In this brief you’ll find:
Founders Dinner | October 22, San Francisco
A small X26 dinner in San Francisco for a handful of established ex-McKinsey founders, kept relaxed and intentionally intimate for good conversation.
Hosted by Zamir Akimbekov, founder and CEO of Cayu (specialised agents for physical-world finance execution, starting in energy), ex-C3 AI FDE, ex-McKinsey, PhD in ChemE from UC Davis; and Hesham Younis, a digital health leader with 20+ years commercialising medtech and virtual care, who built the partner acquisition engine at Enara Health; ex-McKinsey, MIT PhD in biomechanics.
Status: Registration open
Alumni & Friends Meetup - AI Founder Retreat | October 23, London
This event brings together the alumni of the AI Founder Retreats which Alexander Volz and Sam Bourton run together. If you want to bring someone who should be part of this community or would like to join in the future you are very welcome to join.
Status: Registration open
Meditation Morning & Brunch | October 25, London
For ex-McKinsey founders, join Reece Griffiths and Alexander Volz for a one-hour guided meditation, followed by brunch together nearby. It’s a chance to start the day without an agenda, and then spend the rest of the morning with others who’ve made the same move from the Firm into building something of their own.
Status: Registration open
Founders Dinner | October 29, New York
A small X26 dinner for a handful of established ex-McKinsey founders in New York designed for thoughtful conversation and meaningful connections.
Your host Reece Griffiths is a co-founder of X26 and a YC S23 alumnus. He previously founded and sold Deasy Labs to Collibra, and has been building and backing ex-McKinsey founders ever since.
Status: Registration open
From McKinsey to Founder: A McKinsey x X26 Panel | November 4, San Francisco
X26 and McKinsey's San Francisco office are bringing together founders, investors and McKinsey consultants who are seriously considering building a company of their own. The evening centers on a panel of McKinsey alumni who now lead or invest in startups across AI, fintech, healthcare, and climate. After the panel, there will be time to continue the conversation with the speakers and each other over drinks. The session is designed for current and former McKinsey consultants thinking about founding, alongside a small group of founders, operators, and investors.
Status: Registration open
Since 2021, we've invested over $1M via SPVs into ex-McKinsey founders, with strong performance (4.5x+ net TVPI). Our portfolio has gone on to be backed by the best in the world – YC, A16Z, Sequoia, Benchmark, and General Catalyst. The main constraint hasn't been access to great companies, it's been the speed at which we can execute deals.
That's why we're formalising this into a dedicated fund – built to back McKinsey founders from the outset. We had over $5M in inbound interest for our inaugural fund!
For more information on our fund and future investment opportunities, register your interest here.
Companies We’ve Backed:
Mochatrade lets global traders trade top US stocks using perpetual futures. (YCP26)
Our agents retrieve and synthesize all the records law firms need to start a personal injury case. (YCP26)
Flowscope is an AI implementation firm that deploys agents to map, optimize, and automate companies’ processes end to end. (YCP26)
Transload helps logistics companies measure shipments using the security cameras they already have. (YCP26)
A growing number of X26 members have been through YC, including our co-founder Reece Griffiths (S23), and many of them have offered to help the next wave of ex-McKinsey founders do the same. If you're considering an application, we can give you insight into how the process works, coaching from founders who have been through it, reviews of your application, and support from the first draft through to interview and beyond.
If that sounds useful, apply below and we'll be in touch.
AI penpals for language learning: users message Sylvi’s AI penpals by text or voice and get corrected as they go. Sylvi expects AI to grow the language-learning app market from $3B to $25B.
ARR doubled in three months, from ~$230k to ~$460k, with 4,400+ paying subscribers. The company has raised ~$470k to date.
Rated 4.7–4.9★ on the App Store across its key markets, and ~20% of growth comes from word of mouth and organic channels. The current round is an ASA extension ahead of seed, and ~65% of it is committed.
Tom Standen (Founder & CEO) is ex-McKinsey (Junior Associate, 2022–23). He’s a solo technical founder who built Sylvi end-to-end, and he was previously an AI consultant at IBM.
Email us if you would like an introduction.
Pre-seed | $2M | SF / NY
AI-powered content and interactive experiences for creators, influencers and entertainment brands: Sequencer helps them turn passive audiences into engaged, paying fans.
Fully bootstrapped to ~$20K MRR in three months, growing ~25% month on month. Clients include international marketing agencies, a global top-10 microdrama company and a global animation studio.
Sequencer has built a community of nearly 1M followers across social media and is supported by NVIDIA Inception, Harvard Innovation Labs, Google for Startups and Tencent. Its advisors include a former EVP of Comcast, a former Creative Director at Nickelodeon, the Global Creative Head of Televisa and the Head of Strategy at C3.ai.
Nico Maffey (CEO) is ex-McKinsey (Senior Associate), with further experience at Goldman Sachs, MIT Media Lab, Harvard and C3.ai.
Email us if you would like an introduction.
Ex-McKinsey Founder’s Database
Ex-McKinsey Investor’s Database
Thanks for being a part of this amazing community. We’re excited for everything that’s to come.
Love,
The X26 team.