Startup life ain’t easy. As a founder, when you get funding, a whole new set of challenges open up. You and your co-founders will have to figure out how to scale and manage a rapidly growing team, with tools and processes that are probably not quite ready for growth. And the new roles mightn’t be a good fit – a brilliant developer isn’t necessarily a brilliant manager; these skills take practice.
This package is here to help you and your co-founders successfully scale your company. It’s a mixture of a structured course to work out how best to scale your systems and processes; with individual coaching for each of you to help develop the new skills you will need. Unlike most startup courses – it’s adapted and tailored specifically for your startup and its needs. By going through the course together, the whole team is better able to collaborate to improve the company. And a course is better than learning through painful experience.
On this page:
Overview – Scaling package for startups
The package is a blend of team course (12 hours) and individual coaching (6 hours per person), tailored for the startups who are looking to scale rapidly.
Usually, the co-founders and some of the senior hires all join the course – small groups enable deeper discussion and collaboration, so aim for 3-6 attendees.
There are two aspects to the learning.
The course itself, which can be tailored to your startup’s specific needs. Typically, we’ll cover all the below – but will focus more time on the topics that are most important to you.
The coaching component is of equal weight, and continues to support your growth long after the course has completed.
Package details
- 6 x 2h weekly group course sessions. Some topics below will span multiple sessions; some will be skimmed over quickly. If all topics require deep exploration, additional sessions can be added.
- Core module– agree the top priorities to cover in depth, the main challenges facing your company, and what you each individually want to get from the course. Vision and mission of your company.
- Team Coaching session – what barriers are hindering effective working and communications; what’s working well; how can the team improve their ways of working together. Crisis management; how to deal with the inevitable difficult times; style under stress.
- People – who’s doing what; the roles you currently have and what you need; how to structure as you grow; 1:1s and team management; coaching; performance management; measurement; recruitment; onboarding; company-wide comms and events; diversity and fit; resilience and pace.
- Process – what is the current process for product management; how this will change as you grow. Growing your customer base; product planning and prioritisation. Company-wide operations processes, including risk management, planning and continuous improvement.
- Tools – core tools and systems; what you have and what you need; identifying the need for change as you grow, and working out requirements and options.
- Finance and reporting – margins and profit types; improving profitability; reading balance sheets; core internal reports and measurement; balanced scorecards and company-wide KPIs; how these will change as you scale.
- 6 x 1h personal coaching sessions – fortnightly over 3 months.
- Private 1:1 coaching for each individual.
- Some people may find personal coaching useful to help them work through impostor syndrome, fear of failure, work-life balance, confidence issues, etc
- Others may prefer to use this time to deep-dive into business issues eg, handling difficult team members; reviewing the product goals and prioritisation approach.
Who’s it for?
- Founders and senior management at startups, usually shortly after they’ve received funding and are beginning to scale rapidly.
- Many companies at this point will have reasonable clarity on areas like vision and mission; business plan and monetisation; product planning and target market . So these only get light review, but can be explored in more detail if needed.
Practicalities
All courses are for 2 hours weekly for 6 weeks via Google Meet (in-person available at extra charge)
Group course dates can be set to suit the all attendees.
The 1:1 coaching sessions are flexible, happening at a time that best suits the individual and myself – the first session is within a week of the course beginning.
The cost of the package is £3,000 (ex VAT) for 3 people; each additional person is another £600.
How to book
To book the package, just contact me – contact@lir.coach.
If you want to know more before booking, book a 30 minute slot here and we’ll cover any questions.
About me
My general mission is ‘help companies work smarter; help people be better’.
I’ve been working in startups, agencies and consultancies since the 90s; initially as a project manager, then as operations director. As an operations director, I’ve successfully scaled agencies like Iris and Potato, from 20 to >100 over a 1-2 year period .
The last 5 years have blended operations consulting with business and personal coaching for a wide range of startups – one of whom recently grew from <10 to >100 within three months. I’ve helped dozens of startups over the course of my career, and am deeply familiar with the challenges that founders face in scaling. My practical expertise is supplemented by academic expertise from my MBA in Technology Management (and, currently underway, a post graduate in business & personal coaching)
In addition to my startup experience, I’m an accredited coach (ICF ACC – the International Coaching Federation’s Associate Certified Coach qualification). I’ve been coaching for five years – I love it as an even more practical (and sometimes transformational) way of helping companies and individuals improve. I typically spend up to half my working time coaching, and half consulting – the two approaches are opposite in many ways, but complement each other beautifully.