I support visionary startup Founders through two different phases.

1. Phase 1: From Visionary Founder to CEO
2. Phase 2: From CEO back to Visionary Founder

During Phase 1, I support them to both breakthrough the challenges they face as CEO and to also discover the blindspots critical to leading their team & organization to the next level.

In this process, I not only help them more quickly and wisely align & lead their team with a clear strategy in record time, but also embody a healthy & sustainable model of leadership: one that can not only lead the organization to win, but also alleviate the personal and interpersonal challenges faced both by the CEO and their team before the challenges fester enough to deteriorate their performance or their relationships.

During Phase 2, I support them to discover the blindspots critical to passing the baton to another CEO and breakthrough the challenges they face as they let go of the identity that has brought meaning and purpose to their lives to make room for a new one that has to yet to be clarified.

Why work with us

For the past 12 years, I have specialized in coaching just one niche: startup Founder-CEOs

My focus allows me to understand your world in intimate detail and to customize our engagement around your specific needs.

I have also accumulated numerous best practices on how you can become the best CEO you can become for your team, your organization, and your shareholders, all without you having to burn out, become a jerk, or neglect your responsibility as a spouse or a parent.

For example, one of the key skills a Founder-CEO must learn to become the best CEO you can become is to see your decisions, actions, and situations through the eyes of multiple perspectives. I've written a book on this subject, called "Realizing Empathy." The book is based on the mistakes I have personally made because I lacked this skill and the lessons I personally learned on how to develop said skill.

The journey of a Founder-CEO can feel incredibly isolating. Not because there is nobody around, but because there is a lot you can’t share with them. Couple that with feeling like you need to always “have it together” and truthfully it can be a deeply lonely and isolating place.

Since the pandemic, studies have been conducted to show how such feelings of isolation reduces our ability to think and to manage our emotions. In light of this, it's worth noting that in addition to everything I have mentioned above, working with me will also result in you...

• Thinking and deciding with clarity: As a Founder, even if you're not in crisis mode, there’s always a lot on your mind: which product to launch next, the upcoming board meeting, a team reorganization, etc... Working with me will often feel like mental defragmentation. I will quickly organize your disparate thoughts and brain dumps into coherent structures or narratives that will help you not only think more clearly, but also see the insights that were previously hidden in the complexity of your thoughts. This will result in not only better decision making, but also better communication.
• Becoming more productive: Another side effect of isolation is procrastination. When your thoughts are left unclear and your emotions are not well-managed, you're more likely to work on whatever tugs at your anxiety. This is usually not what should be prioritized for the sake of making progress on what is truly important. Working with me will mean that you will not only set and reset your priorities on a regular basis, but that you will do this in such a way that there will be no doubt in your mind that focusing on those priorities will lead to the impact you desire. Otherwise, it'll be easy for you to revert back to working on whatever tugs at your anxiety.
• Hearing the truth: As CEO you are likely to be surround by employees and board members who are either too intimidated to tell you the truth or too aggressive in telling their truth that you will have a difficult time hearing them. Working with me will mean that you will have a neutral third-party who will not only be happy to tell you the truth in a non-aggressive way, but also seek out employees' and board members' truth with your permission. Because of the psychological safety I am able to create between myself and your employees and board members, I will be able to more easily collect their truth and do it in a non-agressive way so that that you can hear them more easily.