JUSTGROW · Growth Circles

Learning from
leaders who carry
the same weight.

Growth Circles are curated peer groups for CEOs, co-founders and managing directors. Confidential, regular, results-oriented — with experienced sparring partners from the JUSTGROW network.

A Growth Circle in action
Who’s in the roomCEOs, co-founders and managing directors
Format8–12 members, curated, confidential, regular
The promiseClarity, faster decisions, no echo chamber

At the top it gets lonely.
Despite all the calls.

Whoever runs a company rarely has a counterpart who truly knows the job. There’s no shortage of advice — real sparring among peers is rare. That’s exactly what a Growth Circle solves.

01 / Loneliness

No one in the house who really gets it.

Employees, the advisory board, investors — everyone has an agenda. Real reflection only comes from outside your own organisation.

02 / Blind spots

You’re the last to see your own patterns.

What sounds logical in your own head often sounds different among experienced peers. That’s exactly where the biggest levers sit.

03 / Pace

Decisions drag on.

When every question has to pass through one person’s head, everything slows down. Peers deliver clarity in days, not quarters.

04 / Stagnation

Growth needs outside impulses.

Without friction from outside, any leadership ossifies. A good Circle creates friction — but constructively, confidentially and with substance.

A Growth Circle in session
— A Growth Circle in session — 02 / Image

Four pillars.
One format.

A Growth Circle is more than a get-together. Every session follows a clear structure that brings together inspiration, sparring, focus and commitment.

01

Inspiration

Compact impulses on a growth topic — from research, practice and JUSTGROW experience. Not a lecture, but a starting point for discussion.

02

Reflection

Structured peer sparring on concrete questions from your own company. Confidential, results-oriented, without consultant waffle.

03

One Thing

Everyone leaves the session with exactly one concrete thing to tackle in the next 30 days. No more “interesting, but then nothing”.

04

Follow-Up

In the next session, everyone reports back on what they put into action. Commitment without pressure — through the weight of peer expectation.

A Growth Circle is a leadership rhythm,
not a workshop.

Clear cornerstones instead of an open format. So everyone knows what they’re signing up for — and can defend the slot against their calendar.

Group size
8–12members, curated
Duration
2.5–3 hper session
Rhythm
every 4–8 wksover 6–12 months
Format
Online · Hybrid · Select sessions on-siteby group choice
Facilitation
JUSTGROWOlaf Sell · Georg von Laffert
Confidentiality
Chatham House RuleStrict confidentiality between members
JUSTGROW Leadership Growth Circle — a 4-week rhythm of inspiration, reflection, interaction, commitment, 1:1 Growth Advisory and retrospective

What we
talk about.

Topics come from the group. Curated along three levels of impact — how you lead yourself, how you lead your team, how you lead your organisation.

01
Building Me

How I lead — today and tomorrow.

Which habits hold me back, which standards do I keep? The honest self-audit no one sustains alone.

02
Building Me

Out of the fire-fighting.

How do you move from day-to-day operations into the strategic role — without everything falling apart? What other CEOs concretely handed off.

03
Building Me

Would I hire my team again?

The most uncomfortable question a leader can ask. Which answer helps most — even when it hurts.

04
Building Team

The leadership team as a team.

Where does your leadership crew work against itself today without noticing? What conflict-avoidance costs — and how to dissolve it.

05
Building Team

Multiplier, not manager.

Some leaders halve their team’s energy. Others double it. What separates the two types — and which side you’re on.

06
Building Team

Clear feedback, without collateral damage.

How critical conversations strengthen trust — instead of tipping it over. Three sentences that hold up in any honest conversation.

07
Building Organisation

Strategy that lands in the everyday.

What gets lost between the strategy workshop and the quarterly review — and which two rhythms make the difference.

08
Building Organisation

Deliver today. Invent tomorrow.

How do you run the core business and new business at the same time — without one suffocating the other? The trade-off every MD faces.

09
Building Organisation

Systems that run without me.

