The room for the person who actually runs the company.
Join us for 2 days in a room of operators who get it. You'll build real playbooks, make new connections and walk out more confident in your ops role and seat.
The founder has a room. You've been on an island.
Founders are historically good at investing in themselves. They hire mentors, they mastermind with other founders, they share ideas, and always have someone to call when they've got a challenge they need help solving. The operator holding the whole thing together usually has no one…
You solve the hard things and keep them off the founder's plate. Carrying problems up the chain is the opposite of the job.
You lead the team. You're the one who is supposed to have it figured out. Not every challenge is theirs to hold.
The other number twos who live your exact reality have been scattered across other companies. Operators Only Live puts them in one room.
You need a sounding board built for your seat, with people who get the founder-operator dynamic without you having to explain a thing. We built these two days because the number two deserves the same room the founder has always had.
This is your room if.
We're keeping this room specific on purpose, so you're sitting with operators who actually share your reality.
You run operations behind a founder who is the face of the brand.
You are the COO, integrator, or right hand who turns vision into execution.
You feel the friction around authority, role clarity, and communication with your founder.
You want real tools and a group that gets it, not another course to sit through.
We'll build all six playbooks together in the room.
Every session over the 2 days ends with you building your own version, live, and with the assistance of an AI tool. You'll fly home with a working V1 of each one instead of just a stack of notes.
Role clarity map
Who owns what across you, the founder, and the team. Finally on paper.
Built liveYour user manual
How to get the best out of working with you, ready to share with the team.
Built liveCommunication protocol
The agreement that ends the chaos of the live brainstorm turning into instant commitment.
Built liveCapacity reset
Language for founder ambition versus what the team can actually carry.
Built liveYour 90-day roadmap
The exact plan for your first ninety days back, with the conversations to start.
Built liveResistance & advocacy script
How to hold the line and ask for what you need when you bring change back home.
Built liveSix playbooks in two days, the kind of head start most operators spend years piecing together on their own.
Every session block is designed to get you building, not just taking notes.
You won't be sitting through hours of lectures. Each 75-minute working block gives you a short teaching, time for hands-on building, and real feedback from the mentors and operators around you.
From seen to ready to lead.
Day one is about finally feeling understood and realizing you're not alone in the challenges of the Founder-Led dynamic. Day two is about walking out equipped, with a plan and a room full of people who have your back.
Seen
It's a real pattern. It's not just you.
Understood
You can read the founder dynamic clearly.
Equipped
You have tools you built yourself.
Activated
You know exactly what to do next.
Backed
You leave with peers you can actually call.
Seen and understood
- 9:00Welcome and a connection opener, so the room starts talking in hour one.
- 9:45The founder-operator reality, and where your friction really comes from.
- 11:15Role clarity: who owns what, mapped for your business.
- 1:30Your user manual, built and ready to share with the team.
- 3:00Hot seats: real challenges, coached live in front of the room.
- 4:00Integration: lock your focus for day two.
- 6:30Group dinner. Forced proximity, on purpose.
Equipped and activated
- 9:00Re-ground and reconnect the room.
- 9:30Communication protocols that end the chaos of the live brainstorm.
- 11:00Capacity and expectations: founder ambition versus team reality.
- 1:15Your 90-day roadmap, the centerpiece you take home.
- 2:45Handling resistance and advocating for what you need.
- 4:00Close, and where you go from here.
Every session runs the same 75-minute rhythm: teach, build your V1, break into small groups, and come back together.
We're bringing together 35 operators in one room for two full days and one shared dinner.
The playbooks matter, but the people in the room matter more. You'll meet operators who live your exact reality, swap ideas on what's actually working, and leave with people you can call when things get hard.
You'll get more than peers, too. Adrienne and Darrell have spent decades running companies and mentoring operators, and while your founder can lead the vision, they've never sat in your seat. The guidance you actually need has to come from someone who understands both roles intimately, and that blend is exactly what your mentors bring to these two days.
Everything you need to plan the trip.
- Dates
- October 1 and 2, 2026. Two full days.
- Location
- Minneapolis. Exact venue shared on confirmation.
- Format
- In person, capped at 35. By application, then invitation.
- Investment
- $2,500
- Included
- All sessions, your six playbooks, materials, and the group dinner. Travel and hotel on you.
- What you keep
- Your six playbooks, plus a room of operators you can actually call.
We've run the companies. We've mentored both the founders and the number twos.
Plenty of people will teach you leadership, but almost none of them have sat where you sit or spent years coaching the people who do. Between us, we've got two decades of running and scaling companies, the methodology behind a 300,000-copy bestseller, and thousands of operators and owners coached through exactly these problems.
This is the guidance your founder can't give you, because they've never been the number two.
Adrienne Dorison
Adrienne Dorison is a leadership and operational efficiency expert who has spent more than 15 years helping founders build businesses that run without them. She created the methodology behind Mike Michalowicz's bestselling book Clockwork, which has sold over 300,000 copies, and has personally coached thousands of business owners. Today she's the founder and CEO of Level 11 Leaders, where her proprietary Out of Office framework helps founders remove owner dependency and build real optionality: to scale, sell, step away, or pass the business on.
- 15+ years coaching founders
- Creator of the Clockwork methodology
- 300,000+ copies sold
- Thousands of owners coached
- Out of Office framework
Darrell Vesterfelt
Darrell is an executive coach who has spent nearly two decades scaling creator businesses. Early on, he launched an online magazine that reached millions of readers and joined the founding team at Donald Miller's StoryBrand. He grew ConvertKit (now Kit) from $1M to $7M in annual recurring revenue in 15 months, then co-founded a venture-backed startup as COO. He later served as VP of Growth at Mighty Networks, which acquired his creator-centered agency in May 2025. He lives in Minneapolis, where he's the general partner of Mount Haley, a holding company he founded.
- ~2 decades scaling companies
- Founding team, StoryBrand
- Grew Kit from $1M to $7M ARR
- Co-founder & COO, venture-backed startup
- VP of Growth, Mighty Networks
This room is by application.
Seats are $2,500 and by invitation, and every invitation starts with an application. This room only works when the right operators are in it, so tell us why you want in, what you're wrestling with, and what you'd bring to everyone else. Applying doesn't guarantee a seat, and we read every application ourselves and reply within 24 hours.
By application, then by invitation. Applying does not guarantee a seat. We reply within 24 hours.
Your application is in.
We read every application personally. If Operators Only Live is a fit for you and the room, you'll hear from us within 24 hours.