Next cohort launches January 2027
A 12-week program that rewires how you think about business... and gets paying customers before you build.
2,000+ students trained, including the founders behind Skool, Jasper and Follow Up Boss.
“I’ve stolen your mind, and I’m not giving it back ... and now I’m going to supercharge it.”
What entrepreneurs are saying
“I never thought your first Mixergy interview would turn into an entire movement for entrepreneurs.”
Andrew Warner, Mixergy“The Foundation is on FIRE. They help starting entrepreneurs find success.”
John Lee Dumas“The Foundation is awesome for starting entrepreneurs.”
Nathan Latka“I think Dane is awesome. I love the work he does with entrepreneurs.”
Vishen LakhianiSound familiar?
Most people who find The Foundation are in one of three places.
The employee
The paycheck is fine, and so is the title. But your time isn’t yours, and you know it.
“The skills I learned in 6 months were more valuable than my entire 6 years at university… second only to my decision of leaving the chains of my cubicle.”
The business owner
It looks like success from the outside. From the inside it feels fragile.
“Two locations and 15 staff… On paper I was an entrepreneur, but inside I wasn’t. I felt like a caged animal. Now I have a product in development and $6,000 in pre-sales.”
The consultant and contractor
You left the job for freedom and ended up with more bosses.
“I had a massage business that I did alright with, but I was always stuck exchanging time for money… Now I am about 1 month away from my first launch.”
The common thread
Your income is chained to your time. Software breaks the chain.
Build it once, customers pay every month, and it keeps working when you don’t. So why haven’t you done it yet? Usually it comes down to one question that keeps running on repeat: “Am I enough?”
“The reason you don’t have the business you want is not because you’re lacking information. People get stuck, and they need help getting unstuck.”
It isn’t your fault
Most of what you’ve been taught about starting a business is backwards.
“Before starting the Foundation, I had 3 business ideas that went wrong. I lost effort, I lost time and I lost money. It blew my mind to discover that people actually found a way to build a solid SaaS even if you are not a tech geek and don’t have tons of cash to invest.”
You fall in love with a solution nobody asked for, spend months building it, and then nobody buys.
It keeps you focused on yourself. Meanwhile the real opportunity sits in someone else’s pain.
AI made building easy, which means you can now build the wrong thing faster than ever. The hard part was always finding a problem people will pay to fix.
Information doesn’t change beliefs. You can understand something perfectly and still not be able to make yourself do it.
Every stage has a moment where you get stuck. When you’re on your own, that’s the moment most people quit.
There’s a different way, and it has been working since 2012.
The Foundation Method
We don’t start with ideas. We start with problems. Every market has an unmet need, and you just have to dig until you find it.
Find and reverse the beliefs that keep you stuck: fear of failure, fear of success, “I’m not ready yet.” You stop hesitating and start acting.
“I went from being scared to even pick up the phone… to pre-selling 5 customers over two weeks at $349 a month. It’s all in the mind.”
Pick a market worth serving: at least 10,000 businesses earning $100K+ a year that you can reach directly. You don’t need to be passionate about it... but about the pain you're removing.
“Now I am a ‘value-seeking missile’… I zero in on value I can provide to others. Everything else after that has fallen into place.”
Talk to real business owners with our question scripts. Keep asking “What else?” and “Tell me more.” The best idea usually shows up on the fourth or fifth answer. Once the problem is that clearly defined, the solution becomes obvious.
“After learning idea extraction and finding a painful product idea people wanted, I was able to pre-sell 10 customers in under 24 hours.”
Get customers to pay before the product exists. Their money funds version one, and in return they get it free for life. You start with paying customers and none of your own money at risk.
“I was able to build the UI in 5 days and pre-sold $3,650, all without writing a single line of code.”
Strip version one down until it makes you nervous. Build it with a developer or with AI, then launch to people who are already waiting for it. Your first software product goes live with paying users.
“I am a photographer! …I found a developer that I totally love, presold my product before it was built, and had the first version up and running in 8 weeks!”
A clear lesson and action step for each phase, every week.
Get unblocked and clear on your next step with Dane and a past student who runs his own multi-seven-figure SaaS.
Share wins and lessons, and keep each other accountable. Everyone moves forward together.
Software changes the equation
Recurring revenue — customers pay every month, not just once.
It grows beyond your personal labor. You’re not renting out your time.
A business someone may eventually buy. This is ownership, not a side hustle.
The original Foundation formula, relaunched.
Join the January 2027 Waitlist Free · 30 seconds · Priority enrollment and private Q4 sessions with DaneProven results
They were employees, salespeople, an architect and a college student. Here’s where they started and where they are now.
Most successful student
Founder, Jasper.ai
Dave came in as an employee with no clue how to build a software company. He became financially free quickly, and 8 years later he founded Jasper.ai.
Cell phone salesman at 22. Now founder of Skool ($1B+ valuation).
Had a product no one wanted. Niched into real estate and successfully exited to Zillow.
Left Tesla. Built software with no idea of his own and $0 upfront for development.
Architect turned founder. Sold BestSelf and now travels the world.
Yacht salesman turned Inc. 5000 co-founder.
College student at 21. Now runs an Inc. 5000 company.
Employee turned creator of The Power Offer, which he taught to Alex Hormozi.
Corporate employee. Now makes millions a year helping coaches scale.
“The Foundation is probably the best money I have ever spent… I will never be alone again.”
Salesman. Now makes millions helping doctors grow.
Made $10,000 faster than any student in history.
Reached $30,000 a month with his first software business.
Now makes millions per year.
Reached $400,000 a month while traveling the world.
“Feels good to get a pre-sales check before I ever build a product!”
“I used to feel like being an entrepreneur was just a dream, but through The Foundation I have learned that it can be my reality.”
A note from Dane
I became financially free at 27, and I’ve been retired for 14 years. A CEO runs my multi-million-dollar software company while I collect the profit dividends, and I’ve spent that time helping many others reach financial independence.
For some, it transformed their financial life. For others, it transformed their relationships and their identity. It’s a powerful process, but running it alone was exhausting. So I stopped the original model for years and spent time being a musician.
That was until one of my past students, who built his own multi-seven-figure SaaS company, texted me. He begged me to bring The Foundation back and even offered to lead the program. I couldn’t say no.
The timing has never been better. AI removed the biggest barrier my students used to face, which was building the product. What’s left is what The Foundation has always taught best: finding a problem worth solving and getting people to pay for it.
Dane
Questions
“I was a little skeptical that The Foundation would be worth the money… would I really be able to start and run a successful business with real paying customers?”
No, and you’re better off without one. You’ll find the problem inside a market, and the idea comes out of that.
No. Dane can’t code either. You’ll learn to work with developers or build with AI tools. Your job is understanding the problem.
No. You’ll learn to pre-sell so your customers fund development.
Plan for 5 hours a week for 12 weeks. That covers the weekly content, a weekly live coaching call, and your action steps.
Most students are at first. You get the exact scripts, and we coach you through your first conversations.
Yes. Many alumni joined our most recent cohort to run the process again, and we offer a discount for past students who return.
Prices will go live in January 2027. It is at a premium price point with live coaching and support.
You’ll get a confirmation email right away with the free Employee to Entrepreneur Mindsets mini course. This fall, you’ll get invites to private Q4 sessions with Dane that are only for the waitlist. In December, waitlist members get priority access to enroll, before the public launch.