What Businessoutside does

BusinessOutside is a Boulder, Colorado-based boutique leadership development consultancy founded in 2021 by serial entrepreneur Bart Foster (formerly of SoloHealth / Pursuant Health, CIBA Vision / Alcon, Novartis, and Kellogg's) alongside co-founder Riley Ferrero. The firm designs and delivers facilitated leadership experiences - ranging from 90-minute immersions and 2-3 day offsites to year-long transformational arcs - for CEOs, senior executives, and leadership teams, primarily at Fortune 500 enterprises and within YPO/EO peer networks. Its second product line, Forums, is a recurring curated peer group offering for CEOs and rising leaders, structured around nine annual virtual sessions and one in-person offsite.

The core offering is a human-delivered service: a bench of more than a dozen strategic advisors and facilitators who are themselves proven operators (former presidents, CEOs, and founders from PopSockets, Johnson & Johnson, Viad/Pursuit, Salomon, Pearl Izumi, Dermsquared, AVL Growth, 29029 / iFIT, and others) deliver the work end-to-end through a six-stage process spanning objectives, pre-work, agenda design, coordination, experience delivery, and follow-through. The methodology emphasizes facilitated outdoor experiences and codified frameworks - including Five Secrets to Deeper Connections, the Jeffersonian Dinner format, and the Connection Walk - rather than any digital platform; the firm explicitly operates without proprietary technology, integrations, or APIs.

BusinessOutside makes money through two mechanics: (1) professional-services, custom-quoted engagements priced by group size, duration, and complexity, typically structured as multi-year contracts on larger transformations, and (2) recurring subscription-style Forum memberships for executive peer cohorts. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales and community-led, driven by Bart Foster's personal brand, YPO/EO chapter relationships, and referral-driven testimonials from enterprise buyers including IBM, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, UnitedHealth Group, Alcon, EssilorLuxottica, Michelin, Valvoline, Arby's, The Venetian, WK Kellogg, and Korn Ferry. The firm is privately held, bootstrapped, with no external institutional funding disclosed.

Name

Businessoutside

Legal name

BusinessOutside

Website

https://businessoutside.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

BusinessOutside is a Boulder, CO boutique consultancy founded in 2021 that designs facilitated leadership experiences, corporate offsites, and recurring CEO peer forums for Fortune 500 enterprises, YPO/EO members, and PE portfolio companies, delivered by an operator-facilitator bench.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Leadership Development Services

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Retreats & Team Offsites (Non-incentive) (THAHAMAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Company All-Hands, Town Halls & Leadership Offsites (THAHAIAB), Executive Leadership Summits (C-Suite, Board, Strategy Offsites) (THAHAMAA), Corporate Team-Building & Offsite Services (HSACADAF), Executive Summits & Invitation-Only Forums (MPAGAGAK)

Keywords

• Leadership development
• Executive coaching
• Corporate offsites
• Peer forums
• Team retreats

Headquarters

HQ city

Boulder

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Leadership Experiences and Offsites: Custom-designed immersive experiences ranging from half-day workshops to year-long transformational journeys. Pricing is quote-based and customized to group size, duration, and complexity. The company designs end-to-end experiences including pre-work, agenda design, facilitation, and follow-through deliverables.
2. CEO and Executive Forums: Ongoing membership-based peer forums for CEOs, executives, and rising leaders. Forums include nine virtual sessions per year, one in-person offsite annually, and access to personal/professional development frameworks. Revenue is likely recurring membership fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

BusinessOutside designs and delivers facilitated leadership experiences and peer forums for enterprise clients. Offerings range from 90-minute Immersions & Workshops to multi-day Offsites & Retreats, year-long Transformations, and Virtual Sessions for remote teams, alongside recurring CEO, Executive, and Leadership Forums with nine virtual sessions per year plus an annual in-person offsite. All engagements are custom-designed and facilitator-led by former CEOs, founders, and senior operators.

