​A conversation for 30 Bay Area founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners who’ve built something real—and are ready to break through what’s next.

​You’ve built something real. Hit revenue. Proved the idea works. And now you’re staring at a ceiling you can’t quite name, and the people around you can’t quite see.

​That’s the plateau. And this event is an open, honest conversation about how to break it.

​The Village Focus

​The Founder's Plateau is the first in a series of gatherings designed to build a genuine, supportive village of founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners. We know how lonely it can be at the top, and how hard it is to find a room where you can take off the "everything is great" mask and talk about real business bottlenecks.

​To make sure this night is actually impactful, we are keeping this first gathering small—just 30 seats. This isn't a massive mixer where you just hand out business cards; it’s a high-trust room where everyone can actually get to know each other.

​Your hosts are Liz Nguyen and Wei Houng. This isn’t a panel or a formal lecture. Liz will be hosting a comfortable fireside conversation with Wei, opening up the floor for a raw, community-driven Q&A.

​There is no "audience" at this event. Every person in the room is an active participant in the village.

​What to Expect

• ​A True Village: A welcoming room of founders who understand the unique weight of building a business.

• ​Real, Direct Answers: Bring your toughest operational or leadership questions. Liz will guide the Q&A so we address the actual challenges in the room.

• ​Good Company: Light refreshments, hors d'oeuvres, and low-pressure conversation with people who get it.

​The Itinerary:

• ​6:00 PM — Arrival & Mingle

• ​6:30 PM — Fireside Chat & Q&A with Wei Houng

• ​8:00 PM — Interactive Village Discussion & Connections

​Seating & RSVPs

​Because space at the office is physically limited to 30 seats, please request your ticket below.

• ​Seat Confirmation Deposit: $40 (To ensure every seat is utilized, a $40 commitment fee is required. 20% of proceeds directly benefit our HumanOp Impact Alliance non-profit partners).

• ​A Quick Note Upon Sign-Up: When you request a ticket, you'll see a few questions about what business ceiling you're currently facing. Liz reviews every single one of these before the event to ensure the conversation directly serves the people in the room.

​Food & Drinks

​Light refreshments and hors d'oeuvres will be provided throughout the evening. Food provider: TBD.

​HumanOp Impact Alliance Benefactors

​Your ticket does more than get you in the room. A portion of proceeds benefits two organizations doing work that matters:

• ​Andy's Cafe is a nonprofit coffee venture built on a simple but powerful idea: that adults on the spectrum (with autism) have something exceptional to offer the workforce. With 85% of that community unemployed, Andy's Cafe creates real, sustainable jobs by pairing advanced robotics with what they call the "Autistic Advantage" — the attention to detail, consistency, and dedication that neurodiverse team members bring to every cup. Premium coffee. Real impact. Learn more at andys.cafe.

• ​Verity Foundation has been building something the Bay Area needs since 2016. High school students earn merit-based scholarships — for college, trade school, and vocational programs — by volunteering at real community events. No essays. No applications. Just a proven track record, built over time, alongside real people. Event organizers get reliable volunteers. Local employers get entry-level candidates whose work ethic is already demonstrated. And students graduate into a world where people know their name. That's not a program. That's an ecosystem.

​Your Hosts

• ​Wei Houng is Co-Founder of HumanOp and has spent 30+ years pattern-reading founders, Fortune 10 executives, and high-performance operators. His work is physics-based, not psychometric — built on understanding how you're actually wired so you can stop working against yourself. Through HumanOp Coherence (humanop.com/coherence), Wei offers strategic advisory for 7-figure founders and CEOs who've stopped recognizing the person doing the winning. Thirty years later, the premium founders find him — not the other way around. This fireside is a rare, small-group environment to access his frameworks.

• ​Liz Nguyen is an Implementer at HumanOp and the host behind this village. Her work is rooted in one thing: seeing the potential in founders — even when they can't see it in themselves — and building spaces where they feel strong enough to act on it. Through The Founder's Dividend (humanop.com/dividend), Liz embeds with founder-led businesses to extract the Operational IP from the founder's head and install it in the business — so the business can run without you at the center of everything. She's here to uplift. To build the container. To make sure no founder navigates the hard parts alone.

​Can't make it to Cupertino? This is the first of many events. A virtual version of the Founder's Plateau runs July 22, 2026.