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The Founders' Room

Where women in business help each other think.

The Founders’ Room:

Show Up as You Are. Ask the Questions You Can’t Ask Anywhere Else.

Running a business on your own is lonely. You already know this too well.

You’ve got people you can have coffee with. You’ve got a LinkedIn full of “let’s connect” requests from people who want to sell you something. You’ve maybe even tried a networking group or two and come home wondering why you bothered.

What you don’t have, and what almost no one has, is a small, private, online room of other female founders where you can say the actual thing that is keeping you up at night. The pricing problem you’ve been avoiding. The client who’s draining you. The cash flow issues that you can’t see past. The decision you’ve been turning over for weeks. The bit you don’t understand and feel like you should.

That’s what The Founders’ Room is for.

The Founders' Room - Female Founders supporting each other

What The Founders’ Room Really Is

A closed cohort of female business owners. Private, confidential, judgement-free and sales-free. Just women supporting women. 

Ten women, hand-picked to make a balanced room of founders at different stages and in different fields. We meet online for 90 minutes a month, for 6 months. One woman brings a big question to work through (30 minutes). Two others bring smaller ones (15 minutes each).

Between sessions, we have a private WhatsApp group. Ask anything. Share a win. Vent about a Tuesday. It’s quiet enough to be useful and small enough to be safe.

I facilitate every session, which means I hold the space, keep the time, and make sure no one gets a load of advice they didn’t ask for. You leave with clearer thinking, not a longer to-do list.

Who It’s For

This is for you if you’re a woman running your own business — solo, freelance, consultant, founder, whatever the label. You’ve been at it long enough to know it’s hard, and you’ve got real questions you want real help with. You’re generous with your own knowledge and want a room where that’s the norm. You’re done with networking that feels like work.

It’s not for you if you’re just looking for an audience to pitch to. This is NOT networking. We help each other think. We support each other. We make running a business a lot less lonely.

SEO Services Newcastle & North East | Small Business SEO

How It Works

I’ve kept The Founders’ Room deliberately simple, because the women I built it for are already busy enough. One meeting a month, a small group that stays the same for six months, and a private WhatsApp group between sessions. That’s it. Here’s the detail.

To join

Short application + a 20-minute call with me

Investment

£50/month for 6 months

Cohort size

10 women, closed for the six months

What you get

One 90-minute online session a month, and a private WhatsApp group

Length

6 months, then you decide whether to re-apply

Money-back guarantee

If the first session doesn't feel right for you, I'll refund you. Simple as that.

Ready to join?

The Rules

The rules of the Founders’ Room are simple.

No selling

Not in the room, not in the WhatsApp group, not after, not subtly. If you're here to find clients, this isn't for you.

Total confidentiality

What's said in the room stays in the room. Everyone signs on for this. No exceptions.

Show up as you are

Bad week, brilliant week, no makeup, kids in the background, half a thought rather than a polished question — all welcome. This isn't a place to perform.

There are no stupid questions

If you're wondering whether to ask it, ask it. The questions you're embarrassed to ask are usually the ones the rest of the room has too.

About Me

Hi, I’m Elaine.

I’ve been running businesses for many years. I founded Safer Date, the world’s safest dating platform (which somehow took me onto Dragons’ Den and taught me more about resilience than anything else did). I also run Exaltis Solutions, where my team and I help small businesses feel confident online without the usual technical language and nonsense.

But the reason The Founders’ Room exists is more personal than any of that.

For years, I’ve had a small handful of women business-owner friends I can say the actual thing to. Problems I felt I should know the answer to. Months that I felt like giving it all up. Decisions I’ve been thinking about over and over for weeks. Those conversations are the most useful hours I spend in any given month — not because anyone hands me an answer, but because saying it out loud, to women who get it, changes what I can see.

The Founders’ Room is the version of those conversations I wished existed when I was starting out. I facilitate every session, which is partly because that’s what I’m good at and partly because holding the space well is the whole game. Without it, ten well-meaning women could easily chat about anything and everything. With it, the same ten women change each other’s businesses.

If any of this sounds like the room you’ve been looking for, I’d love to hear from you.

Elaine Parker - Exaltis Solutions Gateshead

Apply for the next cohort