The Benefits of Mastermind Groups for Female Founders
Atto hosts weekly Masterminds. 💡
Atto Mastermind Groups are one of the most popular parts of our programs and membership. 💙
There’s lots of talk in the female founder community about mastermind groups. We wanted to demystify what masterminds are, how you can join one, and the benefits of joining a mastermind group.
So what exactly are mastermind groups?
Masterminds are usually a peer-to-peer support group to help group members solve problems and get advice from other members in the group.
They’re similar to general mentoring and office hours but in a group setting often with a handful of people.
It’s said that Andrew Carnegie and Napoleon Hill were the first to coin the term ‘masterminds’. As successful business people from the early 1900s, they championed getting advice from and learning from other successful people.
Lots of business leaders use mastermind groups (or unofficial masterminds) to help take their insights, performance and outcomes to the next level.
At Atto, we host weekly Masterminds for our monthly Academy members as well as during our Accelerator programs. During our Atto Masterminds, we encourage everyone to share:
What they’ve been working on,
A win we can celebrate with them (it’s important to acknowledge your business in business), and
A question or a challenge they’d like to brainstorm with the group.
There are many benefits to being a part of a group of people aligned to similar missions and supporting one another. Below we’ve compiled a list of the top benefits of masterminds for female founders.
Top benefits of mastermind groups for female founders:
1. Connection with a like-minded community 🤗
One of the main reasons people join mastermind groups is to connect with other people undertaking a similar journey.
Whatever mission you’re on or whatever goal you’re trying to reach, there’s someone out there who has done something similar. Joining a mastermind group allows you to find these people on a similar mission, and the meetings provide an opportunity for members to have honest and action-based discussions about how you reach your goals.
Building a business can be a lonely journey. In the early stages, often founders rely on friends and family for support. And while friends and family can offer great emotional support, often founders need to connect with other founders to get specific advice on what they’re working on.
Every week at Atto, we hear from female founders who have been building their startup and have found the entrepreneurial journey either isolating at times or confusing about what steps to take next. The Atto community gives these founders the chance to connect with other founders building tech startups, and the mastermind sessions give these founders the opportunity to ask questions and offer support to one another based on their real experience.
2. Build new connections and build your network 🌐
Depending on the mastermind format, you could connect with the same members every week or you could meet new members at each meeting.
When masterminds have the same members join every meeting, members benefit from long-term consistent accountability and connection building.
When masterminds have different and new members join each meeting, members benefit from building their network and practice sharing what they’re working on.
At Atto, we have masterminds that are both recurring and drop-in. Our Accelerator founders are put into pods with other startup founders at a similar stage of business. Our monthly Academy founders have the opportunity to join a weekly drop-in mastermind.
3. Get expert advice from others who want to see you succeed 💪
One of the main benefits of joining a mastermind group is having expert cheerleaders on your team. There shouldn’t be any harsh competition in mastermind groups. They’re designed to be supportive and help members to reach their goals.
Masterminds are usually designed to include people who are on a similar journey to you but are doing something different to you. Members share advice based on what’s worked for them and encourage you to think differently about what you’ve been doing.
Most top performers get support from coaches and mentors. Whether they’re athletes, creatives or business owners, top performers are more likely to perform even better when they’ve got a regular check-in with people who push them to do and be better.
When you’ve got a group of people with relevant experience who are investing time to support you in your business journey, you’re more likely to be aware of your challenges, more likely to hear ways you can move through blocks, and more likely to be optimistic about potential outcomes.
Masterminds are a great opportunity for growth simply by being around people on a similar journey who want to see you reach your goals.
4. Keep yourself accountable ✅
Some people keep themselves accountable for their goals, while others need to report back to an external source to keep them on track. Joining a mastermind is a great way to keep yourself publicly accountable for your goals.
Group members won’t hesitate to ask you the hard questions too. That thing you said you’d do last week, they’ll ask you if you actually did it. 😊
And there’s nothing like a recurring check-in to hold you accountable.
5. Be inspired 🎨
Masterminds are a great place to get a regular dose of inspiration. Mastermind groups can give you access to driven and ambitious people also on a similar journey can be a great source of inspiration.
Being in a like-minded community of people on a similar journey, you’re going to come across new ideas, new initiatives and new ways of working.
As long as you stay away from comparison, you can use their progress and their lessons as inspiration to do things better or differently in your own business.
6. Give back and share your ideas 💡
In mastermind groups, usually, each person in the group has a chance to speak and share what they’re working on, and in response, the rest of the group offers input that might spark new ideas, offer new insights or form new connections.
Building a business is an ever-evolving journey. When you’ve got cheerleaders, supporters, and experts to support you, you’re more likely going to achieve great outcomes. You benefit from others’ input and others benefit from your input. Your responses are an opportunity to share your expertise and experience that could help others.
Getting feedback in this structured way creates an opportunity to give back through knowledge sharing and perhaps network sharing. It’s a chance to pay forward the insights you get from others so you can support them along their business journey.
Are you looking to join a mastermind group?
Atto is a community of ambitious female founders building tech startups. In our groups, founders support one another to reach their goals.
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