The Ad Club Bangalore unveils ‘Founders Circle’ for agency leaders

The Advertising Club Bangalore has launched 'Founders Circle', a new initiative aimed at supporting founders, co-founders, and senior partners of agencies across advertising, design, digital, media, technology, and public relations sectors. The program seeks to address specific business challenges faced by agency leaders in the current industry landscape. The inaugural session is scheduled for Saturday, August 2, 2025, at the Bangalore International Centre.

According to The Ad Club Bangalore, the advertising industry has witnessed a shift with many leaders moving away from traditional network structures to launch their own ventures. While these individuals possess domain expertise, the demands of running an independent agency require additional support systems. The programme has been created to address this gap through knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

Laeeq Ali, President of The Ad Club Bangalore and Co-founder of Origami Creative, stated, "As agency founders, we’re constantly navigating a mix of creative ambition and business survival - often without a playbook or a peer to call. The Founders Circle is born from that lived reality. It’s a space for leaders to pause, reflect, and grow together. We’re not just solving for today’s pressures; we’re shaping what the future of our industry could and should look like.”

Suneet John, Co-founder of Trigger Worldwide and Lead of the Agency Impact Series, added, "Agency founders face a brutal paradox: building the future while barely surviving the present. The Founders Circle transforms hard-won wisdom from battle-tested founders into the competitive advantages that separate thriving agencies from those that merely survive. This invitation-only peer circle addresses the fundamental challenges that keep agency leaders awake at night, not through theory, but through proven frameworks that work. We're not just building better agencies; we're redefining what agency leadership looks like in an industry that demands both creative brilliance and business mastery.”

The programme is expected to offer quarterly closed-door sessions, expert-led workshops, and facilitated discussions on areas such as business model design, talent strategy, market differentiation, and financial management. The inaugural event will feature a leadership session by Dilip Krishna, CEO of Carpe Diem India, who has experience in organisational transformation across more than two dozen sectors.

Membership in this program is said to be limited to agency founders, partners, and senior leaders from creative, media, PR, technology, and digital agencies. The application and invitation-only model is intended to maintain a peer-level community of decision-makers.