# Venture Executive Network (VEN) > VEN is an operational support community where leadership teams of venture-backed companies learn from peers at their company's stage and from experienced operators. VEN is for companies that have raised at least $1M from venture firms. Angel or accelerator funding alone does not qualify. Each leader applies individually. Pricing depends on company stage and individual experience, and VEN does not ask for equity. The pinned Playbooks release is 2026-11-04-us-expansion-v16, with 97 pages. ## About - [Home](https://www.venexecs.com/): Operational support for leadership teams of venture-backed companies. - [How it works](https://www.venexecs.com/how-it-works/): Peer sessions, 1:1 conversations, advisors, and a VEN Partner. - [Our story](https://www.venexecs.com/our-story/): Why VEN exists for leadership teams. - [By role](https://www.venexecs.com/roles/): Support for CEOs and leaders across the company. - [For your team](https://www.venexecs.com/for-your-team/): Each leader joins individually and has a VEN Partner. - [For venture firms](https://www.venexecs.com/for-venture-firms/): Portfolio leadership support for venture firms. ## Advisors - [Advisors](https://www.venexecs.com/advisors/): Operational advisors who join sessions and 1:1 conversations when their experience fits the topic. ## Playbooks Operating guides for leading a growing company, drawn from practitioner sessions. This list is the 2026-11-04-us-expansion-v16 release (97 pages). How to read the guides and how sources are handled is on the about page. ### Overview - [Playbooks for leading a growing company.](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks) - [How this site is made](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/about) ### US expansion - [US expansion for non-US founders](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/us-expansion) - [Delaware flip for non-US startups](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/us-expansion/delaware-flip) - [Raising from US VCs as a non-US startup](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/us-expansion/us-fundraising-for-non-us-founders) - [US subsidiary setup for non-US startups](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/us-expansion/us-subsidiary-setup) ### Guides - [Executive leadership guides](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/guides) - [AI and the business model](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/guides/ai-and-the-business-model) - [Capital, runway and the board](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/guides/capital-runway-and-the-board) - [Retaining and expanding customers](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/guides/customer-retention-and-expansion) - [Leading the executive team](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/guides/leading-the-executive-team) - [Making growth more predictable](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/guides/predictable-growth) - [Product priorities and delivery](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/guides/product-priorities-and-delivery) - [Running against the plan](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/guides/running-against-the-plan) ### Raising money - [Startup data room checklist for investor due diligence](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/data-rooms) - [Running the exit process](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/exit-process) - [Exits, M&A, and leverage](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/exits-and-ma) - [How to find your first angel investor](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/first-angel-check) - [How seed investors evaluate startups](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/how-seed-vcs-decide) - [Startup pitch deck: opening, market size, and investor Q&A](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/pitch-deck) - [Startup fundraising: round size, outreach, and timing](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/running-the-raise) - [SAFEs vs. notes vs. priced rounds](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/safes-notes-priced-rounds) - [Term sheets and red flags](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/term-sheets-red-flags) - [Venture debt](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/venture-debt) - [When the search runs out of runway](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/raising-money/when-runway-runs-out) ### Getting customers - [Turn conferences into customers](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/conferences-to-customers) - [Customer development as your sales funnel](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/customer-development-funnel) - [Customer feedback and early retention](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/customer-feedback-and-retention) - [First customer contracts](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/first-customer-contracts) - [Landing pages that convert](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/landing-pages) - [Pilots that convert](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/pilots-that-convert) - [Pricing and packaging](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/pricing-and-packaging) - [Building a repeatable sales motion](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/repeatable-sales-motion) - [Selling to the enterprise](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/selling-to-the-enterprise) - [SOC 2 for startups: timing, cost and auditors](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/soc-2-for-startups) - [Validate demand before you build](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/getting-customers/validate-before-you-build) ### Building the company - [When AI code review becomes the bottleneck](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/building-the-company/ai-code-review-bottleneck) - [Why AI isn't making engineering 10x faster](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/building-the-company/ai-engineering-10x) - [Data moats and flywheels](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/building-the-company/data-moats-flywheels) - [Building your executive team](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/building-the-company/executive-team) - [Pricing in the AI era](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/building-the-company/pricing-in-the-ai-era) - [Reinvestment and founder dependence](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/building-the-company/reinvestment-and-founder-dependence) - [Surviving the SaaS repricing](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/building-the-company/saas-pocalypse) ### Equity and legal - [Founder immigration