Product overview

BusinessOutside is a boutique leadership development consultancy offering two primary product lines: Experiences (expansive offsites, retreats, workshops, and year-long transformation journeys) and Forums (curated peer groups for CEOs, executives, and rising leaders). The Experiences portfolio includes Transformations (year-long programs), Offsites & Retreats (2-3 day immersive experiences), Immersions & Workshops (90 min to 1 day sessions), and Virtual Sessions. The Forums product provides peer support through nine virtual sessions annually plus one in-person offsite per year with development materials. All offerings center on building trust through outdoor and nature-based activities to improve team performance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Experiences Experiential programs including flagship Transformations (year-long leadership journeys), Offsites & Retreats (2-3 day immersive experiences), Immersions & Workshops (90 min to 1 day sessions), and Virtual Sessions for remote teams. Programs focus on building trust, team health, and sustainable performance through outdoor and nature-based activities for leadership teams and organizations.
• Forums Curated peer groups for senior leaders including CEO Forums, Executive Forums, and Leadership Forums. Membership includes nine virtual sessions per year and one annual in-person offsite, plus personal and professional development workbooks and journals. Designed for CEOs and senior leaders seeking a trusted room to think clearly, pressure-test decisions, and grow alongside people who have carried similar weight.

Quantifiable outcome

• 220+ participants in single Connection Walk (WK Kellogg Co)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• YPO (Young Presidents' Organization)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBusinessOutside facilitators are YPO-certified Forum Facilitators. The company specifically targets YPO members and chapters (YPO Pacific One, YPO Ohio) for its peer forum offerings. This partnership provides access to a network of chief executives and organic lead generation within the YPO community.
• EO (Entrepreneurs' Organization)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBusinessOutside facilitates custom retreats and workshops for EO forums, similar to its YPO work. The company positions itself as serving both YPO and EO member entrepreneurs and executives seeking peer connection and leadership development.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Reboot: Boutique leadership development and culture consultancy that runs retreats and offsites for executives and founders, with a similar facilitator-led, transformation-oriented model. Closest comparable in the operator-facilitator, retreat-led format.
• Potential Project: Global leadership development firm that runs mindfulness- and performance-based offsites and ongoing programs for senior leaders. Directly competes in the experiential, leadership-team retreat category.
• The Energy Project: Leadership transformation consultancy that combines research-based frameworks with experiential retreats to build sustainable high performance. Comparable to BusinessOutside's 'connection drives trust drives performance' thesis for executive teams.
• Mobius Executive Leadership: Specializes in transformative leadership retreats and adventure-based executive experiences, often in outdoor settings. Mirrors BusinessOutside's outdoor-facilitation differentiation and target buyer.
• Outward Bound Professional: Outdoor experiential leadership program that runs corporate team-building retreats and custom adventures. Closest comparable along the experiential/outdoor facilitation axis, though more adventure-led and less CEO-peer-forum oriented.

Broad incumbents

• Korn Ferry: Global organizational consulting and executive search firm with a leadership development practice that delivers offsites and team-alignment programs. Notable because Korn Ferry is also a BusinessOutside client, illustrating incumbent overlap with the boutique.
• Egon Zehnder: Top-tier executive search and advisory firm offering leadership advisory and team effectiveness services for C-suite clients. Overlaps with BusinessOutside's C-suite and senior executive focus at the high end.
• Center for Creative Leadership (CCL): Large, established executive education provider with multi-day leadership programs and custom retreats. Operates broadly in the same leadership-development space but as a scaled nonprofit rather than a boutique.
• FranklinCovey: Established leadership and execution training firm offering workshops, coaching, and retreat-style engagements. Competes for the same L&D budget for leadership team-building at Fortune 500 scale.

Emerging players

• BetterUp: Tech-enabled leadership coaching and team performance platform. Represents the scalable, software-mediated alternative to boutique facilitated retreats; partial overlap with BusinessOutside's leadership development thesis.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/businessoutside

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Businessoutside