Invitation-only suppers for Perth founders & operators
People now see something polished online and assume a machine made it. John Lee calls this a trust recession. A handshake across a dinner table can't be generated. The Second Piano seats fourteen carefully chosen founders and operators at one table, arranged so that what each person brings sits beside what someone else needs.
By invitation only
requests your company at a table of fourteen
founders & operators
An evening without pitches, lanyards or slides.
A concept invitation. No suppers have been held yet.
Why in person
John Lee's example: a team member complimented him on how well his AI had made one of his photos. It wasn't AI. It was really him. When even a real photo gets mistaken for a generated one, you have to give people a reason to believe you, and being there in real life is one of the strongest reasons left.
Create an event in person for your ICP, and your business will go up.
John Lee's example
He told the story of a client in his partner programme, in fund management, that he said had been stuck at about 650 million for around 15 years. Within about a year of this work, he said, they reached a billion.
They decided their ICP was people who understood financial investment, and created an event for exactly them: the Capital Wealth Summit.
Family offices, fund managers, financial planners, real estate investors and venture capital came.
A war had broken out in the region around April. Everyone said no one would show up, and the flights were almost empty. John had committed to speak, flew in, and it was a full house.
From that room, the client gained access to family offices and government funds and could deploy capital.
John Lee's example
Over breakfast, his business partner mentioned to another speaker that one of their clients in Dubai had just raised about a billion dollars. John made a phone call and connected the two on the spot. They recorded a podcast the next day, and he said they are now investing in a longevity company together.
He calls these green room deals: deals that happen backstage and in casual conversation, away from the boardroom. He also reminded the room that you are only about six contacts away from anyone.
The summit worked because it was built for one kind of person. Every Second Piano table is drawn for one kind of guest: Perth founders and operators with something real to give.
The standing hour before dinner is scheduled, hosted and planned. The host arrives knowing which three introductions to make first.
John made the call at breakfast. The host does the same at the table, with a one-line reason the two people should talk.
Who's in the room
Before anyone is invited, the guest is defined with John Lee's PAID method: the four things you must understand about a person before you can help them. These are the working answers for The Second Piano's guest.
What keeps them up at night?
Building alone. Every inbox is full of polished pitches they can't trust, and they don't know who to call when something breaks.
Who exactly are they?
Perth founders and operators, roughly 25 to 55, running something with real customers, usually between the first serious hire and the first serious raise or expansion.
What has to happen inside them to say yes?
From "networking nights waste my evening" to "this table was put together for me, and I'll leave with someone I'll call this month."
What end result do they want?
One relationship that changes the trajectory of the business: a hire, a partner, a customer or a backer.
John Lee's midnight panic question
If your client called you tomorrow in a panic, what would they be panicking about?
He calls the answer your true ICP. The Second Piano asks it of every guest before the evening, and their answer becomes the Looking for line on their place card. The seating plan then puts that need beside someone who brings it.
Example panics, and what we seat for
This deal slips and I can't make payroll.Capital
Our biggest client just went quiet.Enterprise intros
I need a senior hire by Monday.Hiring
We're doing everything by hand and drowning.AI & automation
Red liner
“Come on, be realistic.”
You tell them what you want to do and they think you're crazy.
Green liner
“I don't know about that, but I think you can do it. Give it a shot.”
Every guest at a Second Piano table is a green liner. That is the first test, before role or revenue.
Red liners and green liners are John Lee's terms. He said the people you spend time with shape your results.
The curation guide
Exercise
John Lee's three steps. Type the people you spend the most time with, mark each red or green, then choose who you'd put on a Second Piano guest list.
Saved only in this browser, on this device. Nothing you type here is sent anywhere, including to the AI.
The Resonance Table
John Lee's friend Paul McKenna told him about sympathetic resonance: play a C on one piano and the C strings on the piano beside it start to vibrate. As John Lee put it, when you bring incredible people together, incredible things happen.
