Navigate Your Startup Journey: Faster, easier, together

What could you achieve with seasoned founders for support & guidance?

You're a visionary founder with big dreams, but the startup path is challenging. Time is scarce, unknowns are many, and the stakes are high. Our founder mastermind is your catalyst for growth, providing the support and guidance you need to navigate these challenges successfully.

* Your Path to Confident Leadership

* Your Blueprint for Scalable Success

* Your Network of Trusted Peers

You Don't Have to Do This Alone...

Join an exclusive group of 6-8 ambitious founders who are:

* Overcoming isolation in leadership

* Making critical decisions with clarity

* Accelerating business growth

* Balancing personal and professional success

Starting a business is exhilarating, but turning that initial spark into a thriving company can be daunting, especially when you're not in your early 20s anymore. You have more experience now, but also more at stake.


You have obligations. People who are counting on you. Time isn't infinite, and there's an overwhelming amount of information out there, often conflicting and confusing.


That's where our Founder Mastermind comes in. We've designed this program for experienced professionals like you who want to leverage their expertise but may feel they lack the specific knowledge and support to achieve their startup ambitions.


Our mastermind provides the actionable insights and hands-on support you need to:


  • Overcome early-stage challenges
  • Unblock your progress
  • Achieve real traction


Focus on building your business instead of scrambling up the learning curve. Join us and turn your experience into your greatest asset.

Ready to accelerate your startup journey? Schedule a chat now to learn how our mastermind can transform your approach to building your business.

“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn, rather than teaching them.” - Sir John Whitmore

Unlock Your Startup's Potential with:

Expert

Guidance

Get hands-on support and strategic insights from a 20+ year startup veteran with $80M+ in exits

Proven Tools & Resources

Access step-by-step guides, scripts, and cheat sheets to execute quickly using industry best practices

Powerful Peer Network

Tap into a supportive community of fellow founders for feedback, accountability, and collaborative problem-solving

Ready to accelerate your startup journey? Schedule a chat to learn how our mastermind can transform your business.

Empower Your Founder Journey:

  • Overcome critical challenges with confidence
  • Avoid common costly mistakes
  • Prioritize high-impact tasks for maximum growth
  • Optimize For Product/Market Fit
  • Create effective, low-cost go-to-market strategies
  • Set and achieve meaningful milestones

Don't let another day pass without the support you need. Book a call now to explore how our mastermind can elevate your startup.

Accelerate your growth with support, community, expertise & coaching to help you confidently grow your $0mm-$30mm startup

Is This Your Path to Startup Success?

This program is tailor-made for founders who:

  • Want to accelerate their learning curve and avoid costly mistakes
  • Need help creating an effective go-to-market strategy
  • Are driven to succeed sooner rather than later
  • Are working with limited capital and need to maximize every dollar
  • Would benefit from an experienced founder's insights and feedback

If this sounds like you, don't wait. Schedule a chat today to see how our mastermind can propel your startup forward.

Meet Your Coach / Advisor

I’ve been on all sides of the startup ecosystem, so I know how difficult it is to start, fund, and scale a company. I’ve been a founder, an investor, and an operations gun-for-hire for early stage companies.


I was lamenting to a friend awhile back about the things that I wish I’d had when I first got started. That list included:


  • An experienced guide that could help me avoid “rookie mistakes”
  • A confidante/advisor that could operate in the shadows
  • Any sort of roadmap on how to become investable
  • Access to a warm network of investors and to the way investors think
  • Someone to help me be focused on execution and accountable to my timeline
  • A mentor who’d help accelerate my learning curve
  • Someone who could help me become an effective CEO on my timeline


After my own startup successes, I could start another company or I could help dozens succeed building their companies. It’s a simple choice. I coach because I love working with founders and contributing to their success.

Tony Clemendor

Founder/CEO Coach

Founder - Founders Forge

Creator - FORGE framework


I've Coached, Mentored, and Advised Startups Through World Class Accelerators, including:

Real Results Through Practical Guidance

At Startup Optimizer, the focus is on what truly matters: being able to identify and execute the high impact tactics and strategies to get customers, grow revenues, and build the company you desire, while avoiding the common missteps that can cost you time, money, and energy. The Year-Long membership includes:

  • Three Monthly Live Interactive Clinics: The clinics are where Tony works with each of the group members to address their specific challenges and questions, and to help them strategize and execute effectively. Your membership includes a full year's access to the clinics!
  • Comprehensive Coaching Modules and Resources: Access to a library of step-by-step tactical videos, worksheets, and resources designed to give members everything they need to execute quickly and confidently.
  • Community Support: Join a network of like-minded founders. Share experiences, exchange ideas, and grow together.

What Investors & Founders Say...

Couldn’t have gotten the company to a place where we could be acquired without Tony!


Working with Tony was one of the critical catalysts to saving my business. I’d recommend him to any early stage CEO or executive team looking for strategic or operational help.

Imo Udom

Founder/CEO

Finally, a curriculum for startup founders that focuses on the tough issues of actually building a business, not building a pitch.


It would make life so much better if the CEOs who come to me for funding had already been through Tony Clemendor’s FORGE system.

