EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FOUNDERS RANT X HAPPENING ON MAY 13, 2026

Alliance Française, Ikoyi, hosts the 10th edition of Nigeria’s most honest founder conversation with storytelling, business insights, and the courage to say what usually stays unsaid.

LAGOS, NIGERIA. On May 13, 2026, Alliance Française in Ikoyi will be hosting Founders Rant X as they convert the room into a space where 150 founders, CEOs, and business leaders gather to talk and share their experiences.

Founders Rant X is the 10th edition of Nigeria’s leading founder storytelling platform, UnwindFest, and this edition promises to be the most honest, impactful gathering yet.

Produced by YellowLyfe in partnership with UnwindFest, Founders Rant X will be happening from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is built to create an environment where founders can openly talk about the weight and struggles of fitting into that space. 

“Entrepreneurship is beautiful, but it’s also lonely as hell,” says Seyi Olaniyan, the convener. “Since we launched Founders Rant in 2023, it’s been a shared exhale and asafe room where founders stop carrying the pressure alone and start carrying it together.”

FOUNDERS RANT X EVENT OVERVIEW

Event name: Founders Rant X

Date: May 13, 2026

Time: 9am – 3pm

Venue: Alliance Française, Ikoyi

Produced by: YellowLyfe

Capacity: 150 attendees

Registration: Click here

Ticket: N20,000

Follow the conversation: @UnwindFest on Instagram, X, and LinkedIn

WHAT MAKES FOUNDERS RANT X DIFFERENT?

Most business conferences gloss over the hard parts. Founders Rant X doesn’t. It’s built to hold space for the messy, uncertain, deeply human side of building something. 

The day tells the story of strategy, vulnerability with vision, and community with takeaways. You won’t just hear success stories. You’ll hear the full story. The pivots that didn’t work. The partnerships that fell apart. The moments when quitting felt easier than continuing. And how founders made it through anyway.

WHAT TO EXPECT AT FOUNDERS RANT X?

1. KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS: Industry leaders and experienced entrepreneurs share frameworks, lessons, and experiences. It’s going to be tactical, tested insights from people who’ve built, failed, rebuilt, and are still standing.
2. FOUNDER RANT SESSIONS (THE HEARTBEAT OF THE EVENT): Founders take the stage to ask questions about problems they’re facing and other founders who’ve been there step up to share their experiences and possible solutions. 

These sessions give permission. Permission to be honest. Permission to admit that building something is hard. Permission to stop performing success and start processing it.

3. PANEL DISCUSSIONS: Conversations with founders, corporate executives, investors, and ecosystem players exploring the challenges shaping growth in Nigeria. Topics include funding realities, scaling sustainably, mental health in entrepreneurship, navigating regulations, and building teams that last.
4. LIVE BUSINESS PITCH SESSIONS: Selected founders pitch live in front of investors, corporate leaders, and peers. But this isn’t a pitch competition. Feedback is constructive, not performative. The goal isn’t just funding; it’s clarity, refinement, and connections that last beyond the event.
5. NETWORKING SESSIONS: Networking at Founders Rant X happens in a relaxed, intentional space where conversations replace transactional ones. You leave with more than connections. You leave with collaborators, advisors, mentors, and friends who get the journey because they’re on it too.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND FOUNDERS RANT X?

Founders Rant X is for the people building, leading, and shaping the future of business in Nigeria and across Africa:

• Founders and startup operators navigating early-stage growth, product-market fit, and funding challenges
• CEOs and C-suite executives leading teams through scale, transformation, and uncertainty
• SME owners balancing profitability, impact, and sustainability
• Corporate decision-makers looking to understand the startup ecosystem and explore partnerships
• Professionals and ecosystem stakeholders serving the entrepreneurial community: like lawyers, accountants, marketers, consultants 
• Investors and industry partners seeking engagement with high-potential founders

If you’ve ever felt the weight of building something, this event is for you. If you’ve ever needed a room where it’s okay to admit that entrepreneurship is hard, this is that room.

WHY FOUNDERS RANT X?

Since 2023, Founders Rant has become a cornerstone of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Not because it offers easy answers, but because it refuses to pretend there are any. In a business world filled with curated success stories and performative hustle culture, Founders Rant X offers honesty.

The impact has been real. Past attendees say things like “the first event where I didn’t feel like I had to have it all together,” “a reminder that I’m not alone in this,” and “the conversation I didn’t know I desperately needed.”

The 10th edition carries that legacy forward while expanding the scope. With a full day of programming, a mix of founders at different stages, and a focus on practical insights, Founders Rant X is built to be both deeply personal and strategically valuable.

Because the truth is, no founder has to walk this journey alone. And when founders stop carrying the pressure by themselves and start carrying it together, everything shifts.

ABOUT UNWINDFEST

UnwindFest creates environments where professionals, founders, and ecosystem stakeholders can connect, unwind, and collaborate. Through curated experiences that tell the story of learning and community, UnwindFest builds spaces where people breathe. Founders Rant is UnwindFest’s flagship storytelling series, designed to hold space for the honest conversations that drive growth.

ABOUT YELLOWLYFE

YellowLyfe is an event production and team bonding company specializing in corporate experiences, conferences, retreats, and networking events. They create experiences that foster connection and creativity. With a track record of producing high-impact events for startups, corporations, and communities, YellowLyfe brings strategic design, smooth execution, and deep empathy to every event. 

MEDIA CONTACT

For press inquiries, interview requests, or partnership opportunities, contact:

Name: Seyi Olaniyan
Title:  Founder, YellowLyfe
Email: seyi@yellowlyfe.com