100% remote friendly

Build a High-Performance Team. With a People-First Mindset.

Building Better Teams is a guided masterclass for founders and leaders who want to build healthy and successful teams. It combines a unique curriculum, lots of practical tools, and hands-on mentorship from successful CEOs and founders.

Our next cohort runs May 8 — July 9, 2024.
Applications close April 30.

100% remote friendly

“If you're serious about this — if you want to build a culture of feedback, mutual respect and appreciation — then there's no better option than this masterclass. You'll make real progress with your team and build an amazing culture.”

Vincent Osterloh

CEO, OCX GmbH

"We wanted to shape a more positive and productive team dynamic. And we got so many great, action-oriented ideas and tools out of this masterclass! What I loved the most was that there was always space to work on my specific questions. Tobi didn't just stick to the agenda — he took the time to meet and address our real-life challenges!"

Kathrin Marks

Head of Fundraising & Communication, Stiftung Stay

"With his experience and empathy, Tobi is a perfect partner for those who want to better understand themselves and their team. If you want to develop a modern, productive and stress-free way to work with your team, I can't recommend this masterclass enough!"

Matthias Schnizler

Founder & CEO, premano

Our next cohort runs May 8 — July 9, 2024.
Applications close April 30.

APPLY NOW

Why Take This Course?

Countless founders and leaders have taken this course to...

Learn how to lead your team with trust & respect — instead of pressure and micromanagement.
Build a reliable & scalable culture — not one where everything depends on you.
Get access to a library of practical tools & frameworks — for remote and co-located teams alike.
Build a robust "operating system", step by step — by following a proven roadmap that has delivered fantastic results for countless other founders and leaders.
Learn from founders & CEOs with proven track records — who have built successful teams and companies for almost 20 years.
Set a sustainable pace — committing just 2 hours of your time each week is enough to reach your goals.

Who This Course Is For

Founders and Leaders

This course was made for founders, entrepreneurs, and leaders who want to combine high performance with a people-first mindset.

If you want to build an exceptional team — one where trust and respect go hand in hand with productivity and profits — then this course is for you.

Remote or Office-Based

We’ve been building remote teams since 2010.

We teach the underlying principles to all our students — because they're critical to the success of any modern organization (not just those without an office).

Why This Topic Matters So Much

Because strong and healthy teams make strong and healthy companies. Lots of scientific evidence confirms the incredible impact that team building and culture have on a business:

A Harvard study of more than 200 companies found that a strong culture increases net income 765% over ten years.
Gallup found that "businesses with highly engaged employees generate 23% higher revenue".
Another study found that people in "high-trust companies" show 50% higher productivity, 74% less stress, and 13% fewer sick days - compared to their low-trust competitors.

On the other hand, when culture is neglected, companies face serious risks and problems:

Over 20% of startups fail because of team issues.
Losing an employee will cost you 1.5—2.0 times that employee's annual salary, according to a Deloitte estimate.
Disengaged employees cost their companies the equivalent of 18 – 34 % of their annual salaries, according to Gallup and others.

 

What You Will Learn

Month #1:   Laying the Foundation

The ROI of culture: Learn why a people-first culture is not a nice-to-have — but instead a core ingredient of successful and profitable businesses.
A proven roadmap, not a mystery: We’ll show you a reliable, step-by-step roadmap — so you can move from an incidental and haphazard culture to one that is carefully and deliberately designed.
How to make remote work... work: Understand the core principles behind remote work — and that it’s not about “office -vs- no office”.
Relationships at eye level: Why leaders need to build relationships at eye level with their employees — and how to do this in reality.

Month #2:   Involving Your Team

Leadership happens on a spectrum: Learn what's between "cracking the whip" and "cuddling your people to death" — and become a more versatile and complete leader.
Mastering the art of the announcement: Learn to use the right words, at the right time — to get your team's full commitment and motivation.
Involving your team, the right way: How exactly you involve your team matters a lot — we'll do it safely and carefully and get you off to a great start.
Taking inventory: Together with your team, you'll identify challenges and pain points — but also celebrate what's great about this team.

Month #3:   Principles of People-First Leadership

Understand the big picture: Get an overview of the core principles of people-first leadership — backed by science.
Get a grip on the basics: Learn the foundations of psychological safety, agreements, transparency — and other core topics.
Upgrade your toolbox: Leave with a set of actionable tools — e.g. for building stronger relationships and designing a better feedback culture.

“I loved how structured and action-oriented this masterclass was. I learned so many new tools and inspirations — and only as much theory as necessary. All of this helped us make the changes we hoped for: deeper relationships and much more transparency and accountability in our team!”

Benny Schaich

Founder & CEO, aucobo GmbH

“The program helped us build a more connected team, with better communication and healthier, more robust structures. Apart from the program itself, I loved that Tobi went beyond the curriculum with us: thanks to his rich experience, we could bring our own, unique challenges to the table and always received unique, individual solutions.”

