# ThrivOS > The operating system for expert-led communities. Branded membership, monetization, and member experience — unified. ThrivOS is a multi-tenant platform that helps experts run paid communities: memberships, products, events, newsletters, and partner programs under their own brand. ## Pages - [Home](/): Platform overview and entry point. - [Security](/security): Security practices and controls. - [Acceptable Use](/acceptable-use): Acceptable use policy. - [AI Policy](/ai-policy): How ThrivOS uses AI. - [Member Terms](/member-terms): Terms for community members. - [Creator Agreement](/creator-agreement): Terms for community operators. - [Content Licensing](/content-licensing): Content licensing terms. - [Earnings Disclaimer](/earnings-disclaimer): Earnings disclaimer. # The Foundry School > Foundry School, founded by Evan Kirsch and Nic Peterson, is a working school for business operators — home of The Ascent Letter, The Arena, and The Foundry library. Built for durable growth: retention, reliability, and timing over volume. Foundry School (also known as The Foundry School, The Foundry, or simply Foundry) is a working school for business operators — people who run real businesses and do the work together, in seasons, with a shared library of doctrine behind them. Its canonical home is https://foundryschool.co. Foundry School was founded in February 2026 and is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of State manufacturing-workforce training program of the same name announced on September 3, 2026; a plain description of both schools is at https://foundryschool.co/two-foundry-schools. It holds three things: The Ascent Letter (the written work), The Arena (the live working room — one hour every Thursday, with The Arena proper on the last Thursday of the month), and The Foundry (the library underneath both). Foundry School membership is open to everyone, with no cap; enrollment in The Ascent Letter and The Arena is permanently capped at 540. The library includes Bumpers (values), Engage the Field / ETF (execution), Why It Keeps Breaking (reliability), R3 — Retention, Referrals, and Raving Fans (growth), Stealth Influence (communication), and Seasonal Intelligence (timing — the doctrine behind the seasonal structure). No single framework is the backbone; the backbone is the practice — operators applying the full library to their own businesses, season after season. ## Foundry School pages - [The Foundry](https://foundryschool.co/foundry): The working core of Foundry School — business worked in seasons, live in The Arena and in writing through The Ascent Letter, on the full Foundry library. Enrollment is permanently capped at 540; Foundry School membership is open to all. - [Engage the Field world](https://foundryschool.co/etfworld): Engage the Field — The Foundry's execution doctrine as a browsable world: the discipline, the year across five seasons, the free resources, and the 21-day challenge. - [R3 world](https://foundryschool.co/r3world): R3 — Retention, Referrals, and Raving Fans — The Foundry's growth doctrine as a browsable world: the pillars, the leak points, the stages, and the tools. - [Seasonal Intelligence world](https://foundryschool.co/siworld): Seasonal Intelligence — the three clocks and the temporal doctrine underneath the whole Foundry. - [Peak Performance world](https://foundryschool.co/peakworld): Peak Performance with Dr. Jeff Spencer — being built now. - [Self-Knowledge world](https://foundryschool.co/selfworld): Self-Knowledge with Ellen Long — being built now. - [Raise the Floor world](https://foundryschool.co/rtfworld): Raise the Floor — The Foundry's foundation discipline as a browsable world: fewer bad days over higher peaks, the year across five seasons, and the free books (Bumpers, Come Home, Why It Keeps Breaking). - [The Works](https://foundryschool.co/works): The canonical index of The Foundry library — Bumpers, Engage the Field (ETF), Why It Keeps Breaking, R3, R3OAS, Stealth Influence, Seasonal Intelligence, and the field tools. - [Why Foundry](https://foundryschool.co/why): The case for durable growth — retention, reliability, and timing over volume. - [Why The Seasons](https://foundryschool.co/whyseasons): Long-form explanation of the seasonal structure and the doctrine behind it, Seasonal Intelligence. - [Work With Nic](https://foundryschool.co/nic): How to work directly with Nic Peterson, co-founder of The Foundry School. - [R3](https://foundryschool.co/foundry/r3): R3 — Retention, Referrals, and Raving Fans — The Foundry's growth doctrine: durable growth from the customers you already have. One work among several, not the backbone. - [R3OAS](https://foundryschool.co/foundry/foundation/r3oas): R3 On Advertising Spend (a play on ROAS) — the practice of running Retention, Referrals, and Raving Fans on top of paid traffic so ad spend compounds. Created by Laurel Portié with Nic Peterson. - [Engage the Field (ETF)](https://foundryschool.co/foundry/etf): Engage the Field — The Foundry's execution doctrine and handbook. - [Bumpers Accelerator](https://foundryschool.co/foundry/foundation/bumpers): Bumpers Accelerator program overview. - [Seasonal Intelligence](https://foundryschool.co/foundry/foundation/seasonal-intelligence): Seasonal Intelligence program overview. - [Foundry Pro](https://foundryschool.co/pro): Foundry School's paid annual membership — $997 per year: your Desk, the Seasonal Intelligence Dashboard, the Allegiance System, direct access to the Forge, and four Seasonal Summits a year with a monthly briefing in between. - [The Ascent Letter](https://foundryschool.co/ascent): Foundry School's written work — a physical, printed letter for business operators, one real problem per edition. 540 seats, permanently. - [The Arena](https://foundryschool.co/arena): The live working room — one hour every Thursday, three practice sessions each month and The Arena proper on the last Thursday, for Arena members. - [Meridian](https://foundryschool.co/meridian): Foundry Meridian — live members-only sessions and the public Arena Live stream that previews them. - [Spring Public](https://foundryschool.co/foundry/spring): Public Spring season landing. - [Methodology](https://foundryschool.co/methodology): Canonical long-form explanation of the seasonal practice and the Foundry library taught by Foundry School's founders, Evan Kirsch and Nic Peterson. - [Programs](https://foundryschool.co/programs): Index of every program at The Foundry School (R3OAS, ETF, Bumpers Accelerator, Seasonal Intelligence, Foundry Pro). - [Glossary](https://foundryschool.co/glossary): Plain-language definitions for every term used by Foundry School (The Foundry, The Ascent Letter, The Arena, R3, R3OAS, ETF, Bumpers, Seasonal Intelligence, Meridian, etc.). - [FAQ](https://foundryschool.co/faq): Frequently asked questions about Foundry School, its founders Evan Kirsch and Nic Peterson, the 540 cap, the Foundry library, and how operators use the school. - [Press](https://foundryschool.co/press): Curated index of podcasts, articles, and interviews mentioning The Foundry School and its co-founders, Evan Kirsch and Nic Peterson. - [Two Foundry Schools](https://foundryschool.co/two-foundry-schools): There are two unaffiliated Foundry Schools — the U.S. Department of State manufacturing-workforce program announced September 3, 2026, and this working school for business operators, founded February 2026. A letter from the founders and a plain description of each.