During the 2025-26 year, early stage Booth founders will have the opportunity to convene monthly as a group with Entrepreneur in-Residence Mia Saini Duchnowski. These monthly meetups will help founders advance their ventures, be inspired, and connect with their peers. In these 1-hour long sessions, the group will cover entrepreneurial frameworks, models, and strategies for those students who are in the early stages of their founder journey. It’s lonely at the top and often early stage founders have the same practical questions when beginning to launch a venture. The group will walk through these questions and offer guidance.

These sessions will rely heavily on the value of peer-to-peer sharing, collaboration, and support. . While there is no blueprint for success, surrounding yourself with founders or founders-to be can provide a sense of community and calm among the startup storm! Guided by Mia Saini Duchnowski, Founder of skincare brand Oars + Alps, these sessions aim to foster genuine relationships among students that will give each student the opportunity to learn from, support, and inspire one another both personally and professionally. To mention one success story from an Entrepreneurs Alum, Sakshi Nag, founder of the NVC 2025 winning team Rayni, found these sessions “insanely helpful and action oriented.”

By signing up for these monthly meetups, you are committing to:

-Actively participating in ALL of the monthly meetings, which are on October 23, November 13, December 4, January 15, February 12, March 26, April 16, and May 7 from 12pm-1pm CST in person at the Harper Center. There is no option to join virtually. We understand things come up (sickness, recruiting, client pitch, etc), but the full impact of the seminar requires full attendance.

-Completing a short reading in advance of each session, which Mia will share. These articles will serve as an anchor for the group discussion around individual challenges, so it’s important that everyone has read them.

This year’s cohort will be maxed at 25 people.

For more information contact Kate Turvy at kate.turvy@chicagobooth.edu