Everyone has more potential than they know.
Often, it takes a team in our corner to help us discover it.
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Hi, I'm Aïko
I grew up watching my parents follow their dream to open a business. I saw the immense courage it took, and the struggle that followed.
Years later, after building a career in the corporate world, I made my own leap into entrepreneurship. I assumed my background would make it easier. Instead, I found myself facing the same messy, uncomfortable, and uncertain reality.
To the outside world, I talked about the successes and promising leads. But behind closed doors, it was an isolated journey to go through.
Then I joined a mastermind.
For the first time, I had a real team in my corner. People with whom I could share the full picture: the fear, the doubt, the wins, and the raw reality of building a business. Opening up didn't weaken our dynamic; it brought us closer and made us support each other more deeply.
Being in that room changed what I believed was possible, not just for our businesses, but also for us, founders growing as leaders.
This is why I started InFounders in 2017.
What I experienced in that first group went far beyond business advice.
We recognize our own value
when our lived experience becomes a source of wisdom for someone else.
We unlock courage and resilience
when others see strengths in us that we haven't yet recognized in ourselves.
We become capable of more
when we have a group that inspires us to reach higher and roots for our success.
This isn't just better business practice.
It's how we build meaningful lives.
Closing a gap
For decades, established CEOs have relied on confidential peer groups to navigate high-stakes decisions. But historically, that support has only been accessible after someone has already reached the top.
InFounders brings that same level of trust and collective wisdom to entrepreneurs earlier in the journey, when they are taking the biggest risks, facing the deepest uncertainty, and working to turn a vision into reality.
Over the years, I've watched strangers become trusted allies. I've seen people find their voice by helping others find theirs. Most of all, I've seen what happens when entrepreneurs know they are not facing it alone.
Involved in the larger innovation ecosystem
Before launching InFounders, I spent years in strategy and operational execution as a consultant with Accenture and in banking. Since 2013, I have also started a number of businesses and led entrepreneurship programming and advised higher-education institutions on how entrepreneurship is taught, supported, and sustained.
Led entrepreneurship at York University (Innovation York). Advised the university-wide entrepreneurship strategy for SUNY Canton. Supported the Dean of Business at Seneca College and its 10,000 business students. Co-build and co-led Shad York.
Google · Princeton University · Hult Prize · Clarkson University · York University. Assessment of top provincial innovations for the Fonds de recherche du Québec.
Rutgers University · St. Lawrence University · CIX · Red Bull. Trailblazer Award from New Jersey City University's PhD entrepreneurship education department.
Unlocking the power of peership
Through years of facilitating groups and studying peer dynamics across very different spaces — CEO forums, startup masterminds, and high-trust support groups like AA and grief circles — I've analyzed what happens when people are given a safe space to solve hard problems together.
When you change how peers interact, you fundamentally change how people grow.
The upcoming book: Peership
How high-trust peer groups propel people further than traditional mentorship or lectures ever could — and how to harness those dynamics across teams, events, and whole communities.
Event & organizational advisory
Through aikothurlow.com, I work with enterprise leaders and conference organizers to enrich peer dynamics inside large event spaces.
“When people build together with honesty, empathy, and belief in one another, there is no limit to what they can achieve.”
Give your founders the support every entrepreneur deserves.
Let's discuss how InFounders can integrate into your upcoming program schedule.
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