Coaching a Startup from Series A execution to Series B readiness:
scaling headcount, operating model, and ARR in parallel
Startup Accelerated Growth: 35 FTEs to120 FTEs | 3x ARR | COGS down
The Problem
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An AI startup was stagnant and had to scale fast, growing from 35 employees toward an organizational design and headcount trajectory of120 by the end of the following year.
At the same time, the company needed to mature from Series A to Series B expectations, moving from promise to delivery, shifting from founder-led actions to a mature leadership-led multi-year horizon with explicit tradeoffs, crisp ownership, and a stable operating rhythm.
The challenge was to build the organizational structures, leadership routines, and decision systems required for scale while the business was actively ramping GTM, generating revenue, and improving unit economics.
The Solution
I partnered with the leadership team to co-create strategic alignment and governance that translated intent into execution, while building the leadership and organizational infrastructure needed for rapid growth.
Core components included:
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Establishing a shared Where to Play / How to Win language across the LT.
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Converging functions on a limited set of priorities, with explicit tradeoffs to prevent initiative sprawl and silo formation.
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Defining cross-functional accountability via OKR ownership (lead vs support), so initiatives had one clear driver.
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Building a VP and Director translation layer, turning pillar intent into execution-ready initiatives, dependencies, and measures, while coaching the leaders and teams on High performance behaviors and rituals.
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Installing a repeatable quarterly planning and review cadence, with decision forums that kept execution stable through day-to-day noise.
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Supporting the broader scale-up effort by shaping org structures, leadership routines, and core processes across the company in parallel to business growth.
The Impact
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The organization improved decision clarity, execution cadence, and leadership capability while delivering tangible business outcomes during the scaling phase.
Outcomes included:
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ARR growth with discipline: the company tripled ARR during the engagement.
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Improved unit economics: maintained profit margins while reducing COGS.
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Headcount scale path established: moved from 35 employees into a structured scaling trajectory toward 120 by the end of the following year.
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Execution stability: clearer priorities and ownership reduced competing initiatives and increased follow-through.
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Leadership maturity: functional leaders strengthened cross-functional coordination, enterprise thinking, and the ability to drive measurable outcomes.
From strategic inflection to execution readiness: aligning leadership and mobilizing cross-functional working groups
The Problem
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A large organization with a public-facing, high-trust mandate reached a strategic inflection point.
Externally, new competitors and credible substitutes were rising while AI disruption rapidly reshaped expectations for product relevance, speed, and quality.
Internally, the organization needed to embed AI into its operating system, redesign end-to-end processes, upgrade governance and decision rights, and build cross-functional delivery capacity, all while sustaining day-to-day performance.
The core challenge was to modernize the service and the operating model in parallel, without turning strategy into abstract discussion or letting execution drift into “updates” without decisions.
The Solution
I designed and facilitated a structured change architecture that combined strategic alignment with leadership team effectiveness, then translated that alignment into concrete cross-functional recommendations and a second-phase execution pathway.
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Core components included:
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A leadership alignment workshop to establish a shared 2030 north star, surface the hard tradeoffs, and define what needed to remain stable versus what needed to evolve.
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A theme-based portfolio to translate a complex landscape into a small set of strategic themes, each with clear intent, scope boundaries, and guiding questions.
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Multi-disciplinary cross-functional working groups operating through a unified work process and a time-boxed cycle.
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A governance cadence designed for decisions, including midpoint check-ins, synthesis, and leadership-facing presentations that drove commitment and direction.
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A second-phase pathway designed upfront, converting recommendations into initiatives, pilots, ownership, and an execution plan with realistic follow-through.
The Impact
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The organization increased decision clarity and execution readiness while strengthening its ability to modernize without compromising ongoing delivery.
Practical outcomes included:
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A coherent strategic portfolio built around a small number of themes, each anchored in purpose, key questions, and decision points.
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Leadership alignment on priorities, tradeoffs, and sequencing.
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Higher-quality cross-functional recommendations that increased buy-in and reduced downstream rework.
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A repeatable mechanism for converting strategy into implementable initiatives, with clearer ownership and a workable cadence.
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Increased confidence that the organization can modernize its service and operating system while sustaining performance.
Within less than one year, most of the changes goals were accomplished successfully.
A practical values workshop that turned culture talk into leadership routines
The Problem
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A global cybersecurity software company had just completed a rebrand with a strong external narrative, but internal adoption was uneven (to say the least).
Leadership wanted to translate the new mission into a clear set of shared values and day-to-day leadership behaviors.
Managers also observed inconsistency in ways of working across teams and a need for a stronger shared language around customer focus, speed, follow-through, and the lived employee experience.
The core challenge was to convert an external story into an internal operating culture that managers could own, model, and reinforce consistently.
The Solution
I designed and facilitated a values and culture workshop, delivered virtually with collaborative tooling.
The design emphasized co-creation and practical translation from themes into observable behaviors, so the output could be embedded into leadership routines and people practices.
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Core components included:
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Aligning on culture, values and an experience-to-results perspective.
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Structured prioritization and criticality mapping what was essential.
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Explicit translation from themes into observable behaviors, reinforcing shared ownership and practical application.
The Impact
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The organization created a shared foundation for embedding values into leadership behavior and cross-team norms.
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Outcomes included:
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A consolidated set of values expressed in consistent “we are / we do / results” language, grounded in manager-generated scenarios.
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Clarity of desired experiences and behaviors that bring the values to life in everyday leadership and teamwork.
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Clearer alignment for integrating values into leadership routines, future people practices, and cross-team ways of working.