CEO Peer Group · San Francisco Bay Area
An operator-led peer group for Bay Area founders, CEOs, and business owners.
You might run it with a leadership team. You might have a business partner or two. Either way, no one in the building is a true peer — someone who's sat in your seat and has nothing to sell you. That's what this is: a small, confidential group of operators working through the calls that keep you up at night.
Led by Andreas Dankelmann · 25 years operating and scaling businesses · EMCC Accredited Executive Leadership Team Coach
The top seat is the loneliest one in the building.
You have a team. Maybe a business partner, a board, a spouse, an accountant. What you don't have is a room of people who've actually run a company and have nothing to sell you. Everyone around you is working for you, in business with you, or guessing. So the hardest calls — the ones with no clean answer — land on you.
What you're carrying
- ›Decisions you can't fully talk through with your own team.
- ›A leadership problem you've been sitting on for months.
- ›Growth that's working, and a gut feeling something's about to break.
- ›No one who can challenge you without an agenda.
What a real peer group gives you
- ›A confidential board of peers who've been there.
- ›Straight feedback before you make the expensive mistake.
- ›Accountability from people you can't bluff.
- ›Perspective from outside your industry and your bubble.
Most peer groups run on a script. This one runs on experience.
There are good peer networks out there. Many are large, curriculum-driven, and led by a professional facilitator. This is built differently — and deliberately so.
Led by an operator, not a facilitator
I've built and scaled companies across five continents, led a 300-person team, and helped take a PE-backed business through a successful exit. When you put an issue on the table, you're talking to someone who has actually been in that seat — not someone trained to run a meeting.
Small and curated by design
The group stays intentionally small and carefully composed. Every member is vetted for fit and non-competing with the others, so the room is trusted, candid, and worth your time the moment you walk in.
No pre-packaged curriculum
We don't work through a generic syllabus. The agenda is your actual problems — the real decisions in front of the members that month. The work adapts to the room, not the other way around.
Confidential, and held that way
What's said in the room stays in the room. That's the entire point. It's the one place you can be fully honest about the business and about yourself without it costing you anything.
A simple path into the room.
Apply
Tell me about your business and what you're wrestling with. We talk honestly about whether the group is the right fit — both ways.
Join the table
You're introduced to a vetted, non-competing group of Bay Area owners. The group meets for a half-day each month, plus a monthly one-to-one coaching session with me.
Do the work
Each month you bring your real issues, get straight counsel, and leave with decisions made — reinforced by monthly one-to-one coaching between meetings.
Built for owners who've built something real.
This is for founders and CEOs of profitable Bay Area businesses who have good people and real momentum — and who are ready to be challenged by peers who won't let them off the hook.
- ›You own or run a profitable, established business.
- ›You have a team, but too much still routes through you.
- ›You're growth-minded and open to honest feedback.
- ›You're in the San Francisco Bay Area and can meet in person.
Probably not a fit if…
You want a networking club, a lead-generation group, or a room that tells you what you want to hear. This group is for people who'd rather hear the truth early than the bill later.
I've been in the room when the team wasn't working — and when it finally did.
I've spent 25 years building and operating businesses across five continents, including leading a 300-person team and helping scale a PE-backed company through a successful exit. I've spent years helping entrepreneurial leadership teams align and execute, and I'm an EMCC Accredited Executive Leadership Team Coach. Outside of work, I'm an Ironman finisher — and I bring the same approach to this group that endurance sport demands: consistent systems, honest assessment, and the discipline to keep showing up when it's hard.
Credibility that matters
- ›25 years operating and scaling businesses.
- ›Led a 300-person team; PE-backed exit.
- ›EMCC Accredited Executive Leadership Team Coach.
- ›Years guiding entrepreneurial leadership teams.
What people ask before joining.
What is a CEO peer group?
A small, confidential group of business owners and CEOs who meet regularly to work through each other's real challenges. Think of it as a board of peers — people who've sat in the same seat and have no agenda except helping you make better decisions.
How is this different from Vistage, EO, or a mastermind?
Most large peer networks run on a fixed curriculum led by a professional facilitator. The Fifth Ascent group is deliberately small and operator-led — fewer members, no script, and led by someone who has actually built and scaled companies through the same decisions you're facing.
Who is the group for?
Founders and CEOs of profitable Bay Area businesses who already have a capable team and real momentum, but still find too many decisions routing back through them.
Do I have to be in a specific industry?
No. The group is intentionally cross-industry and non-competing, so you get honest perspective from outside your own bubble while keeping everything confidential.
Where and how often does the group meet?
The group meets for a half-day each month, in person in the San Francisco Bay Area, plus a monthly one-to-one coaching session with me.
What does membership cost?
We talk through fit and investment once you've applied — no pitch, just a straight conversation about whether this is the right next step for you.
Even the best owners need peers in the room.
The group is small and members are vetted for fit, so it starts with an application. Tell me about your business and what you're wrestling with — if it's a fit, we'll talk. No pitch, just a straight conversation about whether this is the right next step.
Apply to Join