The startup community curing the Sunday scaries

Business networking is fundamentally broken.The traditional model built around LinkedIn, corporate retreats and boring presentations often feels more like a corporate chore than a genuine opportunity.According to a survey cited by SalezWORKS, 73% of professionals actively dread networking events.

Retreats often feel like training camps to reinforce a business culture that prizes superficial connection over meaningful interaction.This is exactly the problem the founders of the Art of Mondays decided to change.Art of Mondays is an exclusive community actively dismantling the outdated conference model and replacing it with something radically different.Founded by two young Australians, Jai Howitt (28) and Evan Bryce (31), Art of Mondays is an application-only community dedicated to “lifestyle founders.” These are entrepreneurs who run online businesses, travel the world, and prioritize their physical health and genuine friendships over perpetual burnout.Their core philosophy is simple yet subversive in the modern startup world: work to live, not live to work.

Both Howitt and Bryce run the company remotely from anywhere in the world, living the very lifestyle they champion.“We believe that you can create a business that works and also not have to sacrifice the love of your day-to-day life,” explains Bryce.“There’s always time and place for [the hustle]… but we take that business side of things and combine that with our personal philosophies.”Instead of renting out lifeless convention centers, The Art of Mondays moves founders into rural villages or onto private islands.

For a few years, it has conducted its residencies (Bryce told me they prefer not to call them retreats because of the continuing value they offer members) at inspiring locations around the world.In these 10- to 12-day sessions, they live, build, play and connect.The idea is to bridge the gap between childlike play and serious business problem-solving, and the founders’ intention is ...