Founder Development Services

Where it differs from regular coaching is that with regular coaching, the coach often has no particular background in the business or industry of their client. They focus, as they should, on the issues and difficulties that are presented by the client and help the client find their own solutions. I do the same, but with the addition of having the shared history of starting company. Scaling an organization. Managing and developing staff. Dealing with the emergence of politics. High stakes negotiations. Etc. That common ground gives me the added ability to ask questions and offer suggestions that a generic coach would not be able to offer. The founder still drives the engagement. And the founder is still held accountable for developing and executing their strategies, but with insights from someone who has “been there and done that”.

Coaching is done via weekly phone or video calls. In addition to the weekly calls, clients have access to their coach via email in between calls for questions and issues that can’t wait. The coaching engagement starts with a 3 month minimum commitment to allow the relationship to get to the point where open and honest communication reaches a level where the coach can be truly effective. After the initial commitment, the engagement switches to month-to-month.

Or is some cases, founders want to “test drive” a longer engagement to make sure that there is a good fit. For either of these situations, I can work with founders on an hourly basis for 1 or two hours to help develop a solution, create a plan, or figure out how to make a particular decision.
These short term hourly sessions can be coaching sessions, 1:1 education, consulting, interim executive, or about pitch decks and fundraising. We would define the session before it starts to make sure that we are both on the same page in terms of the desired outcomes and expectations since the style of these different engagements varies.
Hourly sessions can often be scheduled with 24-48 hours notice, depending on my availability, and can therefore be good to help deal with time sensitive issues. In the event that a founder would like to use an Office Hours session as a precursor to a longer engagement, the cost of the hourly session can be applied to any of the longer engagements that I offer.
Hourly sessions are $300 an hour with a 1 hour minimum. Time beyond an hour is billed in 15 minute increments. Due to my schedule, most hourly sessions are not open ended as I have other clients and obligations and generally schedule sessions in a block.