Founder & Startup Executive Coaching

Building a venture-backed company is one of the most demanding leadership challenges that exists. The stakes are high, the decisions are consequential, and the margin for error is thin. You're accountable to investors, a board, co-founders, and a team — often simultaneously, often with competing expectations.

The founders and startup executives who work with co-founder and coach Kristen Connor aren't looking for someone to tell them what to do. They're looking for a thinking partner who can help them see the full picture — the motivations, constraints, and definitions of success for every key stakeholder — and translate that clarity into a plan that works.

Who finds the most value

This coaching is for founders and executives who are actively building — navigating the complexity that comes with venture backing, board relationships, investor dynamics, leadership team alignment, and organizational scale. Clients typically arrive at a moment of inflection: a new round of funding, a leadership team transition, a board dynamic that needs to shift, or a strategic decision that requires more than analysis to resolve.

What they have in common is not their industry or their stage. It's their commitment to driving successful outcomes — and their willingness to do the work to get there.

If you're looking for a coach who will validate your existing thinking, this probably isn't the right fit. If you're looking for a thinking partner who will challenge you to see what you might be missing — and help you act on it with conviction — keep reading.

The approach

Kristen's coaching is rooted in Design Thinking: define the problem completely before attempting to solve it, understand the challenge from every relevant perspective, and only then identify the path most likely to succeed.

In practice, this means slowing down long enough to see the whole board — the full landscape of stakeholders, incentives, and constraints that shape every decision you make. When that picture is clear, the path forward becomes clear. And when the path is clear, you stop second-guessing yourself and act with conviction.

Every engagement is different because every client and situation is different. Sometimes the work is strategic — mapping a complex stakeholder landscape before a critical conversation. Sometimes it's operational — building the systems and communication structures a growing team needs. Often it's both.

What makes this different

Kristen brings 20 years of operating experience to every session — not as a credential, but as a source of pattern recognition. She has navigated board dynamics, investor relationships, and leadership team challenges from inside the room, at three venture-backed companies with successful exits. She knows what these situations feel like from the inside, and that shapes how she coaches.

This is not a coaching practice built on frameworks and certifications. It's built on experience, judgment, and a genuine commitment to helping clients see clearly and act decisively.

Getting started

Coaching engagements begin with a free consultation — a conversation to understand your situation, your goals, and whether this is the right fit. There is no obligation, and no pitch.