ENCORE / FOR FOUNDERS

You built something real.
Let's build it further.

Encore partners with founder-led Enriching Entertainment businesses — providing capital, infrastructure, and support so you can stop surviving and start scaling.

[ REACH OUT TO ADAM ] [ FOR INVESTORS INSTEAD ]
Sound Familiar?

Building something meaningful
shouldn't feel like this.

✓
You pay yourself last — if at all.
✓
Every expansion requires you to personally guarantee the risk.
✓
You're the CEO, CFO, marketing department, and venue coordinator — simultaneously.
✓
You know your concept works in another city. You just don't have the bandwidth to prove it.
✓
You built a community. But you're not sure how to build a company.

Encore was built for founders like you. We bring the infrastructure, capital, and community — you keep the thing that makes your business worth building.

What You Get

Six things founders
actually need.

01

Guaranteed Salary

From the day you partner with Encore, you receive a guaranteed salary for 24 months — regardless of your business's performance. Stop paying yourself last. This is the foundation everything else is built on.

02

Ops Support

Access Encore's shared services platform: finance, HR, legal, marketing, and technology infrastructure. Back-office complexity handled — so you stay focused on programming and audience.

03

Growth Playbook

A proven expansion playbook developed across every business in the portfolio. Which markets, which formats, which partners — with the templates, research, and operational know-how to move fast.

04

Growth Capital

Capital for venue deposits, production upgrades, marketing, and new market entry. No more personally guaranteeing every risk. Encore backs the expansion alongside you.

05

Peer Network

Join a community of aligned founder-operators building in the same category. Share learnings, talent, audiences, and hard-won experience with people who understand exactly what you're building.

06

Equity & Profit Participation

Retain a meaningful equity stake in your business with a contractual path to buy back full ownership. As the platform matures, founders participate in profit distributions — you built this, you share in its success.

How It Works

A partnership built around you.

The Encore process is designed to be founder-friendly at every stage — transparent, collaborative, and centered on your long-term success.

Step 01

Discovery

We start with a conversation about your business, your vision, and what partnership would mean for you. No pressure, no pitch. Just a real conversation between founders.

Step 02

Partnership

If there's a fit, we structure a partnership agreement. You retain creative and programming control. Encore acquires a majority equity position and deploys the salary guarantee, capital, and shared services.

Step 03

Playbook

Together we build your expansion playbook — which markets, which formats, which partners, which timeline. Encore provides the financial modeling, market research, and operational templates. You provide the expertise in your concept.

Step 04

Growth

Execute the playbook. Encore's shared services team handles the back-office complexity. You stay focused on programming, talent, and audience. We measure, iterate, and scale together.

Step 05

Path to Control

At defined milestones, you have the contractual right to buy back equity in your business at fair value. Over the investment horizon, a successful founder can return to majority ownership of a significantly more valuable company.

The Partnership

What you keep vs. what we share.

You Keep

Your brand, name, and identity
Programming and creative direction
Relationships with your speakers, performers, and talent
Your community and audience
Your team (Encore supports, not replaces)
A meaningful equity stake with buyback rights

We Provide

Finance, accounting, and reporting infrastructure
HR, benefits, and people operations
Legal and contract support
Marketing strategy and shared tools
Technology and data infrastructure
Capital for expansion and operations
Are You a Fit?

Encore is built for a specific
kind of founder.

We're not looking for a particular revenue size or audience count — we're looking for the right combination of concept, founder, and market fit. Here's our checklist:

Annual revenue between $100K and $1M (or clear path to $100K)
Events with 50–500 person capacity
3+ years of operating history
A concept that is expandable to multiple cities or formats
Events that fit the Enriching Entertainment category
Operating in or targeting an Encore priority market
A founder who wants to scale — not just sustain

Don't check every box? Reach out anyway. We'd rather have the conversation than miss a great founder.

Example Partners

The kinds of businesses
we're partnering with.

These are illustrative examples — the kinds of founder-led Enriching Entertainment businesses that represent Encore's target partnership profile.

Profs and Pints lecture event
Profs and Pints
Bar-based academic lectures with rotating expert professors. Expandable format, strong repeat attendance, community-driven marketing.
Est. 2016 Multi-City Active
Living Room Lectures
Living Room Lectures
Intimate expert-led talks in residential and unconventional venues. Highly personal format with strong word-of-mouth and low overhead.
Community Local Active
The Campfireball
The Campfireball
Storytelling events that recreate campfire intimacy in urban settings. Unique format with proven community-building outcomes and expansion potential.
Storytelling Regional Active
FAQ

Questions founders ask.

Do I lose control of my business?
No. Encore acquires a majority equity position, but you retain full creative and programming control. You decide what events you produce, which speakers and performers you book, and how your brand shows up in the world. What Encore handles is the back-office and infrastructure that shouldn't require your attention. Governance is defined in the partnership agreement and is designed to protect your creative authority.
What about my salary?
From the day the partnership closes, you receive a guaranteed salary for 24 months — regardless of your business's month-to-month performance. This is not a loan. It is not contingent on revenue targets. It is a guarantee, structured to give you the financial stability to focus on building rather than surviving.
What happens to my existing team?
Your team stays. Encore's goal is to make your team more effective — not to replace them. In many cases, Encore's shared services infrastructure will offload tasks (bookkeeping, HR administration, legal) that your team is currently handling on top of their primary roles. We may add capacity, but we don't restructure or let go of existing staff without your agreement.
Do I keep programming control?
Yes, completely. Encore is not in the business of programming events — you are. We provide the operational platform that lets you program more, reach more people, and expand to new markets. We may offer resources, introductions, and strategic input, but every programming decision is yours. This is a non-negotiable term of every Encore partnership.
What are the step-in rights?
In rare circumstances — material financial mismanagement or legal violations — Encore retains the right to step in and take temporary operational control. These circumstances are narrowly defined in the partnership agreement and require clear, documented evidence. Step-in rights are a standard feature of any institutional partnership and are designed to protect all parties, including you. They are not a mechanism for Encore to override your creative or programming decisions.
Get in Touch

Tell us about your business.

No decks required. No formal process. Just reach out and tell Adam what you're building and what you're looking for. He reads every message.

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