Which structures, values and people you build so the company grows — even without you. The strategic question no quarterly report asks.

What members
take away from it.

Anonymised, with permission. What really changed after 6–12 months in a Growth Circle.

Scale-up · 80 staffCase 01

“I restructured my C-level — and finally found the nerve.”

The CEO of a B2B SaaS had been putting off two personnel decisions for months. In the Circle, peers described the same situation — and how they’d solved it. Two weeks later it was done.

→ Pace accelerated by 6 months
Mittelstand · 220 staffCase 02

“We touched pricing that no one had dared to for 8 years.”

A managing director used the Circle to play through a pricing experiment. The sparring showed: her biggest worry was unfounded. The rollout brought +14% margin the following quarter.

→ +14% margin in 3 months
Hidden champion · 480 staffCase 03

“At last, sparring partners who know my job.”

The CEO of a family business found no honest reflection on the advisory board. In the Circle, by contrast, people who knew the same themes — without a political agenda. “One of the best investments of my year.”

→ Stress measurably reduced
Co-founder · Series ACase 04

“We decide faster because we no longer go round in circles.”

Two founders brought the same strategic question into two sessions in a row. The pressure of the peer group forced a decision — and the follow-through. A classic deadlock became a routine exercise.

→ Decision cycle halved

Two ways
to start.

You can join a public Circle — or set up an exclusive in-house Circle for your own company. Both are curated and facilitated by JUSTGROW.

Format · Public Circle

Joining a
curated group.

You become part of an existing or newly assembled peer group — carefully selected by size, industry and maturity, with no competitors.

  • Curated matching by JUSTGROW
  • 8–12 members, no competitors in the group
  • 6–12 month term, sessions every 4–8 weeks
  • An onboarding conversation before you join
from €5,900 / year · plus VAT Book a discovery call
Format · In-house Circle

A Circle just for
your company.

For management teams or leadership levels that want to grow together as a group — with JUSTGROW as outside, neutral facilitation.

  • The group is made up of your leadership level
  • Topics from your strategy and growth context
  • Format online, hybrid or select sessions on-site
  • Optionally embedded in the Growth Program
Individual quote Book a discovery call

From first conversation
to Circle.

A clearly structured start — so every Circle works from day one. No open question marks, no lock-ins.

01

Conversation

A 30-minute first conversation. We understand your context, your themes, your expectations of the Circle.

02

Matching

We check the fit with existing or new groups — and present the setup to you transparently.

03

Onboarding

A personal onboarding before the first session: topics, ground rules, expectation alignment.

04

Grow

You’re in. 6–12 months of structured peer learning with concrete outcomes every session.

From a Circle, after 9 months
“It’s the only group where I say things I say nowhere else — and get answers that actually help.”
CEO, B2B software · Member for 9 months Anonymised on request

What people
often ask.

If your question isn’t here: write to us. We answer personally — not from a bot.

Who decides who ends up in a Circle?

JUSTGROW curates. We look for maturity, a breadth of industries, no direct competitors in one group — and a comparable depth of responsibility.

How much time does it take?

2.5–3 hours per session, every 4–8 weeks. Plus about an hour of preparation and follow-up. Over a quarter that adds up to three-quarters of a day.

Is there a minimum term?

A Circle typically runs for 6 or 12 months. Early exit is explained in detail in the first conversation — we don’t lock in anyone who isn’t convinced.

What sets a Growth Circle apart from Vistage / EO / YPO?

We’re smaller, more topic-specific and more sharply focused on concrete growth questions — with facilitation that brings both strategy and operator experience. Some of our members are there too. The two don’t rule each other out.

Can we run a Circle in English?

Yes. We facilitate in German or English. In-house formats are free to choose their language, topics and rhythm.

What happens after a first conversation?

We take 7–10 days to think the matching through and propose a concrete setup. You then decide in your own time.

30 minutes.
A conversation.
No sales pitch.

We understand your context. You understand what a Circle could look like for you. Whether you become a member afterwards is open — and that’s how it should be.

Book a discovery call