Founder-to-Founder: Q&A with Chip Conley

​Join Chip Conley, co-founder of Modern Elder Academy, for a live, open Q&A with founders about leadership, resilience, and building a life beyond your company.

​Most founders are told to go all in.

​But what happens when your identity becomes your company?

​In this conversation, Chip Conley—founder of a pioneering hotel group and mentor to AirBNB's Brian Chesky—shares the realities most founders don’t talk about.

​From the emotional weight of building something from nothing to the often-overlooked aftermath of success, burnout, or exit, this session explores what it really means to lead—and to let go.

​We’ll cover:

• ​Why tying your identity too closely to your startup can quietly become a risk

• ​The emotional toll of building, and what happens when things fall apart

• ​Lessons from mentoring the early days of Airbnb

• ​How to lead without ego and empower your team

• ​What comes after the milestones everyone is chasing

​Don’t miss the first episode of the Founders Network Podcast. Subscribe to hear more conversations like this and explore how small, consistent wins can compound into meaningful, long-term growth.

​

​About the Speaker:

​Chip Conley is a serial entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and a leading voice on leadership, purpose, and midlife reinvention. He founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality in 1987 and grew it over 24 years into the second-largest boutique hotel company in the United States.
Following the sale of Joie de Vivre, Chip spent seven and a half years at Airbnb as Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, where he served as a mentor to the company’s young founders and helped guide Airbnb from scrappy startup to global brand and public company.

​Inspired by that intergenerational experience, Chip co-founded the Modern Elder Academy (MEA), the world’s first midlife wisdom school, with campuses in Baja California and Santa Fe. MEA has served more than 8,000 alumni from over 60 countries. Chip is the author of several books, including Wisdom at Work and Learning to Love Midlife, and regularly writes and speaks on leadership, aging, and human potential.

​

​Confidentiality Policy:

​​All information shared within Founders Network is strictly confidential. We are built on a foundation of trust, and the community takes confidentiality seriously. Investors, members, and staff all share experiences and opinions off the record.  In this roundtable forum, we continue to model our fnValues of Reciprocity, Humility, Authenticity and Inclusivity.