One on one, for CEOs whose business has gone flat and who want it fixed, not described.
Every growing business eventually stalls over something the people inside it have stopped seeing. A sales process that worked at $5 million and quietly doesn't at $15 million. A leadership team built for the last stage. A market that moved while everyone was busy. I help CEOs find that thing, decide what to do about it, and do it.
How I work
I start by listening. I don't arrive with a system, because context is everything: the business, the founder, the product, the team and the goal decide the approach. My first job is to understand the situation well enough to be useful, and only then to offer a view.
After that it's a working relationship, not a lecture series. A few days before each session I send a handful of questions: what's moved since we last talked, what new questions have formed, and the one or two things keeping you up at night. We spend our time on those. Between sessions I review plans, help with the decisions that come up, and make introductions when someone in my network is the right person.
I work with no more than four CEOs at a time. That's the number that lets me actually know each business.
When you want it done, not just diagnosed
Some engagements stay conversational, and that's enough. Others find a problem that needs hands: a sales organization to rebuild, a go-to-market to reset, an operation that needs someone to run the change. When that's the case and you want it done, I stay and run it. I bring in operators I trust, people who have led sales, customer success and operations at scale, and I oversee their work. You deal with me, not a bench.
What I don't do is traditional consulting with a binder at the end. I don't build decks or process documents. I help you make the decision and then make it real.
Where I'm most useful
- Growth that has gone flat. Finding out what actually changed, rather than what everyone assumes changed.
- Sales and go-to-market. I built the commercial teams that took Linode from $18 million to over $100 million. This is the work I've done longest.
- Leadership and the team. Who should be in which seat, what accountability looks like, and what the CEO should stop doing.
- The big decision. An acquisition, a new line, a pricing change, a pivot. An outside view before the money moves.
Who I work with
Founders and CEOs of established businesses, most of them service businesses or software companies between $2 million and $50 million in revenue, though the number matters less than whether you're willing to have your assumptions questioned. I've worked across tech, healthcare, finance and professional services, and the problems of leading a company at this stage look remarkably alike across all of them.
How it starts
With a call. We talk through where the business is, what's stuck, and whether I'm the right person to help. If we both think so, I send a short agreement and we get started. If not, I'll tell you, and if I know someone better suited I'll say who.