“I did not need someone to think for me. I needed someone who could make my thinking better. That is exactly what this was.”
— Dr Friderike Bruchmann, Managing Director, XO Life GmbH
This is about what you are actually navigating — and having someone in your corner who has walked this road before, more than once, and knows exactly how it feels.
Alistair Wickens has founded and co-founded businesses across health, technology, and housing — and is building something new now. He has sat where you are sitting. He knows what it costs to carry real responsibility, what it asks of you personally, and what it means to make decisions that matter more than the certainty you'd like to have. He is not advising from a distance. He has carried the weight himself. Read more about Alistair's background →
"What I needed during those years — and didn't have — wasn't a coach with a programme, or another founder posting about their wins while quietly navigating the same thing.
It was someone who had been there. Who knew what it cost. And whose only interest was helping me move forward.
Not the business. Me." — Alistair Wickens, founder of The Founder's Table and author of The View from the Wrong Mountain
This is for founders and business leaders who personally carry the final responsibility for a business that has traded for two years or more, with a turnover of at least £500k. The Founder's Table is a small, private engagement for a carefully selected few who want something most advisory relationships cannot offer: a confidant, someone who has been there, who will tell you what they actually think, and whose only agenda is yours.
“What made him exceptional was that he understood the person behind the business, not just the business itself.”
— Samni Adegoke, CEO, Rehoboth Property Group
Alistair works with a small number of people in the UK — at the points where the decisions get harder and the room gets quieter. He works increasingly with UK-linked founders based abroad. There are a limited number of seats.
Access is through introduction. If someone whose judgement you trust has pointed you here, that introduction was the qualification. If not, you can apply below. An application is not accepted automatically.
Thirty years. Three sectors. Two exits. One diagnosis. Still building.
Alistair is not speaking from the outside.
“I genuinely believe my business would not exist today without his support.”
“Before even thinking about the business plan, he took the time to reconnect me back to why I started this business in the first place. That gave me the confidence and direction I needed.”
“Alistair grounds things. In a role where every issue can feel urgent, that steady presence has been invaluable.”
