Peer Exchange Program for Entrepreneurs
Loyal VC manages a network of 400+ companies and after talking to founders on a monthly basis, the team has identified that personal wellbeing among entrepreneurs is a critical resource that doesn't always get the attention it deserves. To offer portfolio founders structured support, Loyal conducted a Pilot Peer Group Project to determine the most effective framework. The proposed framework below is based on the feedback from this pilot.
Welcome to your peer exchange group!
Your group members are listed below! Click their photo or company name to learn more about them.  

Abbas Ibrahim

EU Emerging

Leonardo Gaitan

Latin America

Oleg Bakatanov

Middle East

Noel Ortiz

EU

Ari Aaltonen

EU

Bastien Berthon

EU Emerging

Lawrence Ibarria

USA

Ali Mahmoud

EU Emerging

Amit Kasliwal

India

Sandeep Grewal

Asia

Raja Shamas

USA

Evan James

USA

Raj Sahu

USA

Denis Kibebe

Africa

Isabelle Ugochukwu

UK

Mario Calderon

EU

Nabifo Wamunga

Africa

Jimena Suarez Ibarrola

Latin America

Nicolas Sdez

EU

Maria Sucgang

Asia

Telma Le Guen

Africa

Kim Lavine

USA

Aldo Victoria

USA

Megan Pillsbury

USA

Mustafa Momin

Asia

Andrei Voronine

UK

Yasu Guerra

Latin America

Patrick Williamson

UK

Jan Schütte

EU

Ahmed Jamal

Middle East

Frédérique Labadie

EU

Marthe Lübbers

USA

Jakomi Mathews

Australia

David Friedeberg

Latin America

Margaret Melville

USA

Sylvia Huang

Australia

Hanna Kanabiajeuskaja

USA

Thyagi DeLanerolle

Canada

José Olarreaga

EU

Davide Berrino

EU

Dheeraj Sood

India

Yvan Castilloux

USA

Tony Ong

Asia

Mariana Velasquez

Latin America

Siavash Sartipi

EU

Lakshmi Narasimha Moorthy

India

Sunil Raina

India

Shamala Hinrichsen

USA

Ruchika Mehta

India

Evrim Taskiran

EU

Dara Chen

UK

Altesh BAIJOO

Africa

Neel Shah

UK

Akanksha Kumar

USA

Yavuz Cingitas

UK

Paul Tournier

Canada

Payam Safa

USA

Christian Kalbakk-Bohler

EU

Gary Woodhead

EU

Howard Urnovitz

USA

Kevin Siskar

USA

Mehul S

USA

Yulia Vasilyeva

Canada

Mohan Lath

UK
Your group moderator
Nicolas Vilmin
Executive Coach
Experienced executive coach, former BCG consultant, VP at scale-up (IPO at $2.3B valuation) and startup advisor with deep expertise in strategy, leadership, and scaling operations.
Nicolas Vilmin
Executive Coach
Experienced executive coach, former BCG consultant, VP at scale-up (IPO at $2.3B valuation) and startup advisor with deep expertise in strategy, leadership, and scaling operations.
Nicolas Vilmin
Executive Coach
Experienced executive coach, former BCG consultant, VP at scale-up (IPO at $2.3B valuation) and startup advisor with deep expertise in strategy, leadership, and scaling operations.
Erwin Feldhaus
Business Coach
Creating a positive and sustainable impact through leadership and innovation
Renita Kalhorn
Executive Coach
I’m an executive coach who's worked with 1,300+ clients in 40+ countries. I specialize in coaching impact-focused/deep tech founders in leveling up their leadership. Also a Juilliard-trained concert pianist and martial arts black belt.
Michael Pargal Lyngdoh
Founder - Bright Idea Capital
I’m the founder of Bright Idea Capital, a private equity fund set up in 2023 for small businesses in the UAE and India. Our first fund is $75 million. I am also the founder and former COO of Tripoto - India's largest travel community. I was responsible for the company’s P&L since the company's inception. Raised $18mn of venture capital from marquee global investors including Orchid Asia, Chiratae Ventures, AdvantEdge VC, 500 Startups as well as India's prominent angels - Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal, Neeraj Arora and Sachin Bhatia. Prior to my start-up, I worked in my family’s horticulture export business for 4 years. I scaled the business to 5 international markets with $35mn in annual revenue.
Jonathan Yeo
Leadership Coach
Leadership and inclusive cultures are my passions, with specializations in effective communication skills and team engagement.
Matt Hudzik-Mazerant
Executive Coach
Helping companies & founders scale, simplify and grow profitably, based on my 15+ experience as entrepreneurial strategy consultant and executive coach.
Jonathan Sibley
Executive Coach
As an executive coach I help leadership teams to work more effectively together and leaders to recognize and address blindspots. I'm an INSEAD MBA (Dec 86).
