Bengaluru: The Ad Club Bangalore convened senior industry leaders for the latest edition of its Founders Circle – Breakfast Edition at The Taj MG Road, bringing together founders and CXOs for a closed-door, no-agenda discussion focused on candid industry conversations.
Designed as an invitation-only forum, the session hosted 20 participants across marketing, advertising, and technology sectors. The format emphasized openness and confidentiality under the Chatham House Rule, encouraging honest dialogue without attribution. With no stage, presentations, or formal agenda, the three-hour session featured rotating table discussions across key themes including AI, marketing effectiveness, talent, and the future of the business.
The Founders Circle, now in its fourth edition, has evolved as a platform for deeper, solution-oriented conversations among senior leaders. The Breakfast Edition further streamlined the format, focusing on smaller groups and immersive discussions to foster meaningful engagement.
Commenting on the initiative, Laeeq Ali, President of the Ad Club Bangalore and Co-founder & Director at Origami Creative Concepts, said, “The Founders Circle is a true reflection of where we believe the Advertising Club must go next. For close to 50 years, we have brought the industry together; today, our responsibility is to ensure that every interaction unlocks tangible value for our members. That means curating not just events, but meaningful intersections between diverse stakeholders – founders, marketers, technologists, and creators – where new ideas, partnerships, and opportunities can emerge. What we saw at the Breakfast Edition was the power of showing up with intent: when the right people come into the room, with openness and curiosity, the outcomes take care of themselves. My invitation to our community is simple – don’t sit these out. These rooms are where the future of our industry is being shaped, and the value you unlock will always be proportional to the conversations you choose to be part of,”
The session was conceptualised and led by Suneet John, Program Lead for the Founders Circle at the Ad Club Bangalore and Director and CEO of Trigger Worldwide.
Reflecting on the discussions, Suneet John, Program Lead for the Founders Circle, Ad Club Bangalore and Director and CEO of Trigger Worldwide said, “The Founders Circle was built on a belief that the most important conversations in our industry are not happening on stages. They are happening between people who have enough lived experience to speak plainly and enough trust to do so openly. What we created at The Taj on March 26th was not an event. It was a room with the right conditions: twenty founders and CXOs, no pitching, no panels, and a Chatham House Rule that permitted everyone to be honest. That honesty produced something worth paying attention to. The conversation on AI cut through the noise that most industry panels are still recycling. The question of agency relevance was addressed without the usual defensiveness. And the discussion on who is genuinely building for Bharat, not just talking about it, was the most grounded version of that conversation I have heard in a long time. I have spent years watching this industry perform for each other. What I saw on March 26th was different, and it has raised my expectations for what a room of senior industry leaders can actually produce when the conditions are right. If you are a founder or a CXO who has not yet been in one of these rooms, that is what you are missing. Not another event. A conversation that gives you something to take back. We will keep building these rooms, and the next one will go further.”
Participants highlighted the value of smaller, focused interactions over traditional networking formats.
Ann Kurian, Founder & ECD at Talking Tree Media LLP, said, “I came with no expectations, and I really enjoyed myself. I thought that we had very down-to-earth conversations, a lot of humour, and I learnt a lot. I’m impressed with what everyone does, and I’m going back with a lot of interest in doing more, doing better, and scaling up,”
Shivani Raina, Co-founder at Peripheral Vision Collaborative, added, “The Founders Circle left us with a lot to chew on by asking some very pertinent questions. I’ve met many new people and also revived earlier partnerships. Really looking forward to such sessions where we, in smaller groups, can get to have meaningful conversations which will hopefully mean new pathways for growth for all of us,”
The next edition of the Founders Circle Breakfast is expected later in 2026, with strong interest already building among industry leaders.
