The Founder Leadership Program

Make Any Room Care About What You Do.

A ten-week program for Founders who are ready to lead the room, not just build the product. Two hours a week, applied to your own company, in cohorts of five to seven.

Apply for the First Cohort

First cohort is open to Veteran business owners and spouses of Veterans at no cost. Details below.

The Premise

Founders are no longer only builders.

They are the business leaders now, and investors and partners do not fund technology. They back a founder they believe in, telling a story they understand.

The Founder Leadership Program turns the technical or operational Founder into a commercial leader who can make any room care. It does so against a 2026 reality in which grant funding has grown slower and less certain, making the ability to win private capital and partners a survival skill rather than a polish.

The Method

The Commercial Conviction Method

Everything maps to one framework, built around the four questions every investor is really asking.

Conviction

Why are you the person to solve this problem?

Clarity

Why should I care?

Connection

Can you make stakeholders believe?

Conversion

Can you turn belief into capital and business outcomes?

Three signature tools carry the method until they become reflexes. You will build a working commercial system that stays with you long after the program ends.

The Ten-Week Arc

Ten weeks. One arc.

WK 01

Identity Shift— From builder to commercial leader.

WK 02

Making Them Care— Turn what you do into value people feel.

WK 03

The Company Narrative— Build the durable story of your business.

WK 04

The Investor's Mind— Understand what they are really pricing.

WK 05

The Pitch— Rebuild it, cleaner and more confident.

WK 06

Q&A and Objections— Handle hard questions with composure.

WK 07

The Funding Landscape— Diversify beyond grants toward private capital and revenue.

WK 08

Relationships and Network— Turn networking into a system.

WK 09

Executive Presence— Build the presence that holds up under pressure.

WK 10

The Commercial Conviction Showcase— A public capstone where you present to an invited room.

What You Walk Away With

Not a certificate. A working system.

A complete Operating Kit. A polished investor narrative. A delivered pitch. A personal objection sheet you built yourself. A funding diversification plan. A working relationship system. And the confidence to lead in any business setting.

Every session pairs two hours of working time with fieldwork applied to your own company, so the learning is real rather than theoretical.

The First Cohort

Open to Veteran Founders and their spouses at No Cost

The first cohort of the Founder Leadership Program is open to five veteran business owners at no cost.

Not because the program is worth nothing. Because a program is only as good as the founders who go through it. I want the first five to be people I would run through a wall for. Veterans building real businesses fit that description.

If that is you, this is how to apply. Send an email to mark@ricerevenue.com with the subject line "Founder Leadership Program." Answer three questions in the body of the email:

What does your business do, in one or two sentences?
What stage of revenue are you in (pre-revenue, early revenue, growing)?
What is the specific commercial challenge you are facing right now that this program might help with?

That is the application. I read every one personally. Selected founders will hear back within a day with the next step.

Email mark@ricerevenue.com to Apply

Or email mark@ricerevenue.com directly.

About Mark

Mark Rice

I am Mark Rice, founder of Rice Revenue Consulting. Fourteen years in the Navy, Surface Warfare Officer, LCDR. Twelve+ years total in commercial leadership. I help B2B founders build the sales infrastructure they need before they hire.

The Founder Leadership Program is the front end of that work: turning the founder into the person the business needs before we ever talk about revenue engines.

Questions Founders Ask

FAQ

What if I am not a veteran?

The first cohort is a Veteran cohort. Future cohorts will open to a broader audience, and you can email me to be notified when they do.

What is the time commitment?

Two hours per week for ten weeks, plus fieldwork applied to your own company. Roughly three to four hours per week total.

When does the first cohort start?

Applications open now. Selected Founders will be notified the same day. First cohort begins the 19th of August.

Is this recorded, or live?

Live, small group, working sessions. Not a recorded course. The size stays small on purpose.

What happens after Phase 1?

Founders complete Phase 1 at any company stage and move directly into Phase 2, where the Operating Kit becomes the front end of a Founder-led revenue engine.