paths](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/equity-legal/founder-immigration) - [Founder stock, vesting, and 83(b)](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/equity-legal/founder-stock-vesting-83b) - [Options, pools, and advisor equity](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/equity-legal/options-pools-advisor-equity) - [Patents and IP for AI companies](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/equity-legal/patents-ip-for-ai) - [Strategic partnerships: protect your IP and exit options](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/equity-legal/strategic-partnerships-and-ip) ### Marketing - [The AI-era marketing stack](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/marketing-pr/ai-era-marketing-stack) - [DIY PR and the founder narrative](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/marketing-pr/diy-pr) - [GTM as a system](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/marketing-pr/gtm-as-a-system) - [Marketing an AI product without saying AI](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/marketing-pr/marketing-ai-products) ### Concepts - [Concepts](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts) - [409A valuation](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/409a-valuation) - [83(b) election](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/83b-election) - [Acqui-hire](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/acqui-hire) - [Add-backs](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/add-backs) - [Administrative dissolution](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/administrative-dissolution) - [Advisor equity](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/advisor-equity) - [AI-native](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/ai-native) - [Amdahl's law](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/amdahls-law) - [Blue ocean](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/blue-ocean) - [Buying committee](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/buying-committee) - [Customer concentration](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/customer-concentration) - [Customer development](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/customer-development) - [Data moat](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/data-moat) - [Default alive](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/default-alive) - [Delaware flip](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/delaware-flip) - [Earn-out](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/earn-out) - [EBITDA multiple bands](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/ebitda-multiple-bands) - [Engineering sovereignty](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/engineering-sovereignty) - [Founder-led sales](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/founder-led-sales) - [Founder vesting](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/founder-vesting) - [GTM hypothesis](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/gtm-hypothesis) - [Internal champion](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/internal-champion) - [Investor qualification](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/investor-qualification) - [IP assignment](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/ip-assignment) - [Letter of intent (LOI)](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/letter-of-intent) - [Liquidation preference](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/liquidation-preference) - [LTV:CAC](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/ltv-cac) - [Material-change update](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/material-change-update) - [Meat proxy](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/meat-proxy) - [Pilot vs. paid contract](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/pilot-vs-paid-contract) - [Pre-money vs. post-money](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/pre-money-vs-post-money) - [Price-to-pain ratio](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/price-to-pain-ratio) - [Qualified small business stock (QSBS)](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/qsbs) - [Quality of earnings](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/quality-of-earnings) - [SAFE](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/safe) - [Scatter-plot funnel](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/scatter-plot-funnel) - [Strategic vs. financial buyer](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/strategic-vs-financial-buyer) - [Valuation cap](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/valuation-cap) - [Venture debt](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/venture-debt) - [Vitamin vs. painkiller](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/vitamin-vs-painkiller) - [XYZ hypothesis](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/concepts/xyz-hypothesis) ### Reference - [Benchmarks from the room](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/reference/benchmarks) - [Glossary](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/reference/glossary) - [The sessions behind the site](https://www.venexecs.com/playbooks/reference/sessions) ## Blog and comparisons - [Blog](https://www.venexecs.com/blog): Articles for leadership teams of venture-backed companies. - [Vistage Alternatives for Venture-Backed Leadership Teams](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/vistage-alternatives-for-venture-backed-leadership-teams): How VEN and Vistage differ for venture-backed leadership teams. - [Pavilion Alternatives for Venture-Backed Leadership Teams](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/pavilion-alternatives-for-venture-backed-leadership-teams): How VEN and Pavilion differ on roles, matching, and eligibility. - [Hampton comparison](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/founder-nexus-vs-hampton): Published comparison of Hampton with the founder community that preceded VEN. - [The Metrics Growth-Round Investors Read Before the Deck](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/growth-round-due-diligence-metrics): Pitch polish won the first round. The second one is won or lost on retention curves, efficiency, and a board that already runs like one. - [Webflow or WordPress: The Lean Marketing Stack Call](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/webflow-or-wordpress-lean-marketing-stack): Choosing a CMS is not a feature fight. It is a bet on how fast a small marketing team can ship, and how much upkeep it can carry before it needs an engineer. - [How to Choose a Deal Structure Before the Lawyer Call](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/deal-structure-before-the-lawyer-call): A buyout