CEO Peer Groups in Minneapolis | Creative Business Council
CEO Peer Groups & Fractional Executives · Minneapolis

You Built the Company.
Now It Can’t Run Without You.

The help you need won’t come from someone who studied your problem. It comes from people who lived it: owners who built the company, made the hard call, and came back. For 30 years, we’ve put exactly those people in your corner, the kind you could never line up on your own.

CEO peer group meeting in Minneapolis: business owners at a Creative Business Council session
Start Here · The Blueprint

Wearing Too Many Hats?
So Is Everyone You Rely On.

You’re doing three jobs at once. So is your best person, and the one after that. When everyone is spread too thin, the real question isn’t who to hire next. It’s who should be doing what. The Blueprint is a two-hour diagnostic that maps who actually carries each function today, where the load has gone wrong, and what to change so the right people land in the right seats.

1
Clear Map of Your Org
2 hrs
Start to Finish
0
More Guessing

Every peer room starts here. Already know you just want a 1:1? That door’s open too.

Sales
You (Owner)
Mark
Marketing
You (Owner)
Agency
Operations
You (Owner)
Sarah
Finance
You (Owner)
Luke
↑ That’s you, in every seat. See your real chart →
Which Owner Are You?

Find Yourself. Then Follow the Path.

Thirty years of sitting with Minnesota owners, and nearly every one is carrying one of these three weights. Read them. The one that lands in your gut is where we start.

Owner No. 01

The Owner Facing the Big Call

“One decision is eating all the others.”

Selling. Succession. The partner talk you’ve dodged for two years. Naming your first real number two. Calls like these don’t fit in a staff meeting, and you can’t exactly poll the break room. So it just sits there at 2 a.m., getting heavier.

Sound like your 2 a.m.?
  • You’ve run the same scenario in your head for months.
  • Everyone you could ask has a stake in the answer.
  • It can’t go in front of the team, or the family. Yet.
  • The clock is real, even if nobody else sees it.
Your Path

1:1 Sessions

A standing seat across from someone who has actually made the call you’re staring at: sold the company, named the successor, bought out the partner. Not a coach with a worksheet. An operator who’s sat in your chair, sworn to confidence, asking the one question you’ve been avoiding. You leave with a decision, not more options.

Sound familiar? This is your path.
Owner No. 02

The One-Person Org Chart

“The chart says team. The calendar says five jobs.”

On paper, every box has a name. In reality you’re the head of sales, you close the books, you break every tie in ops. Nothing moves on your day off. You don’t have a team. You have a very expensive set of hands, and all of them are yours.

Sound like your org chart?
  • You hold a title in every department. Unofficially.
  • Nobody owns the number, so you own all of them.
  • You keep almost making a hire. But for which seat?
  • Delegating feels slower than doing. So you keep doing.
Your Path

The Seat

A fractional CFO, COO, or CMO from our bench drops into the seat nobody’s really filling: a senior operator who has run it for real, a few days a week, doing the job you’ve been doing badly at midnight. Real horsepower in the chair that hurts most, without committing to a full-time executive salary. Not sure which seat is actually empty? The Blueprint names it first.

Sound familiar? This is your path.
Owner No. 03

The Firefighter

“The day has a plan until 7:05 a.m.”

You put out fires from open to close: the quote that has to go out, the foreman who just quit, the customer who’ll only deal with you. The company runs, but only because you never stop running. Take a real week off and you come back to a month of mess.

Sound like your week?
  • Your vacation lasted 36 hours. The phone won.
  • Every decision waits for you, including the small ones.
  • Your best people bring you problems, never options.
  • Growth would just mean more of you. And there is no more of you.
Your Path

The Room

A table of 8 to 12 owners who clawed out of the exact hole you’re in, meeting every month to make sure you do too. Half a day, no spectators, nothing leaves the room. Facilitators ask the questions you’ve stopped asking yourself; the peers won’t let you off the hook. You stop being the only adult in the building.

Sound familiar? This is your path.
Why It Works

Every Path Leads to the Same Place:
A Company That Runs Without You.

The Blueprint, a 1:1, a fractional seat, or the room. Every door opens onto the same engine we’ve spent 30 years building. Everyone in it has actually run a company. Everything in it is built to move yours.

They’ve Sat in Your Chair

Everyone at the table has built and run a company of their own. They have already made the call you’re facing.

Said in Confidence

Real numbers, real fears, real fights. Out loud, and they go no further.

Accountability You Can’t Dodge

You leave with commitments, and people who’ll ask how they went next month.

Born in the Trades

Thirty years of pattern recognition from owners who build, make, and fix real things. Now pointed at your company.

The Proof

They Used to Carry It Alone, Too.

Owners from an array of industries who stopped doing it all. In their words. 5.0 ★ on Google →

T
Tyler Wilfahrt
Google Review
"CBC differentiates itself by inviting an array of industries and leaders to the conversation... my conversations surpass the traditional approach to expansion by creating a flywheel mechanism for growth. The impact is unequivocal clarity."
N
Nicole Elsawaf
Google Review
"I've worked with CBC for several years, and the impact across all of my companies has been enormous. Their framework helped me align leadership, create structure, and focus on accountability at every level."
J
Justin Anderson
Google Review
"I truly appreciate the caliber of business owners and professionals in this group. If you're a CEO or business owner looking to level up, I'd encourage you to reach out. Get in the room!"
Before You Apply

The Questions Every Owner Asks.

Cost, commitment, fit, and which path is yours. Answered straight.

What is a CEO peer group?
A confidential, facilitated meeting of 8–12 non-competing business owners who meet monthly to solve real problems, share experience, and hold each other accountable. Owners who have already made the decision you are facing help you make it faster, with fewer expensive mistakes.
Which option is right for me?
Quick router. Want into a peer room? It starts with the Blueprint, no exceptions. Carrying a function you can’t fill? Ask about a fractional executive. One big decision keeping you up? Book a 1:1, you can go straight there. Not sure which? The Blueprint is the fastest way to find out.
What size company is this for?
Any size. No owner is too big or too small. A solo founder and a 140-person CEO both have a path here. It just looks different. Smaller, or just getting going? Start with a 1:1 or the Blueprint. Growing? Add a fractional executive or a peer room. We have never turned an owner away for being “too small.”
Do I need to be in construction, manufacturing, or the trades?
No. CBC was born in the trades more than 30 years ago, and that operating DNA still shapes how we run a room. Today our members lead owner-led companies across an array of industries in the Minneapolis metro.
How much does it cost?
Peer group membership runs under $1,000 per month. The application process is no-pressure: start with the free Waypoint Assessment or schedule a call, and we will find the right-fit group before you commit to anything.
How often do groups meet?
Monthly, for a half-day session, with a 1:1 between sessions so commitments survive the month. Facilitation is Socratic: our facilitators ask the hard questions; you and your peers do the thinking.
Are the 1:1 sessions executive coaching?
No. CBC 1:1 sessions are counsel from operators, not career coaches. People who have owned and run companies and made the call you are facing. Expect direct questions, a decision, and accountability to it.
Who is Creative Business Council?
Over 30 years supporting business leaders in the Minneapolis metro area through peer groups, fractional executives, and 1:1 counsel. We are owners who have built and run companies, and we put more of them in your corner. Learn more about our team.
Put the Weight Down

Stop Carrying It Alone.
Start by Seeing It Clearly.

Two hours with the Blueprint shows you exactly where the company runs through you, and the one move that changes it. Thirty years of owners started right here. Your move.

Already know you just want a 1:1? Start there →
5.0 ★★★★★
Creative Business Council · Minneapolis, MN · Google Reviews →