Ron Weissman

Startup Investor

The program helped us correct our messaging, target persona, and offering within our lead generation campaign.


Tony's experience and different angles or tools to solve problems has been extremely helpful and has kept us moving in the right direction for growth.

Ray McKenzie

Founder/CEO

As both a founder of a start-up, and Managing Partner of a venture capital firm for many years, I see Tony’s coaching as a substantial and unrivaled competitive advantage for both myself and my investee companies.

Irfhan Rawji

Managing Partner, Relay Ventures

I think the details on holding customer discovery calls were invaluable.


We're not only using the knowledge from this program to improve our sales tactics, but also leveraging the program itself to get into accelerators.

Ryan Elliott

Founder/CEO

Tony's analysis and guidance has saved me time and costs as I build my startup.


The weekly clinics help to improve my building of a startup into a big business and gain feedback from others I respect.

Dave Smith

Founder/CEO

More Program Member Feedback...

  • "We have applied the tactics. The program has helped our sales approach and targeting approach."
  • “The program specifically helped us correct our messaging, target persona, and offering within our lead generation campaign”
  • “Direct specific and actionable feedback during the meeting”
  • “This is an excellent GTM program with weekly check ins to ensure success”
  • "Tony has a unique way to approach the challenges startup founders are facing."
  • "I think the details on holding customer discovery calls were invaluable. Before, I would do a discovery call and partial sales pitch in one and, while it went well, it was also pretty shaky. The last calls I've done after hearing that lecture were dramatically different."

Your Path to Startup Success

  • Proven Expertise: Leverage insights from a founder who's been there, done that, and succeeded
  • Holistic Approach: Balance business growth with personal well-being and financial savvy
  • Affordable Excellence: Get high-value mentorship without breaking the bank
  • Personalized Support: Benefit from tailored advice in a small group setting

Message from Tony:

Why I created this and for Who...

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by.


I've been coaching of high growth startups since 2018. In the 20 years before that I was growing companies and advising early stage founders. Altogether, I've worked, in some capacity, with over 2,000 founders. I've taught a lot and I've learned even more.


When I launched my first startup, it was HARD.


  • I didn't know what I didn't know
  • I didn't have a team
  • I didn't have a lot capital (almost none)
  • I didn't have another source of income


And at the time there:


  • Was no internet
  • Were only around 400 VC firms
  • Were not a ton of angels
  • Were no accelerators
  • Were no real startup communities


It took me 3 years to hit $1mm in revenue and sell that first business. I knew I could do better.


So I spent the next 20 years launching and running startups and studying the differences between the successes and the failures.


It came together in the startup that we (4 co-founders) bootstrapped to $80mm before being acquired.


With the post-sale freedom, instead of launching another company, I started sharing what I'd learned with other founders. And I discovered my real passion.


Helping people start businesses they can be proud of, but without all of the complicated jargon, the constant sense of overwhelm, the sense of isolation, that feeling that you are inadequate compared to every other founder out there, worrying about your finances, not being sure when you are chasing something that will never work.


In other words, I wanted to help founders thrive without all of the things that stressed me in my first startup.


I started with 1:1 coaching, which is amazing. I get to feel like part of several founding teams instead of just one. I share in each of their successes.


But in my pro-bono advisory, I was still seeing a need to help founders on a wider scale. And accerator relationships are often shorter term and less involved.


So I created the Group Coaching program, which is:


  • Focused on breaking that initial startup inertia
  • Designed to provide a community and peer group of founders
  • Allow me to work with many founders, while still giving individual support and guidance
  • Priced to be accessible for pre-revenue companies
  • Created to provide a structured approach to design your Go-to-Market plan and foundation for Product/Market fit
  • Based on your timing, not a cohort's


If you are a new or former entrepreneur and/or business owner who is ready to build or grow your startup. You know a lot, but not everything. You don’t have time to go through countless pieces of info and you may not want to spend the cost of solely individual coaching.


The program's main value comes from the clinics where we will work on your specific challenges, strategies, and execution.


But as a part of the group you will also get access to a wide variety of tools, resources, and my personal network, to give your business every possible advantage and to help you move faster.


The moment you come on board, I will be committed to your success.


If it makes sense for you to join us, I'd be privileged and thrilled to be part of your success story.


Schedule a call. Let's learn more about each other.

Just click the button on the right to book a call and find out why this program could be one of your best decisions as a founder.

Take the First Step Towards Startup Success

Your entrepreneurial dreams are within reach. Schedule a no-obligation chat with Tony today and discover how our mastermind can be the game-changer your startup needs.

  • Overcome uncertainty and self-doubt
  • Gain clarity on your path forward
  • Access a supportive community of like-minded founders

Don't let another day pass without the guidance you deserve. Book your call now and take control of your startup's future.


Book a call now and take the first step towards building a successful, lasting venture. Build a strong strategic foundation, understand how to acquire customers, and execute effectively with less stress, more focus, and more confidence.



Stay Connected

Follow Tony on LinkedIn for tips and insights that may help you blaze past barriers and move closer to your ultimate financial and lifestyle goals.

Tony's LinkedIn Profile

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