Bettina Rajsich

People & Culture Specialist, pragmatic industries

"Our team has grown pretty fast... much faster, unfortunately, than our structure and relationships within the team! But this masterclass has been a great help for us: we became more efficient and — at the same time — built a much stronger team spirit!"

Vera Zanker

People & Culture Manager, premano

How This Course Works

One Module Per Month

Every month we pick a single topic to focus on.

This guarantees that we can explore it in depth – and that you have enough time to implement it and make a real, lasting impact with your team.

A Little Theory, a Lot of Practice

We explain why things matter, we provide context and even scientific studies.

But most importantly, we offer practical tools and frameworks. And we deliver them complete with templates, worksheets and agendas so you're ready to implement them in your own teams, instantly.

Designed for Busy Schedules

Most of our members don't have a lot of time. That's why we designed Building Better Teams for people with a busy schedule.

We're careful to keep live sessions to a minimum.

And if you miss one, you can always watch the recording later.

Master One New Topic Every Month

Month by month and topic by topic, we'll help you build a world-class team

Teaching

live session
2h

Week 1

Learn The Tools And Frameworks

Theory

live session
2h

In our teaching sessions, you'll get...

Lots of practical tools and frameworks
Helpful theory and scientific backgrounds
Tried-and-tested methods from the real world
A clear roadmap for implementation
Office Hours

live session
1.5h

Week 2

Solve Your Real-Life Challenges

Office Hours

live session
1.5h

These sessions are optional. We're here for you, to...

Answer your questions
Clarify important concepts
Coach you through specific cases
Work through problems together
Implement

in your own time

Week 3 + 4

Implement Your Learnings in Your Own Team

Focus Sprint

asynchronously in the community

After our live sessions, you'll be ready to...

Pick the right tools and frameworks for your situation
Implement them in your own team
Make real progress, in a safe and reliable way
Resources + Materials

on demand

Anytime

Save Time And Effort

Resources + Materials

on demand

Take advantage of our high-quality, ready-to-use resources like...

Workbooks
Cheat Sheets
Workshop Agendas
Documentation templates
Additional reading materials

Meet Your Instructors

Both Of Us Have

almost 20 years of experience
started multiple businesses (co-located and fully remote)
grown them to 7+ figures, 100+ employees
achieved successful exits
But Most Importantly We Have Created Exceptional Teams Full of Wonderful People!
Tobi profile photo

Tobias Günther

I've been an entrepreneur and a CEO for almost 20 years. During this time, I started 4 companies, made 2 of them profitable, and successfully sold my last one. Together with an amazing team, I grew this last one to over 100,000 customers in companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon before it was acquired in 2021.

I started introducing remote work already in 2010 (and found ways to actually make it work).

LinkedIn iconwebsite icon
Kai profile photo

Kai Blisch

In my journey as an entrepreneur of more than 15 years, I've built a broad range of businesses: from services to software products, from tiny teams to more than 150 people, from bootstrapped to VC-backed, and one with 10 international locations.

Over many years, I've also consulted and mentored countless founders and leaders on their own journeys, currently focusing on everything GreenTech.

LinkedIn iconwebsite icon

Financial Investment

This 3-month introductory training is free.

However, we expect you to make a $100 charitable donation to a cause of your choice. Our recommendation is “Against Malaria,” but feel free to choose something else. Please send us a receipt / confirmation (after being accepted into the program and before it begins).

Why Is This Free?

Building a strong, reliable culture with your team takes time. This is why our main offering (besides this free 3-month course) is a 12-month masterclass program — not a 2-week workshop... Your colleagues, your organization, and you as a leader need time to adapt and grow.

But we know that a 12-month program is a serious commitment (both in terms of time and budget). That’s why we’ve taken the first 3 modules from this program and offer them for free. You can try the real thing — and feel confident about your decision, without taking any kind of risk.

If, after completing the free 3-month training, you decide to join the main program, the remaining 9 months will feature topics like the following:

Psychological Safety
Focus and Flexibility
Internal Communication
Relationships
One-on-Ones
Self-Awareness and Self-Knowledge
Stress and Resilience
Communication Formats
Feedback
Hiring and Onboarding

 
Also, to give you an overview, here's the cost of enrollment for the main program:

$7,900 USD —> for companies below 500K revenue
$10,900 USD —> for companies above 500K revenue
$28,000 USD —> for doing the program 1-on-1 with us (limited availability)

“Remote work had stretched us to our limits: we had too many meetings, our old ways of communicating and collaborating didn't work anymore, and we were missing a clear direction. Working with Tobi solved many of these problems for us: our teamwork became more focused and calm, our collaboration improved, and our meetings turned out to be fun! Also, I loved having access to all of those ready-to-use templates and resources! Made things much easier!”

