The call is yours. The room has to own it too.
Facilitation for the leadership teams, boards and investors who have to own a decision with you. How the group thinks together, how challenge is held, and how decisions get made under the new structure.
Before the raise, during diligence, and in the year after the round.
A strong team can still be stuck.
Most leadership teams aren't short of talent or information. They're short of a way to disagree well. The founder's view carries too much weight, or the loudest view does, and the real objection only surfaces after the meeting.
Capital makes it harder. New investors, a new board and new reporting all change who feels they have a say. Decisions that used to take a conversation now take three meetings, and still don't stick.
I sit in the second chair for the whole room. Close enough to understand the business. Independent enough to name the decision everyone is avoiding.
Built for the rooms where a decision has to land.
Aligning the team before a raise
One story about the business, the plan and the ask, told the same way by everyone investors will meet.
Preparing for due diligence
The questions investors will ask your team, rehearsed before they're asked. No surprises in the data room or the room itself.
Board and investor sessions after the round
The first strategy day with a new board. What the money will and won't fund, agreed out loud.
A team that's strong but stuck
Experienced people, good intentions, and the same decision on the agenda for the third quarter running.
Decision rights in a new structure
Which calls are the CEO's, which are shared and which are delegated, now the business is bigger than the founding team.
Talking to investors and boards
Sessions for leadership teams preparing for investor or board exposure. The Pitch Room format, run privately for your team.
Prepared properly. Followed through.
The session is the visible part. Most of the value comes from the conversations before it and the decision written down after it.
- 1
A conversation with you
The decision, the people, and what has to be true at the end of the session for it to have been worth it.
- 2
Conversations with the room
[Short, confidential calls with each person beforehand.] What they think, and what they haven't said yet.
- 3
The session
The numbers, the assumptions and the people, worked through in the open. Challenge held, not avoided.
- 4
Written down, followed up
The decision, who owns it and what happens next, in writing within [48 hours]. A check-in [a month] later.
One decision, owned.
The real decision, named
Not the one on the agenda. The one underneath it.
A clear owner
Who makes the call, who is consulted and who is told.
A way to disagree
How challenge gets raised next time, so it doesn't wait for a facilitator.
Next steps in writing
What happens, by when, and how the board or investors will hear about it.
"I had the most experienced leadership team in the room. What I did not have was anyone willing to name the decision we were all avoiding. David named it in the first session."
Typical group: [four to twelve people]. The CEO, the leadership team, and board members or investors where the decision needs them.
Who should be in the room?
Everyone who has to own the decision, and no one who doesn't. We agree the list together before anything is booked.
Will you work with our board and investors directly?
Yes. Sessions after a round often include them. You stay in the chair; I hold the process.
Is it confidential?
Completely. What people tell me beforehand stays with me unless they choose to say it in the room.
How is it priced?
[A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work begins.] Never tied to the outcome of a raise or a deal.
The Decision Review
Three weeks on one decision, one-to-one, ending in a clear recommendation.
Decision Review With your peersThe Mastermind
Eight to ten founders at the same moment, one confidential room, six months.
The Mastermind One presentationPitch and presentation coaching
For the CEO or team preparing a pitch, a board paper or an all-hands.
CoachingWhich decision is your team still circling?
Tell me who's in the room and what's on the table. A conversation first, then a recommendation. I reply within two to three days.