If you have achieved meaningful success and financial independence as a founder or investor, and are in a phase of your life where you have set out to build something driven by a purpose bigger than yourself, you should apply. You might have started and sold a company or been a founding team member at a fast growing startup or fund. Your next act might include starting another business (or many), investing, making impactful films, raising your children, setting up a family office or foundation. You are interested in what you can contribute to others, the community, and the world. Whether you spend most of your time as an investor or a builder, you still see yourself as an entrepreneur — now firmly on your second mountain.

Each application and nomination is assessed by the ELEA Selection Committee, who decides which candidate moves forward for an interview. ELEA’s Selection Committee consists of top investors and serial entrepreneurs who are intimately familiar with the journey. Today, the ELEA community has grown purely by referral, and attracted purpose-driven entrepreneurs & investors across 16 countries who want to learn & grow their ventures together.

Within ELEA, 50% of our members are based in the US, and 50% of our membership extends globally. We have members based in 9 countries, including the UK, Portugal, Singapore, and Canada. We intentionally maintain this ratio as non-US ELEA members are particularly interested in accessing the US market and getting global perspectives from the community, and vice versa.

A member who has been a long-time member of YPO said it best: "ELEA feels like a curation of the most intellectual, self-aware and genuine people in YPO, Milken Young Global Leaders, Kauffman and Summit who are on their second mountain. These are incredible qualities to have in one room."

ELEA members say that the best parts of the experience is the relationships they build by joining the community. We strongly encourage everyone to attend one ELEA experience a year (or more). We ask members if they are aware of any conflicts before each cohort kicks off. There are four key ELEA experiences, and if you cannot make it to any of them, we ask that you do not join.