Chief of Staff Coaches, Events, and Resources

I landed a Chief of Staff role at a top climate-tech startup in India, Varaha, when they were seed-stage and ~20 employees. I was Chief of Staff to the CEO, scaling Varaha to 120+ employees, 10+ projects across 4 categories in 4 countries. I was promoted to Lead - Founders Office, a role in which I hired and built Varaha's Founder's Office team before leaving for my MBA. Highlights of my Varaha experience included: - Sales: Led go-to-market for Indian corporate customers; Forward-sold $350K agroforestry carbon credits to a food company to partially offset its next 15 years’ carbon emissions, negotiating pricing and prepayment over 10 months - Venture Fundraising: Managed $8.7M Series A fundraise end-to-end alongside the CEO by creating pitch deck, business plan, financial model, and data room; Led 10+ pitch calls and managed due diligence with VCs, lawyers, and Big 4 auditors - Philanthropic Fundraising: Won $150K UBS Optimus Foundation prize for a blended finance instrument targeting 15B liters water savings via direct-seeded rice; Won $90K grant for India’s largest enhanced rock weathering pilot (1,000 tons/year carbon removal) - Strategic Planning: Built and presented Annual Operating Plan to the Board - Team-building: Staffed 4 senior management positions, directing HR team to evaluate global candidates (including for Chief of Staff roles) - Public Relations: Elevated Varaha’s brand as a panelist and workshop convener at the United Nations (Bangkok), World Bank, FCDO (UK foreign aid), FICCI (India’s apex business chamber), NABARD (India’s agri bank), CGIAR (global research consortium)

I specialize in helping professionals land and thrive in Chief of Staff roles at high-growth technology startups — whether you're coming from consulting or finance and looking to make the leap, or you're already a CoS looking to level up. With hands-on experience as the Chief of Staff for two high-growth SaaS businesses, I've lived the transition from investment-driven work to operating at the center of a fast-moving business. The Chief of Staff role sits at a unique intersection - part strategist, part operator, part trusted advisor - and getting it right requires more than a strong resume. My coaching covers the full arc: figuring out whether the CoS role is the right fit for you, identifying the right company stage and CEO dynamic to target, building a compelling narrative around your background, and preparing you to interview with confidence for one of the most judgment-dependent roles in any organization. I combine practical frameworks with firsthand context - so you're not just ready to land the role, but to make an immediate impact once you're in it. If you're ready to make the leap into one of the most high-leverage seats in a startup, I can help you get there.

I'm currently Chief of Staff to the CEO of a private equity-backed global software company, where I lead cross-functional initiatives spanning AI strategy, long-range planning, board and investor governance, corporate development, and executive decision support. Before stepping into this role, I spent nearly a decade at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), advising Fortune 500 CEOs and executive teams on many of the same challenges Chiefs of Staff are hired to tackle: strategy development, transformation, organizational design, operating model effectiveness, and executive alignment. What makes the Chief of Staff role unique is that success depends on far more than strategy skills. The best Chiefs of Staff know how to influence without authority, manage competing priorities, build trust with senior leaders, navigate ambiguity, and help CEOs operate more effectively. These are skills that are rarely taught but are often what determine who gets hired and who succeeds. Whether you're exploring a transition into a Chief of Staff role, preparing for interviews, evaluating opportunities, or looking to accelerate your effectiveness in a current role, I can help you understand what CEOs and hiring managers are actually looking for, position your experience effectively, and develop the skills required to thrive in the seat. The Chief of Staff role can be one of the most rewarding and career-accelerating positions in business. I'll help you approach it with clarity, confidence, and a realistic understanding of what it takes to succeed.

Having worked in Chief of Staff roles for three CEOs, including the Global Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company as well as the CEO of a Tech Startup backed by a16z, I specialize in supporting early-to-mid-career professionals who are going through major transitions that will have them working closely with senior executives at their companies. I also support students (undergrad and grad) who are considering their first career or making career transitions in business, consulting and finance.

I'm a two-time chief of staff who has navigated the gamut of the role in both Private Equity and Venture Capital backed companies. From managing executives to leading through difficult company events to bringing special projects to life, I've built up a strong CoS toolkit. In my first CoS role, I successfully transitioned from CoS to our VP of Partnerships of Operations in only 9 months. As a Stanford MBA graduate, I served as a leadership coach and helped students to find their management style. I have successfully coached half a dozen individuals, helping them navigate the complexities of the Chief of Staff role and achieve their career goals. Let's connect to explore how I can support your professional journey!

Welcome to my profile! With a diverse background spanning strategic roles at top companies like LinkedIn and Dropbox, and as a former founder/CEO myself, I bring a wealth of experience to my coaching. Currently, as Chief of Staff at Atomic AI, I work at the cutting edge of machine learning and structural biology. My journey has equipped me with the skills to guide aspiring Chiefs of Staff in crafting the right narrative. There is no right path to become a CoS, but having an understanding of the role can help take diverse work experiences and tailor them to what your principal may be looking for. Having coached nearly 20 individuals on networking strategies, negotiations, and zeroing on the right opportunities, I have the right experience to help you get to the next rung in your career ladder and beyond. Reach out to do an initial call and we can go from there!

Being an effective Chief of Staff is tough. You are spinning multiple plates in a complex and fast changing environment. Let me help you on your coaching journey as you continue to grow and refine your leadership style in the role. It can be such an exciting and rewarding role!

I’ve worked in roles that required bringing structure and clarity to complex priorities, coordinating across functions, and helping leaders turn strategy into action. I’m comfortable working across an organization, connecting the dots between different teams and priorities, and keeping important initiatives moving forward. More recently, I’ve also been applying AI and automation to improve how strategic and operational work gets done. I enjoy helping leaders create better systems, stay organized around what matters most, and use technology to work more effectively.

I was Chief of Staff at Carry1st, a venture-backed mobile games publisher in Africa backed by a16z, Sony and Google, where my remit was strategy, corporate development and strategic finance. I came into the role from the investing side — M&A at Evercore, then fintech investing at IFC and Apis Partners — and left it to found my own company. That arc is the thing most useful to people considering this job. Chief of Staff is one of the least standardised roles in tech. Two people with the same title can be doing completely different work: one is running board and fundraising processes, the other is managing the CEO's calendar. Before you take an offer, you need to know which one you're being hired for, because they lead to different places three years out. I coach on getting into the role and on doing it well. On the way in: how to read a CoS job spec for what the founder actually wants, how to position a banking, consulting or investing background for an operating seat, how to handle case and judgment interviews, and how to negotiate scope and equity when the role has no comparable. On the job: running board meetings and investor reporting, owning fundraising workstreams, building strategic finance, and the harder part — holding influence without headcount, and knowing when the role has stopped compounding and it's time to move into a line role, a fund, or your own thing.