Startup Coaches, Events, and Resources

I provide independent strategy, solutions, and coaching for entrepreneurs so they can grow their businesses to the next level. I am passionate about working with innovative entrepreneurs and startups to develop unique strategies to grow and fund their businesses. Whether you are a startup on the track for traditional venture-capital financing or an entrepreneur on a more offbeat path, I can collaborate with you to develop and implement a creative and practical strategy for success. I also mentor and coach with a number of organizations that develop startups including Techstars Los Angeles, the Preccelerator, and the Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics, working with their portfolio companies as they prepare to present to investors. In addition, I have advised entrepreneurial programs at schools including the Incubator School, Marlborough School, and Project ECHO. For seven years, I ran the coaching program at Women Founders Network, an accelerator that connects women building high-growth businesses with the tools and resources they need to achieve business success. Since 2013, WFN alumnae have raised over $100 million in funding. If I look familiar, it may be because I speak regularly on issues related to startups, tech and women in business and have appeared in publications including The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Inc.com, Fortune, CNBC, StartupNation, Women 2.0, and GenHERation.

I help startup founders turn customer insight into sharper strategy, clearer positioning, and faster growth. Over the last two decades, I’ve led consumer growth and marketing across companies like Google and YouTube, built and scaled products used by millions, and founded Jammy, an AI-powered customer learning system focused on helping teams make better decisions under uncertainty. My coaching is most useful for founders working through positioning, go-to-market strategy, customer discovery, brand narrative, product adoption, and the messy transition from idea to repeatable growth. I bring a practical operator’s lens: clarify the real customer problem, separate strong signals from noise, and turn strategy into concrete next moves.

I built a startup from scratch, solo, through to launch. I made mistakes and learned a lot, but I wish I'd had someone to help me navigate the mental side of it. Spinning multiple plates day after day is exhausting. The decisions never stop, the pressure doesn't let up, and there's rarely anyone in your corner who genuinely understands what that feels like. Having a voice of reason to help manage workload, stress and priorities would have been invaluable. That's exactly what I offer now. Although I primarily work with financial traders, the overlap is significant. Both worlds demand the same thing, showing up and performing, day after day, regardless of what yesterday looked like.

I work with founders to turn ideas into scalable, data-driven products - focusing on what actually drives growth: product-market fit, activation, conversion, retention, and go-to-market strategy. As a Senior Product Manager at Delivery Hero, I lead growth initiatives across 20+ countries, working on products used by millions of users and running experiments at scale to improve core business metrics. My approach is highly practical and execution-focused: identifying the highest-leverage opportunities and helping founders prioritize what will truly move the needle. I’ve worked with founders across Japan, Italy, South Africa, Singapore and Thailand, supporting them on product strategy, experimentation, and GTM decisions. From early validation to scaling phases. Whether you're refining your product, improving growth, or navigating key trade-offs, I help you make faster, clearer, and more effective decisions grounded in real-world experience.

Over the last 25+ years, I’ve built my career across engineering, enterprise consulting, product management, and startup entrepreneurship. I began as a software engineer, spent several years helping enterprise customers solve complex business and technology problems as a consultant, and then spent more than 15 years leading products and product strategy in the technology industry. Today, I’m the founder of an AI startup building agentic software for enterprise customers. I coach aspiring and early-stage founders who are navigating the realities of turning an idea into a business. Whether you’re evaluating a startup idea, conducting customer discovery, building an MVP, thinking through product strategy, exploring AI opportunities, or deciding whether to leave a stable career to pursue entrepreneurship, I can help you think through the tradeoffs and avoid common mistakes. What makes my perspective different is that I’m not teaching entrepreneurship from a textbook or from a startup exit that happened years ago. I’m actively building a company today while balancing the same challenges many founders face: product development, customer acquisition, fundraising decisions, personal finances, family responsibilities, and long-term career risk. My goal is to provide practical, honest guidance grounded in real-world experience rather than startup mythology. If you’re considering a startup journey, building an AI-enabled product, or simply trying to determine whether entrepreneurship is the right next step for you, I’d be happy to help.

I've spent the past decade building software startups from the ground up, leading engineering teams, and turning ideas into products that customers actually use. I've worked as both an engineer and an engineering manager, helping early-stage companies make technical decisions, hire effectively, improve development processes, and ship products faster. Most recently, I helped build and scale a healthcare startup to more than $1M in monthly revenue, designing everything from product architecture and infrastructure to engineering workflows and AI-powered automation. I've also led teams in the airline industry, built SaaS products from scratch, and founded my own software businesses. Whether you're validating an MVP, building your first engineering team, introducing AI into your business, or trying to scale without creating technical debt, I provide practical guidance based on real experience—not just startup theory.

• Stanford GSB MBA Candidate – Class of 2027 • Coaching | Case prepped and mentored 30+ undergraduate and MBA students • Bain | Worked for Bain & Co. before school, focusing on retail and consumer case work • Startup | Grew wholesale for a men’s athleisure brand from $0 to $4M • Resumes | Edited 50+ resumes in undergrad and reviewed 200+ resumes as Bain recruiting lead • Speech & Writing | Wrote and delivered commencement speech for Miami University Farmer School of Business graduation ceremony • Interview Training | Trained as Bain interviewer to score case interviews and behavioral questions • GMAT / Test-taking | Scored in highest percentile of GMAT test-takers

I’ve been involved with dozens of successful early-stage startups as a Co-founder, CEO, Investor, Advisor. I’m passionate about helping others avoid the pitfalls of early-stage startups, team formation, idea validation, development, and go to market strategy. I currently help run a Venture Studio in Utah called Philo Ventures where we're building startups with a team of software engineers, product strategists, ux designers, marketers. Part time I also help run a student startup incubator based at Brigham Young University called 'Sandbox' where undergraduate students take a year off of their normal coursework and get college credit while we pair them up with experts from the community and teach them how to start a software startup.

Built a career in strategy, marketing, and growth. From management consulting to leading brand at IBM and eBay, I now bring that corporate rigor to my coaching clients. I help you with strategy and systems to win right-fit clients at healthy margins. I share what I've learned and coach you so you can say exactly what buyers needs to hear to sign a five, six and seven-figure+ contract. And we avoid the big business ‘nice to haves’ a growing business can (and must) do without. Because in a sea of sameness, your moat is what you stand for, who you serve best, and what only you deliver. Sharpening one client's positioning increased their deal size 40% and cut their sales cycle 35%.

Former elite college professor of entrepreneurship, bringing a rich background in founding, scaling, and advising both mission-driven small businesses and venture-backed startups. I combine deep operational experience with a sharp strategic lens, honed across roles as a journalist, consultant, founder, and impact investor. My work sits at the intersection of purpose and performance—supporting early-stage entrepreneurs, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, in building resilient, revenue-generating companies that create lasting value. Whether you're refining your pitch, navigating fundraising, or building systems for growth, I bring tailored, candid guidance rooted in real-world insight—and a genuine passion for seeing you win.