This is where founders stop fumbling and start moving.
Mentor preview
Matt Chitharanjan
Co-founder, Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters
Why this trail exists
You're building. But something isn't moving the way it should.
"You're not stuck for lack of trying. You're stuck for lack of the right room — and the right person who's already walked through what's in front of you."
GTM is broken. Inventory is bleeding cash. The brand feels scattered. Consistency is the thing everyone talks about and nobody actually solves.
These aren't knowledge problems. They're access problems — access to someone who built through exactly this, in a room designed to move you forward.
What this trail is
Four days. One direction.
Not a conference. Not a retreat. A designed environment where the place, the mentor, and the cohort do something no course can — they shift how you think, and you leave knowing your next three moves.
THE PLACE
Himalayas
Chosen because altitude does something to thinking. Away from your desk, your team, your inbox. The discomfort is the point. The person you become up here has thoughts you've never had at sea level.
THE MENTOR
Matt Chitharanjan
Co-founder of Blue Tokai — one of India's most recognised specialty coffee brands. He built the GTM, solved the inventory, found the brand consistency, and scaled it without a mentor who'd done it first. He's been exactly where you are.
THE COHORT
15 founders
Curated for chemistry and complementary inflection points. Not a room of competitors — a room of mirrors. People who challenge your assumptions and confirm your instincts in equal measure.
Your mentor
He built the brand you're trying to figure out.
Matt Chitharanjan co-founded Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters in 2013 — before specialty coffee was a recognised category in India. He built it from a single roaster in a Delhi apartment to one of the country's most trusted consumer brands.
He solved GTM when there was no playbook. He figured out inventory when every unit of waste was an existential decision. He found brand consistency when the team was scaling faster than the culture.
"The biggest mistakes I made in the first three years weren't knowledge problems. They were access problems. I didn't know anyone who'd built what I was building. I want to be for the people in this room what I didn't have."
— Matt Chitharanjan, Co-founder, Blue Tokai
What Matt brings to this trail
Twelve years of building a consumer brand from scratch — with real decisions, real mistakes, and real outcomes that are still compounding.
A GTM approach built and rebuilt three times — from neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood to city-wide to national to D2C. He knows where each version breaks.
Inventory thinking born from a business where every spoiled unit is a direct loss. The discipline that keeps a perishable product business alive.
Brand consistency principles that worked across 30+ cafes, 4 cities, and a product that had to taste exactly the same everywhere.
Honest answers to the questions you haven't asked anyone yet — because no one in your current room has been here.
What you leave with
Not learnings. Decisions.
You don't leave with a notebook full of frameworks. You leave knowing your next three moves — and the people who'll hold you to them.
A GTM that actually fits your stage
Not a generic framework. A go-to-market approach shaped around your specific product, your market, and your moment — reviewed and pressure-tested by someone who built one from scratch.
Inventory decisions that stop the bleeding
The thinking that makes inventory profitable instead of painful. When to hold, when to move, how to stop guessing and start managing by signal. Specific to your product and suppliers.
Brand consistency across every touchpoint
The principles that kept Blue Tokai feeling like one brand across 30+ locations and millions of cups. Translated to your context, your team size, your product.
A brand identity that compounds
Not a logo refresh. A clear point of view on what your brand stands for — one that makes every future hiring decision, every campaign, every product extension easier.
Fourteen founders who know your real situation
Not LinkedIn connections. People who heard the real version of your problem — not the polished one. They become your ongoing board of honest advisors.
You know how to get in
Four steps. One direction.
This isn't an application in the traditional sense. It's a conversation starter. We're looking for founders at real inflection points — not perfect pitch decks.
Signal check
If you've read this far and something felt true, that's the signal.
You request an invite.
A short, honest form. Where you actually are. What you're hoping to find. No CVs. No pitch decks. Just clarity on your current state.
We read it carefully.
Every application is read by a human. We're looking for founders at real inflection points where this trail will genuinely move the needle.
You're placed in the right trail.
Matched to this edition, this mentor, this cohort. If this specific trail isn't the right fit, we'll tell you which one is — and when.
You show up. You leave different.
With clarity on your next move. With people who know the real version of your problem. With a mentor relationship that doesn't end.