Introduction to the Catalyst88 Mastermind
By Steve Simonson
From the Catalyst88 archive. This is the origin story of the original Seattle-area mastermind — written when the room was still taking applications. That…
From the Catalyst88 archive. This is the origin story of the original Seattle-area mastermind — written when the room was still taking applications. That cohort is closed. The living room is the Chairman's Circle.
A strategy, systems, and scale room for ecommerce operators
Thank you for wanting to know how Catalyst88 started. It is still a distinct honor to be given a chance to earn a founder's time.
Your business matters most to you and to your family. It matters to us as well. We love entrepreneurs, and a core value we share is that the world needs more of them.
The original mission was simple: give operators access to other experienced operators, add strategy to building an ecommerce business, talk honestly about systems, and then scale. Isolation is not a personality flaw. It is a material risk to decision quality. We have been there.
Perhaps the company is focused on Amazon today, and you are wondering what other channels would actually reduce risk. Maybe the catalog is expanding and the next step is not obvious. Those are the questions this room was built to sit with.
What the original Catalyst88 MasterMind was
The Catalyst88 MasterMind was designed to add strategy, systemic thinking, and sustainable ideas you could take home and implement — and to act as a sounding board, an ideation room, and a virtual board of directors when you needed one.
The vision was an exclusive group of high-impact operators who were ready and willing to help each other in meaningful ways. The early USA cohort met in the Seattle area four times a year. Members covered their own travel; the room covered the days.
It was not built for a brand-new startup. The journey from zero to one million is a different sport than the journey from one million to ten. The screening was personal: business, goals, alignment, and the capacity to contribute — not a Facebook group you could buy your way into.
What made the room different
A three-person membership committee, drawn from members, helped set content and direction. The organizers still made final calls, but the line of communication was supposed to stay open.
- Smart sessions — member-driven tactics you could actually implement once you understood them.
- Inspiration — operators who had built, scaled, and exited, plus lawyers, accountants, and other people who had scars worth hearing.
- Field trips — Amazon's Seattle marketplace teams, law firms, eBay, Moz. None of those visits were guaranteed. They were a way to enlarge the view.
- Strategy first — tactics exist everywhere. The room's job was the big picture: how to build and protect a company from start to exit, and how to think systemically instead of collecting tips.
- Feedback loop — every session ended with a survey. Members drove the next agenda.
- Access — the Facebook group, contacts, and introductions sat inside the membership. The promise was not to nickel-and-dime the room.
- A year, not a weekend — four meetings plus the work in between.
- Experience — decades of running companies, from start-ups to scale, and a bias toward making the days themselves memorable.
Apply only if this still sounds like you
The original application asked ten questions that still hold:
- Can you invest in the room without lighting payroll on fire?
- Will you contribute your best ideas selflessly?
- Could you use experienced help in strategy, legal, and accounting?
- Do you ever wonder if the business is "real"?
- Do you worry it could disappear on a marketplace whim?
- Do you have the passion to build a world-class company and a gap in experience?
- Can you name a monetary target for revenue, profit, and personal wealth?
- Will you commit to regular personal development?
- Do you believe time and money in a real room can accelerate the work?
- Can you live with fast growth, constant change, and dynamic situations?
If you answered yes to most of those, you were probably a fit then. You are probably a fit now.
What this is not
This page is not an open enrollment form. The Seattle-era 25K cohort, quarterly payment plans, and membership-application links are historical. If you want the current room — online and PRO, led by the same operator — that is the Chairman's Circle.
An entrepreneurial mastermind is still one of the most powerful ways to add inspiration, ideation, and accountability. Like any tool, the ROI comes down to whether you implement. You remain the key to making the business succeed. That part never changed.