Masterminds

Last October I attended my first ever mastermind with a few founders I had met while living in Medellin.

To be honest I didn’t really even know what a mastermind was. I just wanted an excuse to spend some time in Costa Rica and surround myself with other ambitious people.

It ended up being a remarkable experience.

So what is a mastermind? Per ChatGPT:

For 4 days, along the beautiful jungle-esque coast of Santa Teresa, the six of us lived together in this magnificent house and did just that.

The group was made up of founders from all different backgrounds and industries…

• Offshore talent

• Social media

• Agencies

• SaaS

• SEO

We collectively shared our stories, our goals in life, the current state of our companies, and what was keeping us up at night. Then we’d workshop solutions, share best practices, and make intros to help unlock opportunities for each other.

We also had a whole lot of fun. We surfed, did a private yoga session, shared incredible meals together, and rode ATVs through the torrential downpour.

It’s difficult to articulate the value of surrounding yourself with others who have solved similar problems to yours, or can introduce new ways of thinking about anything from monetization to hiring to scaling.

It wasn’t overly choreographed with a packed schedule or agenda either. You’d casually be sitting by the pool and find yourself discussing when to hire a Chief of Staff or the best software to use for cold outreach.

In preparation for this post, I asked our WhatsApp group for their biggest takeaways from the trip. Here’s a few of their responses…

• Knowing when to steal vs innovate when building new features.

• Simplifying the messaging and strategy around referral programs, which has already led to 4 new clients.

• Leveraging loss leaders and data effectively to scale quicker.

• The importance of surrounding yourself with others who are where you want to be.

I think the fact that our WhatsApp group is still so active nearly 8 months later is a testament to the quality of the experience and value created that week.

Or as Mike said it best in response to my question: “biggest takeaway for me is that we need to do more of these.”

Say no more fam — I’m happy to introduce the first ever Big Desk Energy Mastermind.

I want to bring that same caliber of experience to others within the BDE community (i.e. you).

I’ll be hosting 7 founders (or early startup employees) who are looking to collaborate with the best of the best, and disconnect in the jungle along the beaches of Costa Rica. In an absolutely stunning oceanfront villa no less…

Dates: Wednesday July 17th to Sunday July 21st
Location: Tamarindo, Costa Rica
Cost: $10,000

I’m not an accountant, but have been told this can be written off as a business expense 😉.

Other details…

• Everyone will have their own private room and bathroom

• Private chef and food are all included

• All activities are optional but included (surfing, yoga, spa, etc.)

• Transportation will be provided while in Tamarindo

• Cleaning services provided daily

The only thing not included are your flights to and from Tamarindo, but I will coordinate group transportation to and from the airport.

The deadline to apply is this Friday, May 24th. I’ll reach out to those selected within a week of the deadline so there is ample time to coordinate travel and other details.

Hope to see ya in the jungle ✌️.

If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe: mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/masterminds

Shoutout to Jackie DeVore for the Dune inspired reader submission. My job is not nearly badass enough to command a workspace like that.

Reply with your own AI generated office and I’ll feature it in an upcoming issue.

Turn on, tune in, drop out. Click on any of the tracks below to get in a groove — each selected from the full Big Desk Energy playlist.

Some of my favorite content I found on the internet this week…

• A software engineer rebuilt Reddit into a Microsoft Outlook interface so you can pretend to be productive while at work (Twitter)

• Mario Gabriele interviewed one of my favorite economists, Tyler Cowen, in a great short read (The Generalist)

• I’m a huge fan of Scott Galloway’s work and his most recent post on earners vs owners is 💯 (No Mercy No Malice)

• I’m hosting a Mastermind and it’s going to kick ass… you should come (Big Desk Energy)

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Until next Tuesday 🕺🏽