Merve Hokamp
Leadership Coach
Merve K. Hokamp is an ICF and EMCC accredited executive and business coach with over 500 hours of coaching experience, working with clients from 25+ countries. Her mission is to help leaders grow their businesses, build high-performing teams, and advance their careers. Merve advises startups and business owners on marketing, PR, business development, and sales. She is adept in tech, including Cloud, digital marketing, data, and analytics, and offers these insights to startups as well. Merve’s clients include industry giants such as Google, McKinsey, Meta, Amazon, Stripe, Heineken, and L'Oreal, as well as startups like Visualist, Fourteen.am, Hiiguru, and Eatmise. Before founding Leadrise Coaching, Merve held leadership roles at Google, managing global sales, project management, and customer success teams. She also served as an advisor for Google for Startups, mentoring European startups. Her career began in management consulting. Merve holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in International Relations and German Literature from Claremont McKenna College. She has an Executive Education Diploma in Leading, Innovating, and Negotiating from Harvard University and an Advanced Diploma in Leadership and Executive Coaching from Kingstown College. Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Merve has lived in six countries across America, Europe, and Asia. Now based in Dublin, she holds dual citizenship (Turkish and Irish), is married to an American, and is the proud mother of two children, Maya (6) and Uzay (2).
Ganesh Chidambaram
THINKING Partner
I am your THINKING partner; I assist businesses and individuals strike a balance between short-term priorities and long-term impact through independent and unbiased reflections. I am your co-pilot in navigating the complex and dynamic business environment and help you achieve your aspirations.
Richard Smith
Strategy, Coaching, and Positive Impact
I work with founders to help them find their way through the complexity of their roles and especially the tensions between work and personal lives. Former strategy consultant (10 years @BCG) across multiple industries, functions and geographies and INSEAD MBA. Particular interest in organisations with positive social / environmental impact. British, currently living with family in Mexico.
Spencer Christiansen
Head of Operations at Loyal VC

Spencer joined Loyal in 2020 as an Associate. Prior to Loyal, he spent three years with Citigroup in their investment banking division working on global capital markets transactions across sectors. In addition to his role on the investment team at Loyal, Spencer manages Loyal’s advisor network and has also built out many of the systems that have scaled the fund’s unique operations. He is also deep in the web3 ecosystem as a user and an investor.

Claire Harbour
Coaching and Strategy
Described as "warm, generous, challenging rocket fuel" by her clients, Claire is an advisor and coach who sees what others do not see and dares to say what others do not dare to say. She has a global background across general management, strategy, human capital and talent management, and is a published author. She advises on international business development, strategy and communication, but specialized in People, Culture and Talent issues, and is a highly experienced coach, willing to support and challenge you on any aspect of your growth.
Timeline

Commitment: 10 sessions over 10 months, each session 1 hour long.

Launch: The first cohort of groups will launch in November 2024. We are planning to offer this program again in 2025 and those who won't be selected for this cohort will be considered for the next one.

Schedule: Facilitators will propose a recurring monthly weekday and time. The group must agree on timing. If it is not unanimous then we can discuss switching the groups up.

What to expect

This is a forum to discuss topics with other founders, including topics that you can’t discuss with your co-founders and your team. Examples of common topics include: Co-founder conflicts, share allocation and vision alignment; fundraising, valuation, team structure/titles and adding the right advisors. Founders share their experiences, knowledge, information, contacts, brainstorm ideas, and offer emotional support. 

