Katy D.
Former Chief of Staff (now COO) of YCombinator-Backed Startup
Studied at Stanford Graduate School of Business
Works at Impactive
Hiring Manager
Available tomorrow at 4:00 PM UTC
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Katy's Coaching Offerings
Custom hourly
Get help with Interview Prep, LinkedIn Review, and .
Katy also coaches for MBA, Career Coaching, and Leadership Coaching. View all.
Katyās Chief of Staff Qualifications
Experience level: Executive
I'm an experienced startup Chief of Staff; I served as a fractional Chief of Staff for 10+ companies as a self-employed startup consultant, and later joined one of my clients (a YCombinator-backed leading Democratic political tech startup) in-house as founding Chief of Staff. I was later promoted to COO of the same company, which I've led for several years. Importantly, I've been an informal leadership coach and Chief of Staff mentor to numerous peers and junior staffers along my journey. I have formal experience developing a coaching and professional development program for second-in-command executives. I'm extremely familiar with the unique dynamics and demands of the Chief of Staff role - as a middleman between executives and staff, as a combined strategist-and-executor, and all of the other many ways that being a Chief of Staff is different than almost any other role in the professional world. I'm here to help you find a Chief of Staff role for the first time, and/or navigate a new role as a Chief of Staff.
Katy can help with:
Interview Prep
LinkedIn Review
Strategic Planning
Promotion Strategy
Cover Letters
Resume Review
Networking Strategy
Executive Support
Katy also coaches for MBA, Career Coaching, and Leadership Coaching. View all.
About Katy
š I grew up in Spokane, WA in a suburban, middle-class family; my dreams came true when I was admitted to Harvard for undergrad. š I studied Sociology at Harvard, with strong interests in both politics and tech/startups. š» I've spent most of my career at the intersection of tech, startups, politics, and social impact, most recently as the COO of Impactive, a leading Democratic political software startup (YCombinator-backed). š² I'm an incoming MBA student at Stanford GSB, exploring what comes next for me in politics, tech, startups, sports, and/or media. ā¤ļø I'm also the Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Youth Leadership Council, and a Board of Directors member for TeenTix. š¶ I live in Seattle, WA with my fluffy, adorable Samoyed dog, Nora.
Why do I coach?
When I navigated my first elite admissions process as a high schooler, I was completely alone - I didn't have any sort of coaching or counseling, and no one I knew had achieved Ivy League admission before. It took a lot of hard work, and no small bit of luck, to get into Harvard on my own. That experience was a big reason why I joined CollegeVine as an early employee in 2016; the company has since grown into one of the leading brands in admissions in the US, and it's where I got my first professional experience as an admissions consultant. Ever since, I've worked on and off in formal admissions consulting, and have also been an informal coach/mentor for many students and peers along the way. I also do a great deal of career mentorship, given my many years of hiring experience in tech, startups, and social impact. I'm an engaged Harvard alum (and admissions interviewer), and spend a good deal of time mentoring current students in a variety of ways. I get a lot of joy out of helping others achieve their dreams; I like to think that I have unique strengths in listening, offering actionable input, and being honest and pragmatic.
Work Experience
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Impactive
January 2022 - Present
Hiring Manager
COO of successful, YCombinator-backed political software startup.
Chief of Staff
Impactive
February 2021 - January 2022
Hiring Manager
Founder / Startup Consultant
Katy Dolan Consulting
March 2019 - February 2021
Special Assistant to the CEO
Cue Ball Capital
August 2018 - March 2019
Marketing, Product, and Operations Generalist
CollegeVine
September 2016 - May 2018
Early hire at CollegeVine, now one of the most successful (undergrad) admissions consultancies/brands in the US. I worked on the corporate team, and was also a professional admissions consultant.
Education
Stanford Graduate School of Business
MBA
2025 - 2027
Incoming MBA at Stanford GSB
Harvard University
Bachelor's, Sociology
2014 - 2018
- John Harvard Scholar (4.00 GPA, top 5% of class) in junior and senior years - Summa cum laude and Highest Honors in Sociology for senior thesis on gender dynamics in women's sports - Head of two extracurricular organizations: JFK Jr. Forum Committee (Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School) and Village to Raise a Child (Harvard Social Innovation Collaborative)