# The best advice comes from the next table
Canonical: https://agency-os.ai/2026/10/16/the-best-advice-comes-from-the-next-table/
Summary: Connect & Compound brings owners and operators together every 60 days to trade playbooks and candid numbers. Why it works, and how to use it.

In short

Owners learn fastest from people who have just solved the same problem. Connect & Compound gathers a small, hand-picked group every 60 days for two hours of candid talk, with no pitches.

## Why owners learn best from other owners

Running a business is lonely in a particular way. The decisions that matter most, a key hire, a price change, a second location, are the hardest ones to talk through with your own team. Advisers help. But the most useful advice often comes from someone at the next table who solved the same problem last year and will tell you what it actually cost.

That is the idea behind Connect & Compound.

## What it is

Connect & Compound is an invitation-based, in-person group for business owners and operators, hosted by [Justin Sloan](/about/), our Chief Executive. Members are, in the group’s own words, “selected by hand and kept deliberately small.” Its line is short: *the connections compound.*

The group meets every 60 days for about two hours. Each session has open conversation, a practical panel and open questions. The rule that matters most: no sales pitches.

## Three principles

- **Curated.** The room is chosen for quality, not size.
- **Practical.** Active operators share real playbooks and candid numbers, not theory.
- **Recurring.** The same people meet again and again, so trust builds and the advice gets more honest each time.

## What a session looks like

The July 2026 session in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, took on putting AI to work in a business, with Josh Streets of QX Now on customer experience, our partner Eric Yerke on design, and Justin hosting. The September session turned to scaling: how operators get past growth ceilings, covering systems, hiring and difficult decisions.

## How to get the most from any room like this

Whether it is Connect & Compound or another circle of peers, the owners who get the most from it tend to do four things:

1. **Bring one number.** A margin, a close rate, a labor percentage. Specific numbers get specific answers.
2. **Bring the question you have been avoiding.** The room is there for the decision you cannot discuss with your team.
3. **Ask what it cost.** When someone shares a win, ask what it took in time, money and mistakes.
4. **Follow up within a week.** One coffee with one person turns a good evening into a working relationship.

## Request a seat

Seats are limited and requested at [connectandcompound.com](https://connectandcompound.com/), where dates are posted. If you would rather start with a conversation about your own business, [book a free consultation](/book-a-call/).

**Sources:** [Connect & Compound, connectandcompound.com and its past events page](https://connectandcompound.com/).