Executive advisory for founders and CEOs
A regular counterpart for founders and CEOs on the company’s decisions and direction
We work on what is on your table: the next market, a senior hire, the plan the board expects, a product bet, a price. You hear my view and the experience behind it, and I stay close enough to follow what changes between our conversations.
At Leapwork I was part of the leadership team, built the global Sales Engineering organisation from the ground up and led broader commercial professionalization across the go-to-market organisation.
- Finance
- Product
- Technology
- Sales
- Operations
Founders and CEOs of B2B technology companies
Enterprise B2B companies with a good product or strong expertise, where the next growth phase makes new demands on sales, leadership and organisation.
Decisions that used to sit in the founder’s head now reach across sales, product, finance and people.
Sales still depend heavily on the founders and a few experienced people.
The company is entering a new market, moving upmarket, or getting a new owner or leadership team.
The board and the investors expect a plan, and you want to test it with someone outside the company first.
The decisions we work on
Direction
Which customers, markets and offers get the company’s time, and what it stops doing.
Sales
How the company wins enterprise customers, when to professionalize sales and who should lead it.
International growth
Which market comes next, who to hire first there and what must be shared across countries.
Leadership team
Key hires, the first leadership team, and what the founder hands over.
Board and investors
Board meetings, funding conversations, and what the board hears and when.
AI
What AI changes in the product, the operation and the business model. When AI is the main reason, see AI Executive Advisory.
Before, during and after a conversation
Before
You send the decision, the options you see and the material behind them.
During
We sort what you know from what you assume, and look at the consequences for customers, economics, technology and the organisation. I say what I would do and why, what worries me and what I would test first. You decide.
After
A short decision note with the assumptions, options, consequences and chosen actions.
You bring the decision.
We look at the consequences.
A short decision note.
- You
- Me
- A decision
When something happens in between
Things happen between meetings: a customer escalates, an investor calls, a candidate says yes. You can send me the question when it happens.
How often we talk, and how you reach me between conversations, we agree together.
- A customer escalates
- An investor calls
- A candidate says yes
- A conversation
- A question, when it happens
When the decision needs the leadership team
When a decision spans the company, I help the leadership team work out what should change.
I speak with the people closest to the work, separate facts from assumptions and bring the customer, economics, technology and organisational consequences into one account the leadership team can use.
The people involved hold different parts of the answer. Finance, product, technology, sales and operations each hold important information.
The work can be direct sparring with the CEO or involve selected leaders when their perspective is relevant to the decision.
What stays with you
- The decisions, and the credit for them.
- Your relationships with the board, the investors and the team. I speak with them when you ask me to.
- What we discuss stays between us.
- The decision notes, to use with your team as you see fit.
- When the work needs more than our conversations, such as interviews across the company, a Value Framework or training, we scope it as a separate assignment.
Why this experience is relevant
My background spans engineering, enterprise technology, customer-facing technical work and commercial leadership.
In longer engagements with Two Hundred, ZAGENO, Relesys and Groundley, I helped build business value narratives, introduce a shared sales language, enable sales organisations, hire people and coach leaders and teams through the implementation.
For the past two years my full focus has been on AI, and I have worked hands-on with current AI systems.
I have also been a founder and CEO myself, so I know the part of the job the rest of the company rarely sees.
In the first conversation I want to understand what kind of company you are trying to build, where you have seen real demand, and what needs to be true for the product, distribution and delivery to become one coherent business.
Before we begin
Which companies is this designed for?
B2B technology companies where the founder or CEO owns decisions that reach across several functions.
How long does it run?
As long as it is useful to you. We agree a first period and look at it together at its end.
Is this coaching?
The conversations are about the company and its decisions, and you hear my view. When your own role is part of a decision, we talk about that as well. For coaching on building a business of your own, see Coaching.
Can you join our advisory board or board?
That is a different relationship, with duties to the company. See Advisory boards and board work.
For investors: Independent commercial assessment
Tell me about the decision on your table.
Tell me briefly what you would like to discuss. I answer as quickly as I can.