How CS Connect works

Six rituals.
Three rooms.
One progression.

Not a course. Not a conference. Not a 500-person Slack group. CS Connect is built around where you are as a leader. Each room runs differently because each stage of CS leadership needs something fundamentally different.

Stage 01 · Rising

Find your footing.

First-time CS leads · New team leads

You're new to CS leadership and figuring out a craft no one taught you. You need guidance from someone who's been there, plus the company of other first-time leaders growing alongside you.

Signature ritual · Leadership Lab
Stage 02 · Operating

Sharpen with peers.

Managers · Directors · Heads of CS

You're past the fundamentals. You need benchmarks, not coaching. Peers running the same kind of team, hitting the same kind of problems, willing to compare notes honestly.

Signature ritual · The Board
Stage 03 · Leading

Carry the weight together.

VPs · Senior Heads · Multi-team Directors

You own the function. You don't need more content. You need a trusted senior peer room, expertise from outside the CS field, and intelligence no one else publishes.

Signature rituals · Boardroom suite
The six rituals

Each ritual is named for what it does.

Together they form the most complete CS leadership community in Europe. Here's exactly what each one is, and who walks into the room.

Rising
01 · Monthly

Leadership Lab

A small-group, expert-led event built for first-time CS leaders. A curated senior expert leads each Lab, and the group of 8–10 Rising members works through real challenges together. No slides. No theory. Practical coaching with peers in the room.

When a member is ready to bring something vulnerable, they can step into the Hot Seat. The group workshops their challenge together, with the expert guiding. It's an opt-in moment, not the default mode. Sometimes a Lab is structured around a topic, sometimes around a Hot Seat. Either way, the format stays small and honest.

Available toRising
FormatVirtual
Group size8–10 people
Duration90 minutes
Cadence12 per year
Led byCurated expert
RecordedYes
Rising Operating Leading
02 · Quarterly

Connectors Circles

Peer connection across Europe. In-person in chapter cities like Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Lisbon, Vienna, or virtual if your city doesn't have a chapter yet. Either way, four real Circles a year, designed for depth.

Off the record. No recordings. The room your peers describe as the moment everything clicks. Open to all members.

Available toAll tiers
FormatIn-person or virtual
Group size8–10 people
Duration2–3 hours
Cadence4 per year
Led byChapter lead
RecordedNo · off the record
Operating Leading
03 · Bi-monthly

The Board

A small, curated peer pod of 3–5 CS leaders, matched for the year. You meet bi-monthly with light structure and real accountability. Operating and Leading members each sit in tier-matched pods so the conversation stays at the right altitude.

Your default sounding board for the messy, unscripted decisions that don't fit anywhere else. The peers you'll still be calling years from now.

Available toOperating · Leading
FormatVirtual
Group size3–5 peers
Duration60 minutes
Cadence6 per year
Matched byTier and stage
CommitmentAnnual cohort
Leading · full access Rising · 1 ticket / yr Operating · 2 tickets / yr
04 · Bi-monthly

The Advisory Room

A 90-minute event with an expert outside the CS field. Board members. CFOs. Leadership coaches who work with the C-suite. M&A advisors. Negotiation specialists. The thinking CS leaders need but can't get from CS-focused conferences or books.

Leading members get full bi-monthly access. Rising and Operating members can join individual events using their annual ticket allocation.

Available toAll tiers (limits apply)
FormatVirtual
Group size8–12 leaders
Duration90 minutes
Cadence6 per year
Led byNon-CS expert
RecordedYes · Leading library
Leading only
05 · Quarterly

Board Exchange

A peer-to-peer access model that keeps the network alive. Once a quarter, you give 30 minutes to another Leading member who needs your perspective. Once a quarter, you get 30 minutes with another Leading peer on something you're working through.

Reciprocal by design, and the network stays alive because of it.

Available toLeading
FormatVirtual 1:1
Duration30 minutes each
Cadence4 give + 4 get / yr
Matched byTopic and stage
PrivateYes · off the record
Leading only
06 · Monthly

The Boardroom Brief

A 1-page private newsletter, delivered monthly. Not content marketing. Real intelligence. How peers are handling specific challenges. What's shifting at the executive level. What board narratives are working.

Curated by us. Contributed by your peers. Never published anywhere else.

Available toLeading
FormatWritten brief
Length~1 page
Cadence12 per year
SourcePeer-contributed
DistributionPrivate · members only
A year in the community

What you actually get over
12 months.

Predictable rhythm. Published calendar. Block the dates. Build the habit.

Rising
17
Events per year
  • Leadership Lab12
  • Connectors Circles4
  • Advisory Room ticket1
Operating
12
Events per year
  • The Board6
  • Connectors Circles4
  • Advisory Room tickets2
Leading
20
Events per year
  • The Board6
  • The Advisory Room6
  • Connectors Circles4
  • Board Exchange4
  • The Boardroom Brief12
Founding cohort now forming

You know which room.
Now apply.

50 founding seats across three tiers. Locked-in rates for life. The people who join now shape the community and walk in before public launch.