Comparison
Adamiro vs. a peer group or a WhatsApp thread.
The Tank is where you pressure-test a decision before you commit to it. Five advisors who have never met you, which is closer to pitching a room of investors than to asking four friends what they think. It is the one thing a group chat is structurally bad at.
Your peer group wins on the things that matter most.
They know the history. They remember the last three things you tried and how the second one went, and they can tell you your co-founder is the real problem because they have met your co-founder.
They also carry consequences. A peer who has run the same business for eight years is staking their own judgement when they advise you, and they will ask how it went. No product does either of those things.
If you have a peer group that works, keep it. Nothing on this page is an argument for cancelling anything.
But nobody in that room is deciding whether to back you.
A pitch to investors works because the room owes you nothing. They have never met you, they will not see you next month, and their job for the next twenty minutes is to find the hole before their money does. It is an unpleasant experience and a very good test.
A group chat runs the other way. Someone raises a fair objection, two others half-agree, and the thread settles before anybody says the uncomfortable version out loud. It is not dishonesty. They like you, and liking you is a bias.
So most founders have a room that knows them and goes easy, and no room at all that knows nothing and goes hard.
The Tank is a board that has never met you.
A Chairperson reads the question you put in and picks five advisors from a roster of thirty. Capital, product, demand, operations, risk, whichever of them your question actually needs. They are briefed to argue with each other, and the argument is left standing rather than smoothed into a single recommendation. You read the disagreement and you decide.
What the board knows about you is your Pitch File, a short profile you keep current, and nothing else. Nobody in there is managing your feelings, because nobody in there has any reason to.
It also convenes at 06:00 on a Sunday, or in the twenty minutes before the call where you have to name a price. That is usually when the decision turns up.
Being clear about the limit. A board that does not know you will sometimes be confident and wrong about your particular company, and working out which advisor that is stays your job. It also starts every session cold, on purpose, so each pitch gets a clean read. The sessions themselves are kept, and Mentor, which does carry what you told it before, can read them back without you pasting anything across.
Side by side
| A peer group or group chat | The Tank, with Mentor alongside | |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship with you | Deep, including the parts you have not said out loud | None, deliberately. The board reads your pitch, not your face |
| Reason to be gentle | They have to see you again | No advisor has one |
| How the disagreement ends | Softened until the thread settles | Left standing, side by side, for you to judge |
| Range of expertise | Whoever happens to be in the group | Five advisors picked from thirty for the question in front of them |
| Availability | When somebody is free | Any hour, and the full board every time |
| Memory | Human memory, and it is better than you think | The Tank starts each session cold on purpose. Mentor carries context, and can read your Tank sessions |
| Accountability | They will ask how it went | None. It will not chase you |
| Emotional support | Yes, and this is not a small thing | No |
| Cost | Free, plus the reciprocity | Mentor from Growth at $99/mo, The Tank on Business at $199/mo |
| Best for | Judgement about you, from people who know the history | Pressure-testing a decision before you commit to it |
Questions worth asking
Is this meant to replace my peer group?
No, and we would think less of you for letting it. It covers the case a peer group is worst at, which is a hard read from people who have no relationship with you to protect. Most founders want both.
Why is it an advantage that the advisors do not know me?
Because knowing you is what makes a room polite. A board with nothing invested in the friendship goes at the weakest part of the plan first, the way an investor does, and that is what a pressure test is.
What actually happens in a session?
You put the decision in. A Chairperson picks five advisors from a roster of thirty and sets them on it, they argue over as many rounds as you want, and you read the argument rather than a verdict.
Do the advisors know anything about my business?
They read your Pitch File, a short profile you keep current, and that is all. The board has no memory of earlier sessions, so each one starts clean. Mentor is the half that remembers, and it can read your Tank sessions back.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes. The First Round is a free single pass at a smaller table: describe an offer and three advisors rule on it in about a minute, with no account and nothing written to our database.
Last reviewed: August 2026