Small groups.
Serious pursuits.
Five founders and operators. Six weeks. The conversations you can't have on LinkedIn. Hand-matched and hosted personally by Talib.
Founding cohort — first pod free. No card required.
Founders & Operators Pod open now. Other pod types opening as demand builds.
Founding cohort just opened. Be one of the first five.
Why this needs to exist
You can't network into the right room.
In a physical room — a conference, a dinner, a meetup — it's almost impossible to find exactly the people you want. You meet a hundred people to find two worth talking to twice. The internet was meant to fix this and didn't: forums are too big, LinkedIn is too transactional, Discord is too noisy.
The pod types
Start with Founders & Operators. More opening as demand builds.
Podkin's flagship is the Founders & Operators Pod. Other pod types open as people vote them in.
Flagship pod · open for signups
Founders & Operators Pod
Five founders and senior operators meeting weekly to talk through the decisions you're actually wrestling with — hiring, pricing, distribution, focus, the things you can't post about on LinkedIn. Peer discussion, not advice. Hosted personally by Talib for the founding cohort.
Next pod starts Wednesday 24 June, 7pm UK. Founding cohort — first pod free.
6 weeks · 60 min · weekly
Who's a fit: people building or running something where the decisions are yours and the room to talk them through honestly is small. Pre-revenue to ~£5M ARR, or senior operators with real P&L responsibility.
Other pod types — vote with your email.
Podkin opens new pod types when there's enough demand to fill the first cohort. Tap one to join the waitlist — I'll email you when yours is close to launching.
How a session actually runs
Structured, but not stiff.
The biggest objection people raise is “what stops it descending into chaos?” Fair question. Every session has a tight, AI-prepared agenda the group can edit, optional expert moderation, and a 60-minute time box. Below is what a typical session looks like.
A typical pod session
60 min · week 4 of 6
- 010–10 min
Check-in
Each member: one minute on what they've been thinking about since last session. AI summary captures themes for the agenda.
- 0210–40 min
Topic discussion
A pre-agreed topic, often suggested by a member. Examples: "what I've changed my mind on this year," "lessons from a decision that went wrong," "what made this chapter land for me." Frameworks and learning, not advice.
- 0340–55 min
Open discussion
Topic decided by the group the week before. Examples: "what we make of UK housing right now," "how we think about risk," "the question this book is actually asking." Moderator (if present) keeps it focused.
- 0455–60 min
Next week + close
Whose topic next week? What does each member want to think about between now and then? AI generates the next agenda, plus a full recording, transcript, and summary you keep forever.
Why pods don't go stale
Fresh thinking. Fresh perspectives. Fresh people.
The number one reason peer groups die is that the conversation goes flat — same topics, same talkers, same circuit. Podkin attacks that on three fronts.
01
Members drive the agenda
No central gatekeeping. Each week a different member shapes the discussion around what they're actually thinking about. That's how peer groups stay engaged.
02
Structured but not stiff
Every week has a clear agenda so sessions never start blank — but the group can edit it, swap topics, or go deep on something that comes up. Structure with room to breathe.
03
Switch or continue — your call
At the end of six weeks, your pod votes. Most groups choose to keep going privately — that's a win. If you'd rather meet four new people working on something fresh, jump into the next pod. Subscription stays the same either way.
Pricing
£20 a month. Up to 3 pods at a time.
Less than a single executive coaching hour. Up to 18 hours of peer time a month.
Your first pod is free. £20/month only kicks in if you join a second pod.
Monthly
£20/month
After your free pod. One subscription covers up to 3 active pods, or host a private pod with four free guests.
£0.30/hour
vs ~£150 for a typical executive coaching hour
Run all three pods and that's what your peer time costs.
Annual
£200/year
Works out at £16.67/month with the same up-to-3-pods allowance. Best if you plan to stick with Podkin for the long run.
Run 3 pods/month and you're paying around 30p per peer hour.
What £20 actually gets you
- Recording, transcript, and AI summary of every session — searchable, yours forever, even if you switch pods
- Up to 3 active pods / month — stack a focus pod, a project pod, and a wildcard — or just do one
- 6 weekly sessions per pod — 60 min each — up to 18 hours of peer time a month if you run all three
- 4 hand-matched peers per pod — vetted before you join, working on the same thing as you
- Structured agenda every week — so sessions never start blank
- Calendar invites + reminders — Google, Apple, Outlook — never miss a session
Private pods
Bring your own group. First pod's on us.
Got four people you already want to think with? Host a private pod free for six weeks. After that, £20/month if you keep going. Same structure, same AI agendas, same recordings.
How it works
Sign up. Match. Meet.
01
Sign up and tell me what you want
A short signup form: what you're working on, your stage, and what you want from a pod. I read every application personally and match groups by hand — no algorithm, no quiz. If the next pod is full, you wait for the one after. Usually a couple of weeks, not months.
02
Six Zoom sessions, one a week
60 minutes online, same time each week. A structured agenda lands ahead of every call. Notes and decisions captured automatically. No travel, no admin.
03
Vote: keep, kill, or merge
At the end the group votes. Continue privately — encouraged. Merge with another pod via Podkin to grow your network. Or stay subscribed and join a different pod type next round.
Why it's different
Not a Discord. Not a course. Not a £10k club.
Not Interintellect
Interintellect runs brilliant one-off salons. Podkin runs the same five people for six weeks. Continuity is the product — you build a real relationship with four other people working on the same thing, not a different room every week.
Not Hampton or Vistage
Hampton costs £5–10k a year and gates you on revenue. Vistage costs more. Podkin is £20 a month and gates you on intent — are you actually going to show up. Same small-group format, a fraction of the price, none of the membership theatre.
Not a cohort course
Cohort courses have an instructor at the front and 200 students in the chat. Podkin has no instructor. Five peers, structured agenda, honest pushback. You learn from the room, not the teacher.
Not a Discord
Discords are 500 people, async, mostly lurking. Podkin is five people, synchronous, time-boxed, with a deadline that makes you show up. The opposite of a server you'll mute in a week.
The person behind it
Who's running this.
Hi — I'm Talib. I'm running Podkin's founding cohort personally: reading every application, matching every pod by hand, and hosting the first Founders & Operators Pod myself. No algorithm, no outsourced hosts. If you want to talk before signing up, email hello@podkin.co.uk and it comes straight to me.
More about me once we're out of the founding cohort.
Questions
The things people ask.
Find your pod.
Founding cohort — first pod free. Claim your seat in under a minute.