Beyond the Hustle
The culture around building companies has a blind spot — and most founders already know what it is. You can optimize your product, your pitch, and your pipeline, but if you're running on empty, none of it compounds the way it should.
Beyond the Hustle is a dedicated morning at Tech Week Grand Rapids for founders, operators, and ecosystem leaders who are serious about longevity — not just in their careers, but in their health, their leadership, and the way they show up every day. Brought together by Midwest House, Coya, Washington Avenue Ventures, Flying with Founders, Breaking Bread AI, Inside Out Leadership, Human Solution, Start Garden, Bamboo, and more, it's a morning that treats performance and recovery as core builder skills, not afterthoughts.
Come to recharge. Come to reconnect with why you're building in the first place. Come because the people in the room will be the kind of people who make each other better — and because the habits you leave with are the kind that compound.
THE SCHEDULE
Friday, September 18 · Bamboo, Grand Rapids
7:30 – 8:15 AM — Stair Run Get your steps in. Only 27 times up the Bamboo Stairs to the top of the Sears Tower.
7:30 AM – 2:00 PM — Nightjar Sauna & Cold Plunge Pack a suit and jump start your Tech Week recovery via Nightjar's premium portable sauna. Sign up: HERE
8:00 AM – 2:00 PM — Urban You Recovery Room Reset and renew with by-appointment B12 Booster Shots & the NuCalm Experience. Sign up: HERE
8:30 AM — Coffee, Welcome & Keynote Jason Mejeur, Co-Founder & CEO of Coya
9:00 AM — Panel: Healthy Founders, Healthy Exits Brian Dukes (Exitwise), Ashley Pattee (Evoke Leadership), Sean McKenna (exited founder) Moderated by Reuben Levinsohn, Washington Avenue Advisors
9:40 AM — Fireside Chat: From Start to Finish Ryan Vaughn (Inside-Out Leadership) & Winsome Kirton (Breaking Bread) Moderated by Ted Velie, Midwest House
10:00 AM — Founder Health Lessons from Coya
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM — Breakout Sessions (choose one)
Start Garden Space: Why Investors Care About Your Health — Washington Avenue Advisors & 11 Tribes
Start Garden Vault Conference Room: Intro to Shikantaza (Zen) Meditation (this is a 45-min session) — Ryan Vaughn
Seamless / Midwest House Office: Whole-Body Wellness for High-Intensity Work — Mentavi
12:00 PM — The Wellness Lunch Connections powered by Breaking Bread AI Sign up: HERE
2:00 PM — Recovery Room & Sauna Close