BUILD ALIGNMENT, BEYOND THE COMFORT ZONE.
WE REDEFINE DUE DILIGENCE BY HARNESSING THE POWER OF ADVENTURE TO DEEPEN ENGAGEMENT AND CREATE LASTING RELATIONSHIPS THAT EMBOLDEN HONESTY AND TRANSPARENCY, RESULTING IN ENDURING RELATIONSHIPS, A SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY, AND TRANSFORMATIVE GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES.
With the goal of deepening the engagement of entrepreneurs, investors, and the growth ecosystem surrounding game changing, high growth companies, adVenturesAcademy provides hands-on adventure training programs that unleash innovation, develop meaningful relationships between stakeholders, and cultivate key skills critical to success in building high growth, resilient companies.
We take entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders outdoors together, beyond the comfort zone, to redefine diligence and build meaningful relationships through often life- and business-changing adventures in wild, breathtaking parts of the world. These rugged places and experiences reflect so much of the process of building a high-growth company — getting comfortable with the unknown often helps navigate the rapidly changing terrain both entrepreneurs and investors face in their companies and portfolio companies, respectively.
You have the chance to get to know each other quickly, understanding how each of you react in challenging environments. Meaningful relationships built through shared experiences facilitate an openness in working through growth challenges and navigating rapidly changing terrain to optimize success and redefine diligence.
We Develop experiential Programs that explore growth challenges through the lens of adventure To Maximize Engagement. AdVenturesAcademy Programs Include:
• Building Adaptive, Resilient Growth & Leadership: From Your Board to the Shelf
• innovation base camp
• Understanding Human Motivation
• rope team travel: Transforming Competition into Coopetition
• Navigating Rapidly Changing Terrain: Route Planning in Business Growth Strategy
• Managing Risk as a Team when Everything is at Stake
• Leadership Beyond the Comfort Zone
• The Power of the Word: Storytelling, Thought Leadership & Consumer Engagement
• Finding Your True North: Defining Vision, Mission & Values
• Avalanche Training + Exit Strategy
• Growing Outside the Box: Vertically Integrated Sales & Distribution
Results: investor + Founder perspectives
ANDREW REYNOLDS
RCV Partners
“Alissa and team have done an amazing job devising fun, adventurous itineraries that challenge participants both mentally and physically. The exercises in the program mirror situations any entrepreneur would face running their company; aligning interests and efforts across a team, solving complex challenges, prioritizing tasks and effective communication to name a few elements. Further, the adVenturesAcademy model creates a unique environment to foster knowledge transfer from entrepreneurs, industry participants and investors alike. Launching and growing a business is not easy. adVenturesAcademy is an expanding community where everyone in the community is willing to help others build and ideally accelerate their companies’ performance whether it be through capital, advice, opening their networks or providing critical services.”
MAT FRANKEN
Aunt Fannie’s
“Andrew Reynolds and I had the good fortune to join the same South American adVenturesAcademy trip. After spending time and realizing we mutually enjoyed the other, Andrew reached out as things had settled back in stateside to inquire about his potential investing in Aunt Fannie’s. A few diligence calls afterward, he flew down to Aunt Fannie’s HQ to discuss his future investment in the company. Since then, Andrew has single handedly been our most supportive investor. Not only is he an experienced operator, and understands the complexities of the entrepreneur, but our time together in Ecuador gave us an investor/founder relationship that wouldn’t have occurred under any other circumstance. We’ve been ecstatic to have Andrew as part of our journey, and his relationship with Aunt Fannie’s, beyond capital, has been irreplaceable.”
OUR APPROACH
We have found time and again that some of the best companies are those most able to adapt to the challenges of growth and achieve scale. They have the resilience, indomitable authenticity and grit to transform growth challenges to fuel even greater scale. adVenturesAcademy helps unleash that potential by harnessing the power of adventure to build resilient growth and transform “business as usual.” Our team has spent decades developing our unique methodology and experiential learning models that focus on the key aspects of building high-growth companies – while also addressing the internal journey of leaders.
BREAKING THE BOX: Shifting power structures. Removing labels of “founder,” “investor,” and “advisor.” Focusing on program design that connects, unites and enables people to connect at the human level.
We go beyond and transform adventure into a powerful tool for connection, enhanced understanding, alignment, and growth. We don’t do ropes courses, but create real adventures that transcend traditional “team building.” Examples? Digging into the lessons found through avalanche training that reflect developing a focused exit strategy. Understanding how wild horses reflect the entrepreneurial journey. Examining the business lessons learned in understanding how to read surf conditions. Exploring how rope team travel is a powerful lesson for how we build and manage our boards. Listening to the wisdom of our elders when Chumash Elder Mati Waiya convened the opening ceremony at Jalama, speaking to the importance of true sustainability in business. Unlocking the magic when a founder teaches an investor how to surf. Here the labels are dropped and we connect at the human level.
OUTCOME-DESIGNED PROGRAMS: Our team designs every program based upon an outcome-driven program design framework and actionable steps. Each program has a core theme that prioritizes aspects of the growth process most relevant to each of cohort of founders, investors, and advisors. Program leads, facilitators and advisors are all selected with that framework in mind.
PARTICIPANT ALIGNMENT: We have created a thorough application & selection process to ensure we’re adding the most value for program participants based in more than 10 years’ of experience building investment summits and identifying key facets that build alignment. We’ve identified the growth stage and state of mind of founders where we can be most effective and then align that with the specific investors and advisors to build the strongest growth ecosystems for each program. We develop a review committee that is unique to each program with core criteria and review processes that help enhance the selection process – both in reviewing the business opportunities as well as the EQ strengths of each applicant.
We believe in connecting at the human level - and there is no better way than through play, going beyond the comfort zone, getting real, and building trust through having fun together. It breaks down barriers and forges connections that encourage honesty and transparency.
ADVENTURESACADEMY CREDO
To honor this space and community, we’ve developed our adVenturersCredo as our commitment, aspiration and responsibility to each other as a community to redefine diligence and build resilient growth. Together. We do things a little differently around here to maintain the integrity of this safe space and community.
WE…
Go beyond. Magic happens beyond the comfort zone.
Harness the power of adventure. Building resilience + adaptability. Connecting at the human level to develop real relationships that endure.
Invite vulnerability. We cultivate openness and vulnerability through showing up fully and creating the space to support others. Even when it’s hard for us, we know that together, we can be our true selves.
Redefine diligence. We transcend “pitch and be pitched” models of growth. We get to know each other, beyond our comfort zones, to understand how we deal with adversity, how we work together, how we grow together and build transformative companies that last.
Learn + grow, together. We listen. Ask questions. Honor others’ perspectives. Share our own respectfully. We engage in dialogue.
Color outside the lines. We foster creativity through building a culture of passion, shared knowledge, out of the box inspiration, and connecting dots many others don’t see. This comes through checking egos at the door and engaging constructively, not critically.
Continually improve. We leave things better than we found them – in business, adventure, our environment and life.
“We were immediately thrust into a realness that allowed us to experience one another at a much deeper level…Those typical power dynamics that you find between entrepreneurs and investors, erased…our three days together were peppered with crystallizing moments that will I will take with me and apply to this roller-coaster ride we call entrepreneurship.”
