FAQs
Sidebar is a private community for exceptional leaders with bold goals.
We require an application to join. Once accepted, we carefully curate your Personal Board of Directors, matching you with a small group of brilliant peers. Message your group 24/7 and attend fast-paced meetings to solve your biggest challenges at work, faster.
With Sidebar, you get an elite support team, a clear path to success, and accountability to follow-through and achieve your most audacious goals. We push you beyond the horizon of what you thought was possible.
We welcome high-achieving professionals with a proven track record of success from companies of all sizes and stages, and from any industry: tech, healthcare, finance, and beyond.
To join Sidebar, you need to meet one of the following criteria:
- You have 10+ years of experience in your field, you manage a team of 10+ people or more, and have 2+ years in a leadership role.
- You’re a founder who’s started a company that’s achieved meaningful traction.
- You have a referral from an active Sidebar member.
Most importantly, all Sidebar members are screened to ensure they have a strong growth mindset.
If, after reviewing your application, our team determines you’re a great candidate for Sidebar, we’ll invite you to schedule an interview.
This interview is an opportunity for us to learn about you, your career, your professional goals and what you're hoping to get out of Sidebar. It's also an opportunity for you to ask questions and make sure Sidebar is the right fit for you.
We believe that when the right individuals come together rather than work alone, they can elevate each other to achieve greatness in their careers and beyond.
We match groups based on similarities in career stage and goals, while emphasizing diversity of backgrounds, abilities, and perspectives. The result is a dynamic environment designed to unleash each member’s greatest work.
If you’ve been placed on the waitlist, it’s likely because:
- You don’t yet meet our admission criteria
- Or, we don’t have the perfect group for you at this time.
Being waitlisted means we’ll contact you as soon as we have the right group for you to join.
While this is rare, it happens sometimes.
If you’re not satisfied in your current group, contact us and let us know what’s not working for you.
We’ll place you back into the matching pool and work hard to find a new group for you. Re-matching takes 2-4 weeks.
Yes! We have members from all over the world. As long as you’re comfortable reading, texting, and speaking in English, you’re welcome to join. One day, we hope to expand into more languages too.
Your membership includes:
- Sidebar's best-in-class matching.
- Twice monthly, 90 minute facilitated sessions.
- Bold goal setting and access to Sidebar's progress tracking software.
- Full access to the Sidebar ecosystem: live event series, resource libraries, and tactical community forums.
Sidebar sessions are conducted on our digital platform. Twice a month, you attend a fast-paced, facilitated session with your group. Each meeting is an opportunity to share your biggest challenge at work—and get advice and solutions from the right people to move you forward.
At each meeting, you'll continuously learn, practice, and evaluate your progress towards your goals.
You leave each session with clarity and the insight needed to take control of your professional journey.
In between meetings, access your group any time using the Sidebar app. When you need perspective at work, message your group and get a fast response.
Messaging is a great way to stay connected, ask quick questions, share something that inspires you, and get a burst of momentum whenever you need it.
In addition, you can reach out to one of your group members to set up a 1:1 session. Meet privately to discuss a challenge, brainstorm solutions, or go deeper into a topic that got covered during a group meeting.
Yes. Sidebar is 100% confidential.
All members agree to the Sidebar Rules of Engagement, which covers confidentiality, communication policies, attendance, and other important topics. Rules are strictly enforced. Members are not permitted to share details about other members’ names, place of work, projects, or any discussions that happen within Sidebar. What happens in here stays here.
You can log into Sidebar on our website or by using the Sidebar app on your iOS mobile device. Android is coming. We promise.
Yes, it’s likely they will. Many Sidebar members get their membership fees covered by their employer.
Shoot us an email at hello@teamsidebar.com and we're happy to help with the process.
Most likely, yes.
If you run a business in the US, the IRS allows you to deduct expenses needed to “maintain or improve skills you need in your trade or business.” Sidebar is definitely a place where you grow and improve as a business leader.
Every business is unique, so please talk to your tax preparer to make sure that you can claim your Sidebar membership as a tax-deductible business expense.
Send us an email (hello@teamsidebar.com) and ask away. We're here to help.
Questions?
Call us at (619) 259-0502