Join waitlist

The higher you get, the fewer people you can actually talk to.

The Leadership Circle is a closed peer group for Berlin’s startup team leads. Bring what you’re stuck on and take home how other leads at scaling companies already solved it.

TeAM Leads max

2×

Sessions per month

25th Aug

Next Circle kickoff

See how it works

Book an intro call

The higher you get, the fewer people you can actually talk to.

The Leadership Circle is a closed peer group for Berlin’s startup team leads. Bring what you’re stuck on and take home how other leads at scaling companies already solved it.

TeAM Leads max

2×

Sessions per month

25th Aug

Next Circle kickoff

See how it works

Book an intro call

The higher you get, the fewer people you can actually talk to.

The Leadership Circle is a closed peer group for Berlin’s startup team leads. Bring what you’re stuck on and take home how other leads at scaling companies already solved it.

TeAM Leads max

2×

Sessions per month

25th Aug

Next Circle kickoff

See how it works

Book an intro call

SECOND CIRCLE STARTS IN AUGUST • BERLIN • STARTUP TEAM LEADS • LEADERSHIP CIRCLE • DEEP WORK CLUB • HOW OTHER COMPANIES ACTUALLY DO IT • BY APPLICATION ONLY •
SECOND CIRCLE STARTS IN AUGUST • BERLIN • STARTUP TEAM LEADS • LEADERSHIP CIRCLE • DEEP WORK CLUB • HOW OTHER COMPANIES ACTUALLY DO IT • BY APPLICATION ONLY •
SECOND CIRCLE STARTS IN AUGUST • BERLIN • STARTUP TEAM LEADS • LEADERSHIP CIRCLE • DEEP WORK CLUB • HOW OTHER COMPANIES ACTUALLY DO IT • BY APPLICATION ONLY •

Our alumni lead teams at

You’re not alone. But it feels like it.

Each week builds a layer of
transformation

These are the conversations startup team leads don’t have at work, but need to have somewhere.

“I can’t be honest with my team.”

They need you to be certain. So you perform confidence you don’t always feel, and absorb everyone’s anxiety on your own.

“Nobody around me gets what this is actually like.”

Your friends think you’re living the dream. Your manager expects you to handle it. Your team needs you steady. You’re solving this alone.

“I got promoted. Nobody gave me a manual.”

You’re figuring out leadership in real time, managing people who are better or more senior than you at their jobs, while everyone watches.

“I gave someone feedback and it landed badly.”

Now the team feels off. You replay the conversation on the way home. You’re second-guessing whether you said the right thing, or if you’re even the right person for this role.

“There’s tension with another lead, and we both avoid it.”

You feel it in every meeting. But there’s no time, no space, and you don’t know how to open it up without making it worse.

“I’m the leader. I should have the answers.”

The expectation is clear. The reality is messier. You’re making high-stakes decisions with incomplete data, and carrying that weight silently.

WHAT IT IS

A room where you don’t have to perform.

Max. 10 team leads per cohort

Closed peer group of max. 10 startup team leads from Berlin’s leading startups and scale-ups
Bi-weekly facilitated 60 mins group sessions
People around you who’ve lived the same pressure and share their best practices and playbooks with you

The Leadership Circle is a closed peer group of max. 10 startup team leads from Berlin’s scaling startups and scale-ups. Bi-weekly facilitated 60 mins sessions. And people around you who’ve lived the same pressure, at companies different enough that what worked for them can actually work for you.

How it works

Three components that make the circle work: live sessions every two weeks, insight from leads at other companies and a curated network of founders and operators around you.

Bi-weekly live calls

60 minutes, online, every two weeks. Facilitated by Deep Work Co-Founder Lea Mersch. Topics emerge from what the group is actually going through, not a pre-set curriculum.

Cross company insights

Bring a real decision and hear how leads at other companies handled the same one, including what they would do differently now.

A network that pushes you forward

You will join a curated community of +120 founders & operators.

After 3 months in the circle

Not abstract growth. Concrete, behavioral change in how you lead, communicate, and show up.

You’ll have the conversation you’ve been avoiding

With language that actually works. The feedback, the talk with your manager, the performance issue you’ve been circling for weeks.

You’ll stop performing confidence and start building it

Real confidence that comes from knowing your patterns, your triggers, and how to work with them rather than despite them.

You’ll know how other companies actually handle it

Not the polished conference version. What they actually tried, what it cost them, and what they would do differently now.

You’ll give feedback that lands

Even when it’s uncomfortable. Especially when it’s uncomfortable. You’ll know how to say the hard thing in a way people can actually receive.

You’ll have names for the dynamics you’ve been feeling

And tools to shift them. The team tension, the friction with another lead, the leadership pattern you keep repeating, all understood and addressed.

You’ll make better decisions, faster

Because you’ve processed them with people who understand what’s at stake, not people who need you to have it figured out already.

FACILITATED BY

Lea Mersch

Co-founder of Deep Work Club, Lea has spent years working with startup founders and operators on the inner dimensions of leadership: the emotional patterns, relational dynamics, and blind spots that strategy alone can’t fix.

Her background is unusual by design: former basketball pro athlete, strategy consultant and licensed CBT psychotherapist. That mix is what lets her work on both sides of performance at once, the mindset and the mechanics of leading a team.

She's lived the cost of getting it wrong. After burning out at the top of sport and consulting, she rebuilt her whole approach around one idea: people are the real asset and leaders grow fastest when they grow together.

200+

Founders & operators worked with

5 yrs

Facilitating startup leadership

Leadership Coaching

Group Facilitation

Founder Experience

Deep Work Club Co-Founder

WHO IT’S FOR

Built for people like you

You lead a team at a Berlin startup. VP, Director, Head of, Team lead. Any role where you’re responsible for people.

You’re ready to be honest. You can put the performance aside and engage with what’s actually difficult.

You’re dealing with people challenges: performance reviews, team dynamics, friction between leads, culture at scale.

You’ll show up for the cohort, not just yourself. This only works when everyone is consistent. Your peers will invest in you; the expectation is you do the same, including opening your own playbook and the parts of it that didn’t work.

Request your spot

FAQ

How is this different from a mastermind or group coaching?

Is this a networking group?

What if someone in my cohort works in the same space as me?

Is what I share actually confidential?

How much time does this actually take?

How much does it cost?

Am I senior enough, or too senior?

What does the application process look like?

APPLY

Request your spot

Every circle is capped at 10 member. We select for complementary experience, genuine commitment and readiness to do the work. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Book an intro call

Your intro call is with