and a joint-venture deal can share a price tag and leave you in very different positions. Here is how to weigh control, upside, and risk first. - [Dividends Instead of an Exit: How to Structure Returns](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/non-exit-investor-return-structures): A dividend or revenue-share structure can replace the promise of a future sale, but only if you build the cash flow and governance to back it. - [Is Relocating for a Flagship Accelerator Worth the Equity?](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/relocating-for-an-accelerator-equity-cost): A flagship accelerator's offer comes with a real price: equity and a forced move. Here is how to weigh what the brand buys against what leaving your base costs. - [Building a Target Account List for Design Partners](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/target-account-list-design-partners): A scattershot account list produces warm meetings that go nowhere. Build the list itself as the strategic artifact, before you spend a single warm intro. - [The Real Signal You Need a Full-Time CTO](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/the-real-signal-you-need-a-full-time-cto): A contractor can ship your first product. The role changes the moment technical calls start shaping what you can raise, hire, and promise customers. - [Marketing Co-Founder or Growth Operator: How to Decide](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/marketing-co-founder-or-growth-operator): Equity buys commitment, not acquisition skill. Here is how to decide between a marketing co-founder and a hired growth operator, and vet either one properly. - [How to Validate Customer Pain Before You Build](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/validate-customer-pain-before-you-build): Enthusiasm is not demand. A framework for testing whether a customer segment's pain is sharp enough to pay for, before you commit a team to building it. - [Who Owns What? Defining Co-Founder Roles Before They Split](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/who-owns-what-cofounder-roles): Vague role division between co-founders does not stay vague. It hardens into resentment, then into a fight over who actually runs the company. - [Who Reviews Your Pitch Deck Before the Real Investor Does](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/who-reviews-your-pitch-deck-before-the-real-investor): The reviewer you pick shapes the feedback. A peer, a domain expert, and a neutral operator each catch a different failure, and none should be your target VC. - [What Great Pre-Seed Decks Share That Templates Never Do](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/what-great-pre-seed-decks-share-that-templates-never-do): A template hands you slide order. A benchmark deck shows you why that order worked, and that difference decides whether your deck earns a second meeting. - [Why the community is becoming Venture Executive Network (VEN)](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/foundernexus-is-now-venture-executive-network): The earlier community is now an operational support community for leadership teams of venture-backed companies. - [Where to find VEN during SF Tech Week 2026](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/where-to-find-foundernexus-during-sf-tech-week-2026): Five sessions across the first three days of SF Tech Week (October 5–11), with Court Lorenzini in every room. - [How to Qualify Investors by Check Size Before You Pitch](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/qualify-investors-by-check-size-before-you-pitch): Sector fit tells you an investor might care about your space. Check size tells you whether they can actually fund the round you are raising. - [Why Every Seed Round Needs a Lead Investor First](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/why-every-seed-round-needs-a-lead-investor-first): A round with no lead does not fail on story. It fails on order, because nobody wants to be the first professional check that has to set the price alone. - [How Founders Actually Use a Peer Room](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/how-founders-use-a-peer-room): A peer room earns its place when a founder brings a specific live decision and leaves with the decision changed, not just discussed. The mechanism is easy to get wrong. - [How to Know if a Founder Belongs in Your Room](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/who-belongs-in-a-founder-room): Before you put a name forward, the real question is not whether they're a good founder. It's whether this person makes this room better, or just bigger. - [What a Good Founder Room Actually Looks Like](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/what-a-good-founder-room-looks-like): The best founder room is not the biggest network. It is the one that makes the next decision clearer. Here is the standard to judge one by. - [How the Board Relationship Actually Changes After Series B](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/board-dynamics-after-series-b): Nobody warns you about the real shift. The hardest part of scaling isn't hitting the plan. It's that the people now judging the plan have never run your company, and they have real power over it. - [What Actually Changes at the Series A Operating Layer](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/series-a-operating-layer): The money is the visible part of a Series A. The harder part is invisible: the exact way you ran the company to get here is the way it stops working from here on. - [Your First Senior Hire at Seed: The Decisions That Actually Matter](https://www.venexecs.com/blog/first-senior-hire-seed): The first real executive hire is one of the most consequential calls a seed founder makes. It looks like a hiring decision. It's really a decision about what the company needs to become next. ## Events - [Sessions](https://www.venexecs.com/sessions/): Scheduled sessions, with who can attend and how to register. - [Session archive](https://www.venexecs.com/events/archive/): Past sessions. ## Apply - [Apply](https://platform.venexecs.com/registration): Application for eligible leaders. Each leader applies individually. - [Questions before applying](https://www.venexecs.com/learn-more/): Ask about VEN before applying. There is no commitment to join. - [Member login](https://platform.venexecs.com/member-login): Member login. ## FAQ - [FAQ](https://www.venexecs.com/faq): Direct answers on what VEN is, who it is for, peer sessions, advisors, Playbooks, applying, and login. ## Optional - [Terms and conditions](https://www.venexecs.com/terms-and-conditions/): Website terms for Venture Executive Network, DBA VEN. - [Privacy policy](https://www.venexecs.com/privacy-policy/): How VEN collects, uses, and shares personal information.