A founder retreat that lasts a month, with mentors who have done it

Why a weekend doesn't do it

You fly in on Friday. By Sunday you have a notebook full of other people's frameworks, a group chat and a good feeling. By Wednesday the group chat has gone quiet and the week looks exactly as it did. Nothing changed because nothing had time to.

A month is different in kind, not in degree. It is long enough to see your own week properly, to notice what you do on autopilot, and to change it while somebody who has run a bigger business than yours is watching you do it.

What the mentors actually do

Three mentors come during the month, one a week, and stay two nights each. Between them they have scaled businesses, sold them and invested in them. Each gives an evening off the record and a workshop, sits down with you one to one and eats at the table. They are not speakers. They are in the house.

Twice a week the group works on one real problem from someone's business, with the numbers on the table, and what is said there stays there. You arrive with your numbers and one goal. You go home with a 90-day plan that three people who have done it have pulled apart and put back together.

Twelve people, chosen

There are twelve places. Everyone arrives on the same day and leaves on the same day, so nobody spends the month as the new one. The group is chosen by application and a 30-minute call, so that the eleven people around the table are worth your month.

It is for the owner of something that works: it pays well, it is growing, and it takes more out of you than it should. It is not for a first-time founder raising a pre-seed round, and it is not a programme that takes equity.

The business keeps running

You do not hand the business over. The day has a long block in the middle that is yours, with a desk and a connection that works, and the sessions sit either side of it. Most people find the business runs on less of them than they thought, which is itself one of the lessons. More on that in running your business from the retreat.

The rest of the day

Mornings are for breathwork, yoga, mobility or a swim in the sea, and Savi's holistic and mental wellbeing coach stays the whole month, not for a two-day visit. Dinner is at one long table, cooked by a chef. The month is alcohol-free, in the house and out of it, which does more for the mentoring than it sounds. See why a sober business retreat works.

Who runs it

Sojourns is run by Savi, winner of Destination Coliving at the 2026 Coliving Awards. Savi's house near Valencia has sixteen rooms, has been alcohol-free since it opened in July 2025, and has run at 95 to 98 per cent full with no advertising. The founder, Steve Haynes, has twenty years in hospitality. Sojourns takes what works in that house and puts it in one house, for one month, for twelve people.

Questions

How long is the founder retreat?

Twenty-eight nights in spring 2027. Everyone arrives together and leaves together.

Who are the mentors?

Three business owners and operators who have scaled, sold and invested. One comes each week and stays two nights. They are named to accepted applicants.

Can I keep working during the month?

Yes. The day is built around a protected block of working hours, with a desk and a connection. Nobody asks you to switch off for a month.

What does it cost?

The fare is on application. A distinctive experience comes with a price to match. There are twelve places, an offer is held for seven days and a deposit holds your room.