The Founding Group
The Female
Founder Lab
Our founding group. Twelve weeks, starting September 2026. A small group of women building side by side, on their own terms.
This September, a small group of women will be the first through The Female Founder Lab. This is our pilot, the founding group we build the lab with before we open it wider in 2027. You won't be getting a finished, polished machine. You'll be getting something better: a front-row seat, our full attention, and a real hand in shaping what this becomes.
Most programs for founders are built to get you ready to raise venture capital. The Female Founder Lab starts somewhere else. It starts with you deciding what you want to build, and then helping you build it. Over twelve weeks, eight to twelve women work side by side, starting with your own definition of success and building toward it.
The shape of it
Duration
12 weeks, starting September 2026
Size
8 to 12 women, our founding group
Cadence
Weekly sessions, in school hours, always recorded
Cost
$100 a month
Led by
Women who have built it
Tools
AI built into every week
What you'll work through
Five movements over twelve weeks. Each one builds on the last.
- 01
Define your success model.
Before any tactics, you decide what you're building toward. Everything after refers back to it.
- 02
Find or sharpen your idea.
Arrive with a spark or an idea you're circling. We help you land the one worth your time.
- 03
Money that makes sense.
Pricing, margins, and profitability for a business meant to sustain you, rather than burn toward someone else's exit.
- 04
Build and grow, sustainably.
Operations, first hires, and growth at a pace that fits your real life.
- 05
Capital paths.
An honest look at funding if you decide you want it, and what it means to build without it.
- 06
Your AI operating system.
The AI tools pulled into one way of working, so a lean founder can do the work of a much bigger team.
Why be in the first group
You shape the lab.
As a founding member, your feedback builds the thing. What works for you becomes how we run it for everyone after.
You get more of us.
A small first group means closer attention, more room in the conversation, and direct access to Sally and every facilitator.
You help set the standard.
The women in this room become the proof and the story that carry The SWELL into 2027.
What makes it different
So you know exactly what you're walking into, and why we built it this way.
You don't need the idea figured out yet. We help you find it, or shape the one you've been circling, before you pour months into the wrong thing.
It starts with your definition of success, rather than a fundraising deadline. No other program in Seattle begins here.
Every session is led by a woman who has built the kind of business you're building.
You get real coaching. Sally Revell, an executive coach who has led teams at Google Cloud and AWS, guides the work personally, starting with what success means for you.
AI is built into every week. You leave fluent in the tools that let a lean founder do the work of a much bigger team.
It's built around a real life. Sessions in school hours, everything recorded, kids welcome. Caregiving is in the design, rather than the fine print.
You leave with a plan you'll follow, and a community that doesn't end when the twelve weeks do.
Who it's for
You don't need a finished plan or a proven idea. You need a spark: a skill you could build on, a problem you keep noticing, a thing people already ask you for.
Some women arrive knowing exactly what they're building. Others arrive with a feeling that they're meant to build something, and no idea what yet. Both belong here.
This is for women ready to build something profitable and lasting on their own terms, wherever they're starting from. If raising venture capital turns out to be your path, we'll point you to the people who do that best. If it's not, you finally have somewhere built for you.
Built in partnership with Sound Startups, delivered by women who've done it, at SURF Incubator in downtown Seattle.