Our Founding Story
After selling our company, AI.Reverie, to Meta, our founding team found ourselves doing something unexpected. Investors, fellow founders, and former colleagues kept reaching out — asking for guidance on everything from term sheets to go-to-market strategy to scaling.
It wasn't charity. It was clear that decades of experience carry genuine, practical value. And in conversation after conversation, we heard the same thing: "I'm at the peak of what I know. I still want to do meaningful work. But I don't have the network or the infrastructure to make it happen."
It wasn't a crisis. It was a drift — accomplished professionals watching their sense of purpose quietly erode, not because they'd lost their edge, but because nothing around them was designed to keep them in the game.
So we built one.
OpenWater launched in 2024 with fewer than 20 members. Today we're growing by over a hundred members a month across 20+ local chapters, with the majority of growth driven by members referring people they trust. We've hosted over 100 in-person gatherings. Our Give & Get economy generates real jobs, advisory roles, and collaborations every week. And in 2026, we're hosting the inaugural OpenWater Summit — 250 members in one room in San Francisco.
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