Founder Performance: Levers for Excellence
As a founder coach and facilitator, nothing brings me more joy than identifying and working with levers for excellence. What do I mean by that? The conditions upon which their X-Factor reveals itself. In my experience, there is a spectrum of 4 distinct types and we could all generally fall into multiple buckets to varying degrees (more below).
Clarity Before Tactics: 5 Meta-Questions Every Founder Should Ask Themselves
Startup founders are great at moving fast. But when speed outruns clarity, they risk building toward the wrong outcome. What if the thing you think you want isn’t what you actually want?
In this post, I offer five deceptively simple questions I use with founders to cut through noise, reconnect with true intent, and re-anchor to their North Star. These aren’t productivity hacks—they’re mental frameworks that shift your trajectory at the root.
Founder Well-Being: Time Doesn’t Scale—Energy Does.
In this post, I share 9 simple activities to optimize your wellbeing without having to sacrifice large amounts of time. Our observations are purely empirical and based on what I have experienced and learned in life.
Early-Stage Startup Problem-Solving: Pick Your Battles In the Moment
At some stage, early-stage growth startups can’t solve every problem they are facing at once. They are forced to solve the problem that is of most consequence to earn the right to solve the next etc. etc. This is how founders earn their right to elevate.
However, knowing which problem to solve and how to go about it can be difficult. There are so many trade offs and “guess work” involved. Therefore, most startups default to speed and learning through doing versus theorizing. However, if you aren’t thoughtful enough, you could end up burning money, time, and human capital unnecessarily. Here’s are 4-lenses to decide where to focus next.
Early-Growth Best Practices: Team Communication & Meeting Cadence
This note is most appropriate for startup founders who are growing their team head count (20 - 30+ people) but have yet to hire out their VP layer (which normally happens at the Series B+). The purpose is to provide guidance to some best practices so that the founding team can continue to lead the way without being overwhelmed with 1:1 meetings.
Functional Feedback Frame
Human beings are often not explicit about their positive intentions for others (and themselves). When our intentions are ambiguous, then others are left to their own devices to extrapolate what we mean using their personal biases, historical experiences, and internal stories.
Startup Board Meetings: 5 Step Cycle to Leading Your Board
Proper board stance is better described as a partnership. This may seem idealistic and is not always practical in reality as it requires buy-in from both parties. Nonetheless the ideal board member provides transparent, professional views on the company— wins, challenges, opportunities, and resources— working with the management team to maximize company value.