Frequently asked questions

A peer advisory group is a small, confidential group of business owners who meet regularly to work on each other's real decisions. Members bring an issue, the group asks questions and shares what they have seen work or fail in their own businesses, and the owner leaves with a decision and a commitment to act. An IGNITE Academy Growth Board is our version: up to twelve owners from twelve different sectors, meeting monthly for a year.

It is a structured kind of mastermind. Many masterminds are informal or run by the people in them. A Growth Board has a facilitator, a fixed annual calendar, a written confidentiality agreement, one seat per sector and an expectation that you act on what you commit to between meetings.

Each month the group meets for a structured working session. Members bring their most pressing issue to "hot seat" problem-solving, where the room questions the issue properly before anyone gives a view, then shares experience and holds the member to a clear next step. Some sessions include a guest expert. Meetings rotate: each member hosts one meeting a year, at a venue of their choosing, so the travel is shared fairly across the group.

A full walk-through of a session

IGNITE Academy was founded in 2014 by Sanjeev Desour, founder of the IGNITE Group of Companies, of which it is part. Sanjeev has built and run businesses for more than 30 years, including IGNITE Events, a live event production company that has produced thousands of events since 1992. That work put him backstage with many of the world's best-known business and personal-development speakers, and alongside the entrepreneurs who hire them.

Read Sanjeev's story

They are respected, long-established organisations, and if one of them suits you, you should join it. The differences are practical. IGNITE Academy is a single, founder-led UK organisation rather than an international network of chapters, franchises or independently contracted chairs. Our groups have up to twelve members, one per sector, matched by revenue band. Our prices are published. Membership is open to established owners of any age. And members can draw on the IGNITE Group's own network of specialists, and Founder's Circle members work with Sanjeev personally.

That is what the application and the introductory call are for. Members are typically founders, owners, CEOs and directors of businesses turning roughly £500k to £20m or more. Every member is allocated to the most suitable group, based on revenue band, sector and conflicts of interest, stage of business, team size, priorities for the year, location, availability, what they bring to the room and how they like to be challenged.

How we match members to groups

Yes, and in writing. Every member signs a mutual non-disclosure agreement, and meetings run under the Chatham House Rule: you can use what you learn, but you never repeat who said it or which business it concerns. Nothing is recorded, screenshotted or forwarded without the explicit permission of the people involved. Because there is only one business per sector, nobody at the table competes with you.

How confidentiality works in practice

Then that group is closed to your sector. We admit one business per sector per group so that advice stays objective and nobody holds back. If your sector is taken, we will tell you on the call and, where we can, suggest another group or one-to-one coaching instead.

No. The introductory call is a conversation about fit: what you want help with, whether a Growth Board or one-to-one coaching suits you better, and what it costs. If we don't think it fits, we will say so. Prices are published on this site, so there is nothing to negotiate around. Guest experts are not allowed to pitch, and the Members are free to do business with one another, and some do, but that isn't the purpose of the group. Nobody joins to be sold to, and the table is for decisions, not pitches.

No. There is no upsell ladder and no secret formula. Most of the value comes from the other members, who are running real businesses now. IGNITE Academy was founded by Sanjeev Desour, who has spent more than 30 years building and running businesses rather than teaching about them. Guest experts are chosen for practical knowledge in areas like pricing, finance, tax and M&A, and agree in advance that their sessions are educational, not a pitch.

Membership is a 12-month commitment in three tiers, all excluding VAT. Growth Board: £9,800 a year (or £895 a month), with quarterly one-to-one reviews. Growth Board with Mentoring: £13,500 a year (or £1,225 a month), adding monthly one-to-one mentoring. Founder's Circle: £25,000 a year (or £2,295 a month), with monthly one-to-ones with Sanjeev personally, a strategy session with your leadership team and a filmed showcase at IGNITE Studios. Paying annually costs less overall. Private mentoring with Sanjeev on its own is £2,500 + VAT a month, with a six-month minimum.

Compare the tiers

Twelve full-day sessions over twelve months, one a month, from 10am to 5pm, in person. We ask members to attend at least ten, to host one meeting during the year at a venue of their choice, and to follow through on the actions they commit to between sessions. One-to-one sessions are shorter and can be online.

Nationwide. Each group is led by an IGNITE Academy coach and meets within that coach's area. Within it, members take turns to host, at their own premises or any venue that suits the group, so the travel is shared fairly. We'll place you in a group within reach of where you're based.

Growth Board sessions are in person. The trust and candour that make the room work are hard to build on a screen. Each member hosts one meeting a year wherever suits them, so no one does all the travelling. One-to-one coaching and mentoring can be online.

It costs twelve days a year and from £9,800 + VAT. We won't promise a return, because nobody honestly can. The better question is what deciding alone is already costing you: the hire that took a year to fix, the price rise you keep putting off, the opportunity you passed on, the problem you've carried for months because there was no one to think it through with. A good table gives you challenge before you commit, from people who have made similar calls with their own money. Most owners only need one expensive mistake avoided, or one good decision made sooner, to judge the year well spent.

Usually not, because meetings run under the Chatham House Rule and members speak openly on the basis that only members are present. If there is a vacant seat in a group you'd be a good fit for, its members may vote on whether you can attend one session before committing. It's their decision, and we respect it either way. Every application starts with a free, confidential introductory call.

Sanjeev or a member of the IGNITE Academy team reads every application personally. If it looks like a fit, we'll arrange a short confidential call to understand your business and check your sector is free in a suitable group. If we offer you a place, you have five business days to decide, which gives you time to think without keeping a seat open indefinitely.

Membership is a 12-month commitment. When someone leaves mid-year, it changes the trust and the dynamic for everyone else in the group, so we look for people who will see the year through. Ask every question you have before you join, and use the five days after an offer to be sure. If something isn't working, tell us early: often the fix is adding one-to-one support. Full terms are in your membership agreement.