Felicitas Proelss

Member of the Board, W11K

“I was scratching my head on how to build a shared, healthy culture — especially as a new and fully remote team. And I know I would *still* be scratching my head if I hadn't taken the masterclass. It helped us build more trust and transparency; provide more flexibility for everyone; and create a much greater sense of community and commitment in the team. I can't recommend it enough!”

Jens Schmelzle

CEO & Co-Founder, Fryd

“As a relatively new leadership team, we were looking for a healthy balance: between remote work and the office; between micromanagement and trust. And indeed, working together as a leadership team has improved tremendously after taking the masterclass! Apart from that, we learned a ton of new tools and frameworks. I was especially grateful that we received so many ready-to-use templates / workbooks / resources: this saved us so much time when we actually implemented all of the changes!”

Daniel Ostertag

Head of Development Cooperation, Stiftung Stay

What We Need From You

We need a serious commitment from you for this 3-month time frame — because we want to work with people who are ready to make an impact, put in the effort, and build a fantastic team.
In terms of your time commitment, you should reserve approx. 2 hrs per week. (Sometimes spent in live sessions with us, other times to implement the things you learned.)

Course Logistics

The cohort takes 3 months and will run May 8 — July 9, 2024.

Each of these 3 months is structured as follows:

Week #1: Teaching live session (2 hrs, recordings available)
We’re giving you lots of practical tools and frameworks, backed by theory and science. You’ll have a clear roadmap for implementation in your own team.
Week #2: Office Hours live session (1.5 hrs, attendance optional)
If you have any open questions after the “Teaching” session, this is for you: we’ll answer questions, coach you through specific challenges from your own team, explain and clarify important concepts.
Weeks #3 + 4 (2 hrs per week, in your own time / no live sessions)
You work on implementing the tools, formats, and frameworks we introduced (in the “Teaching” session) and clarified (in the “Office Hours” session) in your own team. Step by step, in a sustainable pace, you’re going from theory to real-life practice.

 

Live session dates for this cohort:

Note: we strongly recommend attending the sessions marked in bold below (live if possible; otherwise by watching the recordings). Other sessions are optional.

May 8 at 7pm CEST / 1pm EDT / 10am PDT
-> Teaching #1 [recording available]
May 13 at 5pm CEST / 11am EDT / 8am PDT
-> Office Hours #1 [optional attendance]
June 4 at 7pm CEST / 1pm EDT / 10am PDT
-> Teaching #2 [recording available]
June 12 at 5pm CEST / 11am EDT / 8am PDT
-> Office Hours #2 [optional attendance]
July 1 at 7pm CEST / 1pm EDT / 10am PDT
-> Teaching #3 [recording available]
July 9 at 5pm CEST / 11am EDT / 8am PDT
-> Office Hours #3 [optional attendance]

 
 

Ready to Build a World-Class Team? Apply Now!

FAQ

How big or small should my team be?

It doesn't matter how many people you have on your team: if you have a team, you should start becoming deliberate about building the best version of it. In other words: there is no upper or lower limit in terms of team members.

That being said, if it's currently "just you and a co-founder", we suggest waiting until you have your first couple of colleagues. A great size to start is when you have around 5 people.

What’s the time commitment in order to benefit from the masterclass?

We know that our members - mostly founders and leaders - all have a busy calendar. We took this into account when designing this masterclass:

  • Only 1 live teaching session per month (with recordings provided should you miss one).
  • We provide lots of resources that are ready for immediate use and will save you a ton of time (e.g. documentation templates, workshop schedules, one-on-one agendas, ...).
  • We prepare all topics in such a way that there's only one thing left for you to do: implement them in your team!

Overall, you should plan for the following for each module:

  • each month: 1 live teaching session (recordings provided) for 120 minutes
  • each month [optional attendance]: 1 live "office hours" session for 90 minutes
  • each week: 1-2 hours implementing what you learn

To summarize: as a rough guideline, you should plan on spending around 2 hours per week to get the most out of the masterclass.

When are the live sessions?

Most of the live sessions are held at one of the following two times:

  • 7pm CET / 1pm EST / 10am PST
  • 5pm CET / 11am EST / 8am PST

As for the days of week, we rotate between Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

What if I can’t make it to one of the live sessions?

We encourage everyone to attend the live sessions whenever possible. But it’s not a problem if you can’t make it to some of them: all sessions are recorded and can be replayed at any time.

Where can I learn more about the full masterclass program?

After completing the free 3-month introductory training, you may join our main masterclass — the remaining 9 modules of our 12-month program. You can learn more about the full masterclass program on our main website.

How does the application process work?

The application process is quick and simple: all it takes is 5 minutes to fill out a short questionnaire. This helps us make sure that the program is a good fit for you.

In case you (or we) have additional questions, we can always meet for a short, casual conversation via Zoom. Feel free to book a slot with us!