Polsky Founders’ Circles
The Polsky Center and the Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership at the University of Chicago present the Polsky Founders’ Circles, a virtual place where early-stage and growth-stage company founders can connect with fellow founders to take stock of their company’s current challenges and opportunities, receive coaching from an expert, and also learn from their fellow founders.
There are two circles: one for early-stage company founders and one for growth-stage company founders.
The circles meet once a month from October through March. Interested applicants must commit to attending all six meetings. During these monthly meetings, you’ll be able to do the following:
- Connect with a group of fellow founders to share experiences and learnings
- Share your current opportunities and challenges, and receive support from your peers and coaching from a Chicago Booth Alumni coach
- Identify a key action or two that you can commit to that will make a difference for you or your company during this 6-month period
- Create ways to support each other and be supported through collaborative learning and shared experiences
Key Dates and Deadlines
Application Deadline
The 2026 application deadline has passed.
We will begin recruiting for the next cohort in the summer of 2026!
Application and Eligibility
- Founders must be UChicago alums
- Companies must be in operation for at least 1 year
- The early-stage ventures circle is for pre-revenue companies
- The circle for growth-stage ventures must have ~$1M in revenue and at least 15 employees
- Founders must be able to commit to attending all virtual meetings (October 8, November 12, December 10, January 7, February 11, and March 11)