The Founding Twenty
The Founding Twenty, inside the build.
An invitation to spend Sherpa’s founding year with him: an associate you email about anything on your desk, with the founder on the other end of the thread.
New here? Sherpa is the Personal Expert Associate for international development consultants and teams. He works across the whole consulting lifecycle — Find, Secure, Deliver, Grow — from your record, in your inbox, and he gets better with use — your context, goals and corrections sharpen everything he brings you. See how he works
Why this exists.
It’s early, and we say so plainly. This is Sherpa’s founding period: the first practices are being organised, the first briefings and tender verdicts are going out, and the product is built in close contact with the people using it. The Founding Twenty are those people — twenty consultants and small firms whose live problems shape what gets built next, and where his track record starts.
That’s the trade, stated honestly: you get a year of the work and a builder who answers; Sherpa gets the twenty practices that teach him what this profession actually needs.
The builder has a name. Sherpa is built by Ron Sircar — ten-plus years in international development across Africa and South Asia, with the World Bank and UK Aid, a project manager for much of that time. The founding conversations are with him. His profile
What the founding plan is.
Not a cut-down version — the same year of the same work as a full subscription.
- Email him the way you’d email a colleague, about anything on your desk.
- Your practice organised in week one — and held from then on.
- A briefing on your world whenever you want one, and an honest go-or-no-go on the tender in front of you (we call them the Terrain and the Pursuit).
- Drafts, deadlines, and a practice memory that compounds — every win, loss and correction changes what he brings you next.
And what the founding plan buys beyond the product is access: the founder on the other end of the thread, a direct line into what gets built next — and a price locked for 12 months, then reviewed.
The terms, stated flat.
One intake, by invitation. When they’re taken, they’re taken. After that, you can still join the list for a personal subscription or for a team plan, and start your record now.
Billed yearly: $1,200 invoiced at the start, locked for 12 months, then reviewed. A founding firm pays the same $100 a month for the whole firm, with one allowance shared by everyone at the firm. Outside the Twenty, firm plans carry a larger monthly allowance: $3,600 or $6,000 a year.
Your plan includes a generous monthly allowance of Sherpa's work, set so we never need to meter you. Your Terrain always arrives. If you are nearing the allowance we will tell you plainly, once. If you pass it, further Pursuits and research runs move to the following month rather than costing you anything. If you run over two months in a row, we will suggest the right plan for the use, a firm plan or a Summit goal, and you decide. No meters, no surprise bills.
Not a checkout. Ron replies personally, and fit is decided in both directions.
Isolated to you, never used to train models we control, deleted on request. The trust page
How it goes.
Request an invite. Who you are, a line on your practice, and your CV if you like — three minutes, no card.
A conversation with Ron. He replies personally. What you’d want from the year, what Sherpa can honestly do for your practice today, and whether it fits.
If it fits, the year starts. You’re invoiced, Sherpa gets to work on your practice in week one — and the record that compounds from there is yours.
A year inside the build.
Not sure yet? Start with a free first briefing on your field — it stays free whether or not you join.