Over the last five years I have taught myself to code: mainly PHP and JS. I built various web apps, one that got traction and now pays me a monthly income (enough to pay rent). Building it threw many challenges at me from sys admin to the delights of JS... but it's now not something I'm going to spend a lot of time on (for business reasons). So I am at a natural point of looking to the next five years and what to spend my time learning (and building). I'd like to get to know more developers too. So it's not so much a problem I have, it's more about understanding how other developers went from low/mid competency to a higher level of competency.
In terms of "forcibly dropped" - the group is run free of charge, so contribution is key. No contribution = "forcibly dropped". Contribution means taking part in a mastermind group, discussions or asking / giving help.
On evaluation, I'd like to move to a democratic way of evaluating it where the group or a group within the group decide. I believe that's what http://yec.co/ do.
* Mastermind groups are run on Skype or Google Hangouts
* It's a global group
* We have group owners (volunteers) who start groups and organise them to suit their goals and timezones
* It's mostly a tech / web audience
* It's more support and accountability than mentoring
* Mastermind groups are run bi-weekly (depends on the group owner). We're looking to introduce weekly mastermind groups on specific subjects i.e. PR, SEO, pricing, partnerships, etc.
* We also include a weekly summary / round up of discussions that have taken place in the group that week and on Mondays people post their goals for the week, which other people comment on / offer help / ask questions
Good points and you are correct (I'm the creator of solo.im)
The group is full of founders who all have different experiences and knowledge to pass on. "Quality" can be subject for sure, but I believe founders can help other founders regardless of where they are in the process of starting / running a business.
The big thing is contribution. solo.im / mastermind groups is just one thing of many you can get involved in and get help from when you are a founder.