Hey superstar.

Startup Founders + Operators

To do something you’ve never done before, you have to become someone you’ve never been before.

You’ve raised millions — and you’re facing the pressure to scale.
You love building — but your “people problems” just won’t stop.
You have a team around you — but you still feel alone.
You’re growing a company — and you know you need to grow yourself, too.

When you feel empowered, you lead with power.

Go Deeper with a trusted advisor who is trained in evidence-based techniques for high-performance leadership.

Get Radical Clarity with an objective party, a sounding board that holds a mirror up and addresses your blind spots.
Grow at Venture Speed with an experienced leader who has succeeded in the founder + investor seats.

Get to Forward Action Now with a combination of tactical support/introductions + sage advice on navigating complex interpersonal dynamics in the venture-backed startup context.

SCALE YOURSELF — AS FAST AS YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS.

"Leaders cannot see what’s right in front of them (the best ones admit it). Coaching is becoming an unfair advantage for top entrepreneurs. I learned this lesson by company 2 and will never forget it. Highly suggest partnering up with SK."

~Ben, CEO and Founder in
HealthTech, 3x Founder

“SK impressed me with her never-before-seen ability to transform complex business explanations into compelling stories that clearly highlight their value. She is genuinely supportive and a highly creative thinker—qualities that make her an exceptional coach and mentor for startups.”

~Flavia, CEO and Founder,
Chief Data Officer in Martech AI

"Isn’t this a weakness for those who don’t know how to manage stress? Then, I hit a wall while raising fund II... coaching unlocked this and basically reset my career clock and rehabbed my mindset. I highly, highly recommend (and subsidize) coaching for my portfolio companies now and recommend SK without reservation."

~Matt, GP at Early Stage VC Fund

"Entrepreneurs are 50 percent more likely to have a mental health condition. As someone with ADHD and anxiety, I was also understanding my brain as I was learning to lead a team and also build product. Not easy. I could not have survived launch and 10x growth without this very specific support from former founders."

~Alfonso, Technical Founder at vnture-backed AI/ML SaaS

SCHEDULE A CALL

THE SKILLS + PLAYBOOKS OF A BADASS LEADER.

BUILD KEY RELATIONSHIPS

- Difficult Conversations
- Your Operating Manual
- Building Trust
- Levels of Listening
- Mantras for Leaders
- Communication Cadence
- Truth or Truth
- Asking for Help
- Make Reporting Great
- Manage Your Support Network
- Science of Celebrations
- Wellness
- Lonliness

RESILIENCE + BURNOUT

- Emotional Exhaustion: Calculating your levels of emotional fatigue and depletion.
- Depersonalization: Measuring feelings of detachment and cynicism towards work.
- Physical Stress Symptoms: Identifying physical signs of stress and strain.
- Work-Life Imbalance: Evaluating the imbalance between professional and personal life.
- Reduced Personal Accomplishments: Assessing feelings of inefficacy and lack of achievement.
- Incapacity to Relax: Calculating your difficulty in unwinding and finding relaxation.
  Take the Burnout Quiz
Resilience is necessary for enduring and even thriving through hardship. It is a critical ingredient for any leader.
It is an important psychological muscle that can grow with training, just like your biceps.
Dr Ginsburg, child pediatrician and human development expert, proposes that there are 7 integral and interrelated components that make up being resilient. The 7C’s of Resilience are: competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping and control.
Imposter Syndrome is something that everyone feels at some point, no matter how objectively successful or accomplished the individual. In fact, imposter syndrome is very common in high performers.
I.S. is characterized by (i) perfectionism (ii) procrastination (iii) project Paralysis, and (iv) People Pleasing.
There are 5 Imposter Syndrome Archetypes according to Dr. Valerie Young:
1. The Perfectionist. This type involves believing that, unless you were absolutely perfect, you could have done better. You feel like an imposter because your perfectionistic traits make you believe that you're not as good as others might think you are.
2. The Expert. The expert feels like they don't know everything there is to know about a particular subject or topic, or they haven't mastered every step in a process. Because there is more for them to learn, they don't feel as if they've reached the rank of "expert."
3. The Natural Genius. In this type, you feel like a fraud simply because you don't believe that you are naturally intelligent or competent. If you don't get something right the first time or it takes you longer to master a skill, you feel like an imposter.
4. The Soloist. It's also possible to feel like an imposter if you had to ask for help to reach a certain level or status. Since you couldn't get there on your own, you question your competence or abilities.
5. The Super Hero. This type involves believing that you must be the hardest worker or reach the highest levels of achievement possible and, if you don't, you are a fraud.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome.

