How much do Chief and Foundations cost?

Chief: Chief Membership $5,900/year + $500 new member fee; Chief Signature $9,800/year (official Membership Experience PDF). (verified 2026-10-19). Foundations: Not published (verified 2026-10-27). Prices are shown verbatim from public sources; nothing is estimated.

What are the requirements for Chief vs Foundations?

Chief: Builders path only: $2M+ annual revenue or venture funding (or past CXO/VP+ at credentialed companies). Designed for 15+ years leadership experience. Categories: C-Suite, Senior Leaders & Executives, Builders. Criteria effective 10/2025. Not for early career or soliciting business. Foundations: Not published Invite-only application; Member acceptance requires strong track record of building/scaling startups; FIR path for earlier founders; Seattle or SF/Bay based options

Which is better for venture-backed founders?

Foundations is venture-specific. Chief is not. The fit is Foundations when you want a venture-scale room.

Last verified 2026-10-27

Chief vs Foundations

Chief is a hybrid facilitated forum with paid facilitator. Foundations is a hybrid community platform with staff-convened. This page compares cost, requirements, format, and stage fit using verified public data. Chief: Senior women leaders seeking Guide-led Core peer advisory, coaching, and executive programming. Foundations: Seattle technical founders who want an invite-only in-person community, space, mentors, and peer accountability around early company building.

Side-by-side

Field	Chief	Foundations
Format	hybrid	hybrid
Structure	facilitated forum	community platform
Facilitation	paid facilitator	staff-convened
Group size	Core (Jan 2026): C-Suite & Executive Leader 10–12; Builder & Navigator 15–20	Not published for peer subsets
Stage fit	This group is not framed by VC stage.	Pre-seed and seed, Series A
Revenue / capital floor	Builders path only: $2M+ annual revenue or venture funding (or past CXO/VP+ at credentialed companies).	Not published
Annual cost	Chief Membership $5,900/year + $500 new member fee; Chief Signature $9,800/year (official Membership Experience PDF).	Not published
Application model	application	application
Venture-specific	No	Yes
Other requirements	Designed for 15+ years leadership experience. Categories: C-Suite, Senior Leaders & Executives, Builders. Criteria effective 10/2025. Not for early career or soliciting business.	Invite-only application; Member acceptance requires strong track record of building/scaling startups; FIR path for earlier founders; Seattle or SF/Bay based options
Time commitment	Core: 6 × 90-minute meetings per year (~every two months), plus optional programming; or 4 × 1-hour coaching sessions/year	FIR: 4-month residency (rolling); FIRs commit to coming in at least once a week plus programming; Members: community and space access plus weekly events
Geography	US Clubhouses (NYC, SF, Chicago, DC) plus virtual and national events	Seattle (Capitol Hill) and San Francisco (South FiDi)
Best for	Senior women leaders seeking Guide-led Core peer advisory, coaching, and executive programming.	Seattle technical founders who want an invite-only in-person community, space, mentors, and peer accountability around early company building.
Not for	Early-career professionals or anyone joining primarily to solicit business.	Operators seeking a classic confidential CEO peer board with published dues and a fixed monthly half-day forum.
Last verified	2026-10-19	2026-10-27

Verdict by stage

Pre-seed and seed

At Pre-seed and seed, Foundations lists this stage. Chief does not. The fit is Foundations for this stage band.

Series A

At Series A, Foundations lists this stage. Chief does not. The fit is Foundations for this stage band.

Growth

At Growth, neither group lists this stage as a primary fit. Chief is not framed by VC stage. Foundations targets Pre-seed and seed, Series A.

Late stage

At Late stage, neither group lists this stage as a primary fit. Chief is not framed by VC stage. Foundations targets Pre-seed and seed, Series A.

FAQ

How much do Chief and Foundations cost?: Chief: Chief Membership $5,900/year + $500 new member fee; Chief Signature $9,800/year (official Membership Experience PDF). (verified 2026-10-19). Foundations: Not published (verified 2026-10-27). Prices are shown verbatim from public sources; nothing is estimated.
What are the requirements for Chief vs Foundations?: Chief: Builders path only: $2M+ annual revenue or venture funding (or past CXO/VP+ at credentialed companies). Designed for 15+ years leadership experience. Categories: C-Suite, Senior Leaders & Executives, Builders. Criteria effective 10/2025. Not for early career or soliciting business. Foundations: Not published Invite-only application; Member acceptance requires strong track record of building/scaling startups; FIR path for earlier founders; Seattle or SF/Bay based options
Which is better for venture-backed founders?: Foundations is venture-specific. Chief is not. The fit is Foundations when you want a venture-scale room.

Chief profile·Foundations profile

Sources

Primary public pages used for the fields above.

6 sources from 4 sites

assets.chief.com

/marketing/Chief_Membership_Experience.pdfRetrieved 2026-10-19 · Chief

chief.com

/membershipRetrieved 2026-10-19 · Chief
/membership-criteriaRetrieved 2026-10-19 · Chief

fndtns.org

fndtns.orgRetrieved 2026-10-27 · Foundations
/membershipRetrieved 2026-10-27 · Foundations

root.fndtns.org

/kb/root/founder-in-residenceRetrieved 2026-10-27 · Foundations