Founding Team
Case study
Situation
A team of three co-founders had recently completed a new round of funding. With the influx of capital, the team was in the process of thinking through their hiring plan and how to scale the company. Not only did the co-founders have new capital and investors to manage but their roles in the business were shifting. Power dynamics emerged as they grappled with areas of responsibility and new leadership demands. The team reached out to me after receiving a recommendation from their VC.
Challenge
When I started working with the co-founding team, they had scaled their company to 100+ employees. The first concern I heard was how everyone was moving a million miles an hour, but with different views on where they were going. The team needed help clarifying their vision and defining their strategy.
Another point of friction and increasing angst stemmed from a lack of definition and agreement around who owned which parts of the business. This lack of clarity was beginning to chip away at their ability to trust one another. Establishing clear expectations and structure around roles was critical to their ability to work together and succeed.
Resolution
I worked with each co-founder one-on-one and occasionally met with them as a team. Through our sessions, I gave each cofounder a confidential space to explore their challenges and opportunities, as well as a path to grow together as a team.
I helped them clarify their values and goals. Together, we defined what success looked like a year from then and what factors would determine their ability to raise their next round of capital. From there, we worked backwards to identify critical milestones and what needed to happen during each phase. We leveraged OKRs across each team and operationalized the strategy top to bottom.
Impact
The work we did together enabled the cofounders to get their whole team rallied around a clear vision and strategy. There was definition and consistency around the way they operated, communicated, reported, and managed expectations.
Additionally, the relationship between the co-founders improved. They were able to lean into the experiences they had when I helped facilitate tough discussions. They became more attuned to one another’s body language and how to communicate with each other more effectively.
Length of engagement
We had a 3-month initial engagement then converted to month-to-month thereafter. Our partnership has reached 10+ months and continues to be ongoing.
"My team wouldn't be working at their current velocity without Amanda. She helped me make hard decisions quickly and decisively and strengthened the relationship with my co-founders. It was a relief to know that I could walk into our calls without a complete sense of what I needed and leave with clarity and focus. I think that's Amanda's superpower."
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– Sachin Ranchod, Founder & CEO, Zipper