SCALE YOUR MINDSET

Your coach will act as a forcing function for your growth and execution, ensuring you stay focused and accountable to achieving your ambitious goals
Processing Your Emotions is a Competitive Advantage. And as it turns out, founders have lots of feelings. Building a company is an emotional rollercoaster.
Developing the skill of emotional awareness and communication is an entire data set that can actually be crucial in your leadership performance.
I have coached a number of former Olympians and professional / collegiate athletes. What I have learned about mind-body connections has fundamentally changed the way I think about coaching. Your physical body is a crucial tool to optimize on the leadership journey.
We work on somatic practices that will strengthen your ability to utilize your body in managing emotions and creating energy.

LET'S TALK

LEAD A HIGH-PERFORMING TEAM

Stanford GSB lecturer Carole Robin. “In situations where we are not getting feedback, we are essentially flying blind, and I believe that causes unnecessary stress.”
Feedback is critical to achieving your vision and executing through a team.
How to give and received feedback?
- Lead with intent. “The reason I am telling you this is …. I am hoping the result of this conversation will be ….”
- Have a conversation. View the conversation as a two-way exchange, not a one-way dump.
- Understand the goal. The purpose of constructive feedback is to encourage the other to move into a problem-solving conversation with you, not to “change” for you. The purpose of complimentary feedback is to help the other more fully own and leverage their strengths.
- Focus on the behavior. Discuss its impact on you and/or your organization.
- Language matters. Avoid attributions or labels such as “you are insensitive.” Do not make up stories about why they act in a certain way, such as “you don’t care.” Use “I” language instead of “You” language, but remember that saying “I feel that you are insensitive” and “I feel that you don’t care” is cheating.
- Use inquiry. Ask what the other person hears you saying. Ask what is important to them. Ask what they need in return from you.
- Reframe. Maintain the mental model that feedback is a gift — it is data. And more data is always better because it provides us with choices we wouldn’t otherwise have.
The most effective to create a culture of psychological safety on your team or across your company is to lead by example — by exhibiting vulnerability and trust. Trust is a two-way street. When you openly acknowledge your failures, uncertainties, or personal weaknesses, you’re signaling trust in your team. More on creating psychological safety from HBS.
Work is one of the fundamental experiences of human life. Yet very few of us are lucky enough to find truly fulfilling jobs. In recent decades, as businesses have come to understand the crucial link between happiness and productivity, researchers have focused on factors such as the nature of the work itself, how well it is suited to the worker, and the ways in which employees can derive meaning and purpose from their work.
“One of the things that we were surprised to find in the research is that about 70 percent of people say they define their purpose through work. And, actually, millennials, even more so, are likely to see their work as their life calling.” —Naina Dhingra
Finding Purpose and Meaning in the workplace.

ANXIETY + MINDFULNESS

Anxiety, of course, has a purpose. It protects us from harm. Psychologist Rollo May first wrote in 1977 : “We are no longer prey to tigers and mastodons but to damage to our self-esteem, ostracism by our group, or the threat of losing out in the competitive struggle. The form of anxiety has changed, but the experience remains relatively the same.” In other words, even though humans today aren’t chased by predators, we are chased by uncertainty about the health of our loved ones, whether we’ll have a job next week or next year, whether our company will go bankrupt — worries that provoke the same neurological and physical responses.
How can you lead with authority and strength when you feel anxious? How can you inspire and motivate others when your mind and heart are racing? And if you hide the fear in an attempt to be leaderlike, where does it go?
More on anxiety and leading through it.
Mindfulness is magic. For my clients, Mindful Leadership is a beautiful blend of the art of leadership with the principles of mindfulness to lead with a greater awareness of yourself, others, and your environment.
How can you build Mindful Practices into your daily routine?
My go to is something I call THE 4M’s. Integrating the 4M’s into your morning and evening rituals, your meeting routines, and even to daily routine activities can be the difference between surviving versus thriving.

MUSIC
MOVEMENT
MEDITATION
MANTRAS
The best solution to anxiety and limiting beliefs is committing to constant learning and personal growth.
Your startup’s success is correlated to the rate at you continuously learn and adapt. Coaching offers a personalized growth plan so you are never your startup’s bottleneck.

MOTIVATION + CONFIDENCE

Motivation will alternate between feeling subtle and feeling very powerful. Regardless of the motivation level you feel at any given moment, motivation is integral to the entrepreneurial journey. Founders often have many motivations and yet it is important to keep in mind that motivations change with time.
What is your unique experience of motivation? What data does your physical body provide you about your emotional state? What can we do to “hack” into more motivation when you need it?
Guilt comes up often with my clients. I often see guilt halting a tough decision from being made or leading to poor decisions altogether.
When you need something to be different and you notice feelings of guilt, remember that guilt is not pointing you toward what you need - you are experiencing it because you are moving in the right direction for yourself.
What can you do to let guilt guide you to the right next move?
The thing about confidence is that it does not require success to have it.
Growing your confidence also doesn’t require you to make “correct' actions, but you do have to commit to taking an action - any action - and then actually follow through. On repeat.

