Total Confidentiality
Every member signs. No recordings. No note-takers. What’s said in the room stays in the room. This is the foundation everything else is built on.
Between-Meeting Community
A private space active between sessions. Deals get walked through. Decisions get sanity-checked. Nobody goes cold between months.
Recovery + Business. Same Room.
No code-switching. Your recovery identity doesn’t wait at the door. The tension of being founder and sober? This room holds both without blinking.
The 120 minutes
Each month, a different member walks the room through their entire life story.
This is the ritual that makes Phoenix Forum different from every other peer group, mastermind, or advisory board you’ve been in. No agenda, no slides, no formal presentation. Just one founder, fully seen, by nine people whose only job is to help them.
What’s keeping you up at night?
Every member checks in: what happened since last month, what they shipped, what broke. Then the room holds one question: what’s the thing you haven’t been able to solve?
The room digs in. You leave with a plan, not advice you ignore, but a specific commitment nine people are going to ask you about next month.
What it was like. What happened. What it’s like now.
One member per month. Their full story, in recovery and in business. Where they came from, what they built, what they’re navigating. The hard decisions they’re weighing. The questions only this room is built to hold.
Think of it as a fourth and fifth step. For your business and your life. In front of ten people who get it.
You walk out with three things every month: a sense of belonging with people who understand both sides of your life, practical strategies that move revenue, and what matters most: you sleep at night.
What founding members actually say.
“I was Googling solutions at midnight feeling like an idiot. Two weeks into Phoenix Forum, another member walked me through exactly what he does in his business. Took 20 minutes. That’s it. That’s the value.”
“The room didn’t give me a strategy. It gave me the accountability and the permission to stop playing small. I went from $15k MRR to well over $100k in under a year. The refund is the least interesting part.”
“For the first time I can talk about closing a deal and immediately pivot to what it means for my recovery. Nobody in this room is confused by that combination. That’s the whole thing.”
“I almost didn’t apply because I thought my revenue wasn’t high enough. I’m glad I did. The quality of the conversation is about recovery and honesty, not the number. I belonged here from the first meeting.”
Honest filter
Read this before you book the call.
This is for you if:
- ✓You’re a founder, co-founder, or owner-operator running a real business
- ✓Sobriety is identity, not experiment. You’re in it, not testing it
- ✓You have success-level problems and you’re done apologizing for them
- ✓You want to be pushed, not coddled. Honest feedback over polite advice
- ✓You can commit to 5 of the next 6 monthly meetings
- ✓You’re tired of editing yourself in every room you’re in
- ✓You know the business grows to the level of your honesty
This is not for you if:
- −You’re experimenting with sobriety. The room needs identity, not interest
- −You’re running a side hustle, not a real business
- −You want a weekly accountability group. This meets monthly, on purpose
- −You can’t protect five of the next six calendar dates
- −You expect to lurk. Ten seats means we need your voice
- −You’re looking for a traditional mastermind with speakers and worksheets
- −You want to keep recovery and business in separate rooms
YPO, EO, Vistage, Tiger 21 are great rooms. This is the room they can’t be.
Those groups are built for the general entrepreneurial population. Phoenix Forum is built specifically for founders in recovery. You don’t check your recovery at the door. It’s the prerequisite, the bond, and the competitive advantage.
| What matters to you | Phoenix Forum | YPO / EO / Vistage |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery is identity in the room | ✓ Required & celebrated | − Not the focus |
| Talk business AND recovery in the same hour | ✓ The whole point | − Code-switching required |
| Discuss past financial wreckage without judgment | ✓ Everyone’s been there | − Not the culture |
| Group small enough to actually know each other | ✓ 10 members max | − Often 20 to 50+ |
| Monthly cadence (actually committable) | ✓ Once a month | − Weekly or biweekly |
| Mutual NDA & zero recording policy | ✓ Always | − Varies |
| Full money-back guarantee | ✓ 6-month, 2x or refund | − No |
You don’t have to trust us yet.
Trust the math.
$249/month. Six-month commitment. Total: $1,494.
If by month six you haven’t gotten 2x that back into your business, by your own definition of what 2x means, email us. Full refund of everything you paid. No review process, no argument, no form.
Worst case: $0 out of pocket and six months of peer advisory with founders in recovery. Second worst: 100% of your money back in value, and we refund it anyway. The math only works for us when this room actually changes your business, which is exactly why we’re careful about who gets in.
One data point, not a promise: the best outcome so far was $15k MRR to $100k+ MRR in under a year. Results like that are never guaranteed. The refund is.
A conversation, not a sales pitch. We decide together.
This cohort closes April 30, or when the room fills. Whichever comes first.
Ten seats. Six taken. When the last fit call turns into a yes, we close regardless of the date. No exceptions, no waitlist bumps.
20 minutes. No pitch. We both decide.
A note from the founder
Why this room exists.
“I created Phoenix Forum because I was tired of feeling like I couldn’t talk about entrepreneurship in 12-step meetings, like my problems were too good. I’m extremely grateful for everything sobriety has brought me, but I need a place where I’m allowed to say I just closed a large deal and I’m excited. And in the same breath say I need to fire my best friend because the business is struggling and we’re drowning. Phoenix Forum is that place.”
Andrew Lassise, Founder
Common questions
Straight answers.
Do I need to hit a certain revenue level?
No revenue floor. An earlier version of this room required $1M+ annual revenue. This cohort doesn’t. If you’re running a real business and you’re in recovery, you’re eligible to apply. We vet by fit in the call, not by a number.
Do I need a certain number of years sober?
No time requirement. We look for someone whose recovery is stable enough to show up honestly in a business conversation. The fit call is how we both check that together. There’s no minimum anniversary date.
How exactly does the money-back guarantee work?
Stay in the room for six months. Attend at least five of six meetings. If by month six you haven’t gotten 2x the value of your $1,494 back into your business, by your own measure of what 2x means, email us. Full refund of everything you paid. No review, no argument, no form. Your worst outcome is $0 out of pocket.
What does the 20-minute fit call actually look like?
A conversation, not a sales pitch. We walk through who you are, what you’re building, and what you need from a peer group. You ask questions. We both figure out whether Phoenix Forum is the right room for you right now. If it’s not, we’ll say so directly and point you somewhere better.
Is everything confidential?
Yes. Every member signs a mutual NDA before joining the cohort. No recordings. No note-takers. What’s said in the room stays in the room. This is the foundation that makes honesty possible. Honesty is what makes the room worth anything.
How is Phoenix Forum different from YPO, EO, or Vistage?
Those are great rooms for the general entrepreneurial population. Phoenix Forum is built specifically for founders in recovery. We talk about the business challenges and the parts of your life that affect them. You don’t check your recovery at the door. It’s the shared bond that makes the room safe enough to actually be honest in.
What’s the commitment exactly?
Six months at $249/month, billed monthly. Minimum five of six meetings attended. The commitment exists because the room only works when the same ten people keep showing up for each other. Life happens. One missed meeting is fine. Two over six months means we have a direct conversation about fit. Six months is also the guarantee window.
Ready to apply?
One call. Twenty minutes. No pitch.
We figure out together if Phoenix Forum is the right room for you right now. If it’s not, we’ll tell you straight and point you somewhere better. The fit call is free. The seat is not guaranteed.
$249/month · 6-month commitment · Full refund guarantee · 4 seats remaining · Closes April 30