This planner is how The Second Piano decides who sits beside whom. Each glowing line is a pair whose strings answer each other.
Introductions
For every strong pair in the current seating, one warm line the host can say out loud in the green room hour. Move people around and run it again.
Checking whether live AI is available.
The evening
The run sheet for a Second Piano supper. Times are a working template for a weeknight; the order is what matters.
The host greets each guest by name. Every place card carries three lines: their name, one thing they bring and one thing they're looking for.
No seats yet. The host works from the Introductions list and makes the three strongest introductions first, out loud, with the reason. This is where John Lee's green room deals happen.
Guests sit where the Resonance Table put them. One prompt, answered around the table.
If your best client rang you at midnight tomorrow, what would they be panicking about?
One speaker, no slides, following John Lee's seven steps in order. Example talk:
John Lee said you are only about six contacts away from anyone. Each guest names one person they need to meet this year; the table works out who is closest.
Who is one person you need to meet this year? Say their role out loud.
"An idea can't grow unless it's shared," as John Lee told a room that wanted to keep an idea secret. One rule for replies: answer like a green liner.
What idea have you been keeping to yourself?
John Lee's close from the bootcamp: write down your biggest aha moment, then the one action you'll take straight after. Share both with the person beside you, then put the action in your calendar with a date and time before you stand up. Things that get scheduled get done.
The host thanks each guest and notes who met whom. The follow-up starts tonight.
Printed as tent cards and placed down the table, one per course. Each comes from an idea John Lee taught.
If your best client rang you at midnight, what would they be panicking about?The midnight panic question
What could you give someone at this table tonight, for free?Win-win-win starts with your side of it
Which part of your market do you leave on the plate?The pizza analogy: someone here may want your crust
What would a win for you, a win for the person beside you and a win for their customer look like?The win-win-win test
Who is one person you need to meet this year?Six degrees of separation
Who was the green liner who told you to give it a shot?Red liners and green liners
What idea have you been keeping to yourself?"An idea can't grow unless it's shared"
What will you do because of tonight, and when is it in your calendar?Commit to one action
The invitation engine
A personal letter in John Lee's ADUCATE order: Attention, Difficulty, Understanding, Credibility, Authority, Testimonials, Exit. Tell it who the guest is and why they belong at the table.
After the evening
John Lee said most of the money comes from following up, and that a CRM is how nothing gets forgotten. Every Second Piano guest, introduction and promised action goes into one place, then gets three touchpoints.
24 hThe next morning
7 daysOne week on
30 daysA month on
Strategic Alliance Partners
John Lee's example: at a favourite pizza place, someone close to him eats the pizza and leaves the crust, and he eats the crust. You both want the same thing without competing for the same part. A Strategic Alliance Partner has the audience you want but isn't your competitor. These are the partner types the supper is built to attract.
A private dining room or restaurant
They keep the booking and the kitchen. We keep the conversations.
A local winery, distillery or coffee roaster
They want to be tasted by people who buy for teams and clients. We want something good and local in the glass.
A commercial law firm, accountant or bank partnerships team
They want to meet founders at the moment they need advice, without cold calls. We want an expert at the table who doesn't pitch.
House rules for partners. A seat, a mention on the menu card and a thank-you at the close. No sales pitch at the table. A guest's details are shared only with that guest's permission. A deal is a yes only when guests, partner and host all win, which is John Lee's win-win-win test.
Event economics
A planning model for one supper. Every figure here is an assumption to edit, and none has been quoted by a venue or partner.
Tickets and partner contributions in, venue and extras out.
John Lee's webinar maths, adapted to personal invitations.
180,000 × 20% open = 36,000 → half register = 18,000 → half attend ≈ 9,000 → 25% buy = 2,250 × $300 a month ≈ $675,000 a month
The supper is a relationship engine first. The aim of the model is that the evening pays for itself, so the host can keep running it. Any deals that come from the room belong to the guests.