Here is feedback from a Pilot participant that echoes others as well:

“The Loyal VC founder peer group has been very worthwhile for me because:

  • It’s a forum to take up personal founder issues with confidence, because it turned out that at least one of the peers has faced and dealt with a similar situation.
  • We discussed sensitive issues with people in the same situation in a safe space.
  • I got to work with committed founders who know they are going to make it as they commit to the group and its ethos. 
  • People who are not committed should be weeded out early on as it disrupts the group flow.
  • I think we should be even more 'hard talk' (be open about issues) than we were. Almost like 'what is the worst and best thing that happened since last session' [Our moderator] steered it in that direction and the group just got better and better.”
Objective

The objective of the program is to bring founders together in a structured but informal peer-to-peer exchange group format facilitated by qualified advisors to share what it’s like being a founder from personal journey, addressing work-life balance, co-founder and team issues, personal coping strategies and blind spots. These sessions aim to create a safe space for sharing and co-creating actionable insights with peers. 

Program Details

Loyal manages a network of 400+ companies and after talking to founders on a monthly basis, the team has noticed that personal wellbeing among entrepreneurs is a critical resource that doesn't always get the attention it deserves.

To offer portfolio founders structured support, Loyal conducted a Pilot Peer Group Project to determine the most effective framework. The proposed framework is based on the feedback from this pilot. 

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Ilona Hassan, a Loyal Advisor, will manage this initiative on behalf of Loyal and can be contacted for any ongoing questions and suggestions. 

Facilitators will have an option to participate in facilitator-peer-exchange calls quarterly for the purpose of networking, exchanging experiences and discussing any ongoing issues with the groups.

It’s up to the group to decide whether they want to have a group chat or not. In the Pilot groups we did not have chats, because the founders felt it would be overwhelming.

We aim for 8 people initially, expecting possible attrition. The groups work well with 4 to 8 people.

We found that the same time zone was the most important factor in a group alignment. Other factors may be considered if there is more than one group in the same region.  Other factors to discuss include: penalties for missed sessions, communication channels, tardiness, etc.

It’s up to the group to agree on penalties for missed sessions, i.e. 2 missed sessions results in automatic elimination from the group. Participation commitment is a crucial part of this to work. An integrity conversation may be useful at the alignment session.

Founders will sign an agreement that includes them in the equity-sharing distribution pool at a reduced rate (compared to advisors).

Important to note that the Facilitators will moderate the conversation flow rather than coach, ensuring a safe space for sharing and equal participation. Sessions will follow a round-table format with no pre-set agenda, allowing topics to emerge from the sharing.

  • 5 min: Getting in the right mindset
  • 20 min: Round-table sharing
  • 30 min: Round-table discussion on the most compelling topic/company
  • 5 min: Summarize insights and closing notes

For organizational questions it’s best to send it in an email to the group, instead of using a session time.

Facilitators are encouraged to lead each session as they see fit, adapting to the unique cultural dynamics of the group. The goal is to foster an environment of authentic and honest sharing, rather than a space for competition or self-promotion. Sessions are strictly confidential, allowing founders to connect openly without taking on the role of advisor, mentor, or coach. Participants are encouraged to speak from their personal experience—sharing insights by saying, “I” or “in my experience.”

Cultural Alignment and Expectations for the Group:

  1. Commitment: Agree to commit to the group’s success by showing up and being engaged, and to be responsible for your own results and meet expectations. 
  2. Confidentiality: Agree to confidentiality within the group.
  3. Communication: Agree to notify the group ahead of time if unable to attend a session or if facing challenges within the group. Seek coaching or advisory support if issues arise with the group Facilitator on a private call.
  4. Engagement: Encourage contact between group members between sessions.
  5. Presence: Agree to be fully present, including keeping video on during calls.
  6. Authenticity: Agree to share personal experience, even if things aren’t going well. Authenticity adds value to both group learning and personal growth.
  7. Permission for Feedback: Ask permission before giving unsolicited feedback or advice.

Loyal will send feedback surveys after 5 sessions and again after 10 sessions. Results will be shared with all facilitators and the Loyal team but will not be shared with your group members.

The group will have a chance to continue with the same facilitator on mutually agreed terms outside of Loyal’s purview. They will have the option to continue without facilitation, following the same session format. 

Facilitators can offer their own paid services after the 10 sessions.