You don’t even have to fully believe you’re capable of executing the actions you’re committing to. Self belief is not a pre-requisite for action, but rather, an outcome of repeated forward action. I’ve seen so many of my clients design a path for themselves that they truly have no idea how to execute until they are literally doing it. These leaders suspend self-belief and allow their actions to show them what they’re truly capable of. Step by step, they astonished themselves.

WHO HAS YOUR BACK?

“SK supported me in making a some pivotal transitions in my career after I sold my company, served at the acquirer, and eventually decided to launch my next endeavor. I loved working with her and would recommend her to founders and fund managers!”

~Miriam, GP at VC Fund/Studio, Exited Founder

“SK is an incredible mentor, an incredible investor and an incredible coach. Having worked with her during our time in Techstars Abu Dhabi and following on from that, she has been nothing but supportive and consistently providing new ways for me to think through problems. She is incredibly well regarded, well connected and an ally to all founders out there. I cannot recommend her highly enough!”

~Sophia, CEO and Founder, HealthTech

The Psychology of Startup Fundraising

“I would like to reiterate my appreciation — you are very inspiring and creative!”

— Flavia Lan, CEO and Chief Data Officer of InsightBox

Handling Rejections with Grace : Brace yourself for rejection. Are you ready for 100 or more "not a fit” or “come back when you have more traction” responses from investors? That is, if they haven’t already ghosted you. To stay powerful and positive on pitch #199, resilience is required— resilience is a defining trait of successful founders. Without resilience, your startup is DEFAULT DEAD. Learn how to accept relevant feedback with grace, treat rejections as opportunities for upleveling your fundraising game, and resist taking the rejection personally.

7 Deadly Sins of Storytelling : While the reason you are telling a business story may be quite different from the reason you tell a story at a party, the same techniques apply. According to Stanford GSB Professor Jennifer Aaker, avoid these 7 Deadly Sins of Storytelling when pitching venture capitalists and angel investors alike.

Chronology - describe increasing risk and increasing consequences until the final, inevitable conclusion, but not necessarily in the exact way that the audience expects. Does your investor pitch build on ideas, feelings, and passion, or does it feel disjointed and disparate?
Telling - Show, don’t tell, is the most fundamental maxim of storytelling. If you tell a story as though you were not there, it distances your listeners. Describe what is happening as if it were in front of you. As Mark Twain said, “Don’t say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.”
Jargon - Simple is best. Hippocrates (medicine’s oath-of-ethics author) wrote: “The chief virtue that language can have is clearness, and nothing detracts from it so much as the use of unfamiliar words.”
Pulse-free - People connect with other people. It doesn’t matter if sells medical devices or SaaS for the shipping industry, human beings are still behind the action. FOCUS ON THE PEOPLE INVOLVED. Personalize the protagonist of your story, making her real enough that the audience feels a stake in what happens next.
In practice: Who is the face of your company? People connect with people they see as real and can relate to. If your company does not have a face, find one. Introduce him or her with a bio, experiences, a role, and a challenge.
Fabrication - Your story needs to be authentic. The power of appealing to emotion is detailed in Yale professor Deborah Small’s groundbreaking research. She shows how the use of statistics by nonprofits, as opposed to a vivid “identifiable victim,” results in lower giving. People want to hear and be moved by real stories.
In practice: Make stories a part of your company culture. For example, insist that staff meetings start with a story instead of a progress report.
Bulletproof - Engaging stories do not chronicle a straight line to success. Imagine if Rocky won every fight … boring! By incorporating moments of vulnerability or doubt, you create empathy and lend authenticity to the story.
In practice: Tell stories that don’t always have the optimal ending. This is tied closely with sin number 1: Chronology. Not every story ends perfectly, but it sets the stage for the next chapter that will bring it to a climax.
Proprietary - Companies without strong stories miss out on world of business opportunities and investor dollars. Stories told by employees and by customers are significant assets. Recognize the value of stories from internal and external sources, design ways to collect them, and allow your customers, advocates, and employees to be storytellers also.
In practice: Create an internal story bank, or database of stories, where employees and even customers can write and submit stories complete with titles. These stories can be keyworded, so that people looking for stories can easily find them.

Source : “The 7 Deadly Sins of Storytelling” by Stanford GSB Professor Jennifer Aaker