Clarity Intensive for Founders

For founders clear on what they're building, and losing time to the friction on the way there.

Every day feels urgent, and you can't say what you should actually be working on today.
Decisions that need alignment, with your cofounder, your team, or your board, take three times as long as they should.
Your team is picking up signals you didn't mean to send.
Your best people are the first ones getting nervous, and you can feel it in the questions they're asking.
You started this with something to prove, and half your bandwidth is going to things that aren't the work.
You started this with someone you respect, and lately you can feel resentment where trust used to be.

Two days in the wilderness. 24 hours alone. A decision compass that holds through the next round, the next hire, and the next hard conversation.

You go to a private site in West Marin. Phone, watch, laptop, Slack, board deck. None of it comes with you. Neither do meetings or anyone else's opinions.

You get a structured journal, gear, food, and a field team on site. You don't get advice, distractions, or a way to hide behind the work.

What you get instead is enough time and enough silence to hear what you come to.

Leather journal open on a weathered wood table with a topographic map, brass pen, ceramic mug, and dried sage

What you leave with

Two days in the wilderness, 24 hours alone under the stars, and structured contemplation of what actually matters. You leave with a decision compass. Five values deep enough to change how you spend your week, and a filter you can run every founder decision through.

01Your top five values, embodied.
02A rule for when two of them collide.
03A decision filter you can pressure-test.
04Three specific next moves.
05A 30- and 90-day revision method.

Solo, in community

The 24 hours are yours alone. The hours before and after are not.

You'll arrive to a room of eleven other founders at similar altitude. The kind of people whose opinion you'd actually want. You'll break bread together, set intentions together, and come back from the solo to pressure-test what you found in front of the group. Real feedback, no advice, no pitch decks.

You leave with your own compass, sharpened against eleven others, and a cohort you can call on long after the fire is out.

Solo self-facilitated wilderness is a different animal. No one on call, no one with your back if the weather turns or the mind wanders somewhere hard. Here, you're not alone. Rob leads the field team: AMGA-certified, wilderness EMT, 10+ years in remote emergency response, 100+ facilitated solos. Even seasoned campers find it changes what's possible.

The arc

Arrive

Drop devices. Meet the group. Set the frame.

Ground

A guided practice to get out of your head and into the day.

Solo

Hours alone with a structured journal. This is where the work happens.

Return

Come back, eat, share what you're willing to share.

Pressure-test

Put your draft compass in front of the room. Real feedback, no advice.

Commit

Name your next three moves. Schedule your 30- and 90-day review.

Who runs it

Jonah Larkin

Former Founder · Stanford GSB Coach & Facilitator

Facilitates interpersonal dynamics at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.
Works with hyper-scaling AI cofounders on conflict, negotiation, decision rights, strategy, and the conversations most teams avoid.

Rob Balloch

Wilderness Therapy Guide · Berkeley Haas MBA '27 · Industry-Leading Risk Management Author

AMGA · WEMT · 10+ years in remote emergency response · 1,500+ field days · 100+ facilitated solos.
CBT, Buddhist psychology, and Jungian theory in practice. Focus: values clarity and decisive action.

Questions

Can my cofounder come?

Yes. Founders often come with a cofounder, and the work lands differently when you both do it. You'll be paired thoughtfully across the group so you get your own reflection and your own pressure-test, then come back to each other with something real to work with.

Do I need to be funded?

No. Stage doesn't matter. What matters is that you're building something you care about and want to build it without losing yourself in the process.

What if my cofounder and I are in conflict?

That is material, not a disqualifier. Bring it. Some of the most useful work happens when a pair arrives stuck and comes back with the same problem framed differently.

Is this a retreat?

No. A retreat is designed to make you feel good. This is designed to give you a direction. Comfortable, but not comforting.

Do I need to be in some kind of crisis?

No. Most founders who come are doing well by every external measure. That's part of the problem. Traction without direction is its own trap.

What if I already have a plan?

Good. Bring it. Pressure-test it against something bigger than the plan itself.

Will there be group therapy?

No. The group exists to pressure-test your thinking, not to process feelings. You'll be with peers, not patients.

Who else will be there?

Eleven other founders at similar altitude. We screen for fit and for range. You won't be the only person from your sector, and you won't be surrounded by them either.

What if I get accepted and something changes?

Tell us. We hold seats for people who commit, so we ask you to commit for real. Life happens, and we'd rather know early.

The clarity to know what you're building for, and the conviction to make hard calls without stalling.