Sidebar

Peer-driven professional development for top senior leaders.

4.6•11 reviews•

277 followers

Peer-driven professional development for top senior leaders.

4.6•11 reviews•

277 followers

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Sidebar is peer-driven professional development for a highly-vetted group of founders and leaders. We catalyze success by matching members in small groups where they enhance each other's superpowers. Powered by purpose-built technology and expert facilitation.

Sidebar Reviews

The community submitted 11 reviews to tell us what they like about Sidebar, what Sidebar can do better, and more.

4.6

Based on 11 reviews

Review Sidebar?

Reviewers mostly say Sidebar works because the small groups deliver practical, honest advice, accountability, and a strong sense of community. Several describe it as more relevant than traditional coaching, with trusted peers who help on tactical, strategic, and emotional challenges. One early reviewer also highlights the structured meeting flow, dedicated facilitator, and clear in-product tools for agendas, milestones, and chat. The main exception is a sharply negative review focused on refund and membership handling, suggesting customer experience can break down even if the group experience is strong.

Summarized with AI

Pros

coaching methodology (5)

community building (4)

high caliber peers (4)

constructive feedback (3)

professional network (3)

structured growth support (3)

Pros

Cons

Reviews

Most Informative

Founder Reviews (2)

Other Reviews (9)

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•1 review

I've had a really poor experience with Sidebar, would not recommend. Before joining I was promised I would get a refund if it wasn't a fit for me, and then when I requested the refund b/c the timing wasn't right, they threw additional terms at me and wouldn't refund me. I then recently re-engaged them to join a group, and they're now saying my membership has expired. So they lied / hid terms about me getting a refund, I was forced to stay on even when the timing didn't work for me, and now they're saying I would have to pay full price AGAIN to join a group. No thanks, what a crappy customer experience.

What needs improvement

refund policy issues (1)poor customer experience (1)membership expiration issues (1)

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1yr ago

•1 review

Sidebar is an amazing l&d product. I'm an early stage founder, and I've been a Sidebar member for 14 months. My Sidebar small group has helped me get dramatically better tactically, strategically, and emotionally at building my startup. I meet bi-weekly with 4 brilliant peers, who are all early stage founders. Each session is an intense coaching session with 4 world class entrepreneurs. We listen to each others' problems. Ask probing questions. And offer tactical advice. At the end of every session, we voluntarily sign up for goals and hold each other accountable in the next session. The public goal setting in front of peers I respect/admire is motivating, terrifying, and awesome. Love Sidebar. Love my small group.

What's great

coaching methodology (5)structured growth support (3)goal setting and accountability (1)high caliber peers (4)valuable for early-stage professionals (1)

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3yr ago

•1 review

Caveat that this review is at the very beginning of my journey with Sidebar - I have literally only completed the first group meeting as of 02 June 2023. However, I joined a different group designed for women in late 2020 that I was a little disappointed with. I can already see HUGE advantages in Sidebar's approach, particularly with the tech supports. Most exciting to me was the meeting experience! They are using a bespoke solution inside of their community and at the top it has this outline of the meeting agenda with planned time for each activity. In real time a little gauge is moving across to show everyone where we are now and how much time is left for that activity. Like, WOW! I want this for ALL of my meetings! On the human side, our facilitator was phenomenal! In the other group I had joined we were each "taught" to facilitate and took turns throughout the year. That had very mixed results and Sidebar's dedicated group facilitators was actually a key reason I was willing to try this concept again. Chase did not disappoint - he's amazing! The Sidebar team clearly has a good process on the human side of things too. I was also impressed that once I was matched to a group a special space opened up for us where we could clearly see the milestones for the entire journey ahead and link to materials already made available to us. There were also all of the standard features whereby I could see the group members and our group chat, open new chats with 1 or more members, control notifications, etc. Overall we're off to a strong start and I am truly looking forward to the journey ahead. I'll be sure to update this review as I become more familiar with Sidebar and their complete offering.

What's great

curated groups (1)technology support (1)bespoke meeting solution (1)expert facilitation (1)

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3yr ago

•1 review

I've been lucky to be working with people in Sidebar for a bit now and it's been amazingly helpful. Having a set of people who have similar goals and challenges, to talk with, that you trust, and can get help from makes a huge difference. As people get better at their craft and more senior in their careers, it becomes harder and harder to have a great, independent set of people to learn from and bounce ideas off of, Sidebar delivers on this. And the caliber of people is impressive and energizing.

What's great

professional network (3)community building (4)high caliber peers (4)

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3yr ago

•1 review

I'm fortunate enough to be a founding member at Sidebar. I love the idea of having a personal board of directors that share professional interests and experience. Members can tap into a new level of coaching support, professional development, and peer-driven accountability. This team has just begun to scratch the surface of many industries where this will be invaluable.

What's great

professional network (3)personal board of directors concept (1)coaching methodology (5)structured growth support (3)peer-driven accountability (1)

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3yr ago

•3 reviews

I have been a member of Sidebar for about 6 months now, and it has been amazing! It's been incredibly helpful to have a group of professionals who can help each other out with problems and give honest advice to each other.