Andrew Gunderman on Building an Empire of Relationships

This article was originally posted on the Momentum Mode Podcast Substack channel, featuring Impruve CEO Mike Shannon

Most founders obsess over the wrong currency.

They chase capital before they chase connections. They polish pitch decks before they learn how to do cold outreach. They worry about protecting a “brand” that, frankly, doesn’t exist yet.

Andrew Gunderman didn’t make that mistake.

At 16, he was sending LinkedIn messages from a farm town in Ohio. By 20, he had already sold his first company and started building founder communities in Chicago. Today, he curates some of the most exclusive rooms in the city—bringing together billionaires, influencers, investors, and athletes under the banner of Renowned Chicago.

But here’s the real insight: Andrew didn’t start with leverage. He built it—step by step, room by room, relationship by relationship.

And his story reveals something every founder needs to understand about networks, access, and the long game of influence.

The Trade-Up Game

The most interesting founders don’t just build companies—they build credibility ladders.

Andrew calls it “trading up.” You start with what little you have—a handful of names, a mentor, an open door—and use that as the ticket to the next room. One connection begets another, and before long, you’re operating in circles you couldn’t have imagined a year earlier.

Most people underestimate how powerful this compounding can be. They assume influence is inherited, or that networks are closed systems. In reality, networks expand in proportion to the value you create inside them.

The trade-up game isn’t about luck. It’s about persistence, timing, and the willingness to risk rejection.

Outreach Over Optics

Too many early founders play defense with their reputations. They hesitate to cold outreach because they’re afraid of “looking bad.” They worry about seeming too aggressive or too inexperienced.

Andrew’s counterpoint is blunt: nobody remembers anyway.

Your brand isn’t fragile when you’re unknown—in fact, it doesn’t even exist yet. That means you can afford to experiment, to fail, to be ignored. The worst-case scenario is silence. The best case is a door opening that changes your trajectory.

The real brand is built in motion. Outreach, even imperfect outreach, is the currency that buys access.

Community as Leverage

Events and communities aren’t side projects in Andrew’s playbook—they’re assets.

Renowned Chicago wasn’t built on flashy venues or gourmet catering. Its value is in the guest list. Founders, influencers, investors, and creators all in the same room—many meeting each other for the first time.

That’s the untapped need Andrew recognized: creators with millions of followers often don’t even know each other. Founders and investors in the same city rarely cross paths outside of formal deals. By curating those collisions, he built something that feels scarce, valuable, and increasingly unavoidable.

Community is leverage when it connects siloed circles. And leverage, used wisely, compounds faster than capital.

Wrapping Up

Andrew’s story is a reminder that networks aren’t handed to you—they’re built. They’re built through cold messages that go unanswered, through events where you’re the youngest in the room, through relentless outreach that looks messy in the moment but compounds over time.

Protecting a brand you don’t have yet will keep you on the sidelines. Building a network—aggressively, authentically, and with intent—will put you in motion.

For founders, that’s the real hidden currency: not what you raise, not what you pitch, but who you can bring together—and what happens once you do.