01DIAGNOSE
See what is holding you back.
Discover where you and your organization are limiting growth. Make founder dependence visible so you can identify the constraint that matters most.
YOUR RESULTA clear picture of where you are.
When success becomes the constraint
Your success may have created your next problem.
You built the company by becoming indispensable to it.
Your judgment. Your relationships. Your standards. The strengths that created your success can become the very things your company cannot grow without.
- Decisions still come through you.
- Key relationships still depend on you.
- Your leaders still look to you for answers.
- Growth keeps adding more to your plate.
Eventually, the founder becomes the ceiling.
FOUNDER DEPENDENCE
A larger company should not require you to personally carry a larger company.
Which one are you building?
A business. An organization.
An institution.
01 · BUSINESS
Makes money.
You create the momentum. The business still relies on your decisions, relationships, and personal effort.
02 · ORGANIZATION
Runs without you.
Your people, leadership, systems, and culture carry the standard without every answer coming from you.
03 · INSTITUTION
Outlives you.
The mission, leadership, and value you create endure beyond any one person.
The next stage begins when you build the organization capable of carrying your vision.
Your path through the Summit
Diagnose. Design.
Build.
One working day to see what is holding you back, define what your next stage requires, and leave with a 90-day plan to begin building it.
02DESIGN
Define what the next level requires.
Identify the leadership, people, systems, and culture capable of carrying your vision. See what must change for the business to grow beyond you.
YOUR RESULTThe organization you need to build.
03BUILD
Turn clarity into your next 90 days.
Choose your most important organizational priority. Define the first actions, who owns them, and how you will know the work is moving forward.
YOUR RESULTYour 90-Day Founder Scale Plan.
Principles. People. Systems. Culture.
Brett’s Four Pillars give the work its substance. Diagnose → Design → Build gives you a clear way through it.
Inside your Founder Transformation Workbook6 practical tools
Founder Dependency Score
See where decisions, relationships, knowledge, and execution still depend on you.
Larger Than Life Organizational Vision
Define the company you want to build and the freedom, value, and impact it should create.
Founder Stop-Doing List
Name what you need to stop doing, who or what must own it, and the first step in transferring responsibility.
Four Pillars Organizational Assessment
Examine principles, people, systems, and culture to find the capability that needs attention.
Scale Gap Analysis
Use the nine elements of organizational design to find the gap between today’s company and the organization your next stage requires.
90-Day Founder Scale Plan
Set one priority, the actions around it, clear ownership, and a practical first move.
Built at scale.
Earned the hard way.
Co-founder, Chiro One Wellness Centers
His company-building experience includes Medulla’s nine-figure private-equity transaction with The Vistria Group—and the work of building the people, systems, and standards behind a business that can scale.
Brett helped build a $500M company generating $120M in annual revenue. Chiro One: three-time Inc. 5000 honoree.
He also knows what it costs to start again. Near bankruptcy. Repossession. Rebuilding from zero. His perspective includes the setbacks, not just the success story.
40+ yearsEntrepreneurial experience across wins, failures, and reinvention.
563–89Wrestling record. Hall of Fame recognition. Full-ride scholarship to Wisconsin–Madison.
USA WrestlingFormer National Coaches Education Program Coordinator; built a flagship initiative for the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Larger Than LifeAuthor of LARGER THAN LIFE and Coaches Guide to Excellence. Turning hard-earned experience into practical principles.
Success beyond the balance sheet.
30+ years with Camp HOPE. Board service with Logan’s Heart and Smiles and Beat the Streets Chicago.
At the Summit, that experience is focused on your next move: building leaders who carry responsibility, not just a business that keeps asking more of you.
Ohio roots. Chicago home. Founder, Be Larger Than.
The Founding 30
Bring the business you have built.
Work on what it can become.
An invitation-only working Summit for established founders and business owners ready to build beyond their own capacity.
WHO THIS ROOM IS FOR
You have built something real.
✓You own or founded an established business generating $1M+ in annual gross revenue.
✓You can see a much larger future, but too much still depends on your direct involvement.
✓You want stronger leaders, clearer ownership, and a company that can carry more without demanding more of you.
✓You are willing to examine your own role, contribute honestly, and act on what you discover.
THE CONVERSATION
“I don’t want an audience.
I want a conversation.”
Brett Penager
Thirty founders keeps the work personal and the conversation relevant. Bring the decisions, challenges, and ambition behind the business.
$100M+ is the vision, not the admission threshold. The work starts with your company’s next meaningful stage.
Best suited to established businesses with customers, revenue, and a team. If you are still working toward your first revenue or product-market fit, this Summit is ahead of your current stage.
Inside the working day
From where you are
to what you do next.
The day follows the questions you need to answer to build beyond yourself.
01 · DIAGNOSE
Where are you?
Make founder dependence visible. Identify where decisions, relationships, and execution still rely on you.
Start with an honest diagnosis.02 · DESIGN
Where are you going?
Business → Organization → Institution. Define the organization capable of carrying your vision.
Give the next stage a clear shape.03 · DESIGN
What must change?
Examine principles, people, systems, and culture. Use nine elements of organizational design to identify the gap that matters most.
Find the work that matters most.04 · BUILD
What do you do now?
Choose one organizational priority and build your 90-Day Founder Scale Plan around it.
Leave with a clear first move.Founder Investment
One day to get clear.
A plan for what comes next.
Invest a day in the organization your next stage requires.
Founder Investment
$1,997 USD
A working day for the business you want to build.
An invitation-only working Summit for 30 qualified founders. Complete the application first; accepted founders confirm their place through payment. Event details are shared privately after you apply.
Request Your InvitationYour Invitation Includes
✓Full-day invitation-only working Summit
✓Founder Transformation Workbook with six practical tools, including your 90-Day Founder Scale Plan
✓Lunch and refreshments
✓Signed copy of Larger Than Life
✓Private alumni community
✓Private 30-minute post-Summit Scale Review with Brett
Signed copy included
Your next chapter · October 29 · Chicago
Build something
larger than you.
You have already proved what you can build. Now take the next step toward an organization that can carry your vision.
Start with a short application about your business, your ambition, and what still depends on you.
LARGER THAN LIFE Business Summit
Request Your Invitation
For established founders and business owners with $1M+ in annual gross revenue and the ambition to build beyond themselves.
- Apply.Share where you are and what you want to build.
- Receive your decision.Your decision arrives by email within 24 hours.
- Confirm your place.If accepted, complete payment using your private invitation link.
EMAIL RESPONSE · WITHIN 24 HOURS
Your decision will be Accepted, Not Yet, or Not a Fit. An acceptance invites you to complete payment. Your place is officially confirmed after payment.
About 6 minutes · 30 founders · $1,997 USD admission
