Startup CEO Coaching

Name: Startup CEO Coaching
Brand: Glenn Gow

I was a CEO for 25 years. I’m going to make you more successful.

Coaching Services for Startup CEOs

A CEO Coach is a person who can help you achieve at a higher level. They are a person who has been a Chief Executive Officer and has coached many others. This enables them to help you because they’ve seen the movie before.

They’ve made countless mistakes and will help you avoid those mistakes. They’ve had many successes and know what success looks like. They will guide you toward faster, more significant success.

It helps a lot if they’ve been in a startup before. It helps even more if they’ve coached many startup CEOs & founders.

A great CEO Coach will help you see the things you can’t see hindering your growth. Every top performer has things that are hindering their success. Every athlete. Every Fortune 500 CEO.

Top-performing startup CEOs have coaches because a coach’s job is to help you achieve peak performance.

SEE More Benefits oF CEO Coaching

See The Definitive Guide to Choosing a CEO Coach

Have a Question for Glenn?

Fill out the form below & we’ll reach out shortly!

Why Startup CEOs Should Work with a Coach

Every CEO should have a coach. New CEOs can benefit from a startup coach even more than other CEOs.

When you step into the role of a founder or startup CEO, you are facing so many learning curves that it’s hard to keep track.

You have to raise money again and again. From different investors. With different requirements. You may spend as much as 30% of your time managing investors. You have to not only be effective but will need to be efficient as well.

You have to build a world-class team — a team that knows how to grow a world-class team. You may have to swap out people who can’t grow their capabilities to meet the needs of a larger company. You will need to teach your leadership team how you think.

You have to search for and find product-market fit. Product-market fit exists to some extent in most companies. You need to build on this until customers want to rip the product out of your hands. This will take many iterations – all of the learning experiences.

You will have people on the team who need to go. They may have evolved into a problem, or maybe they were always a problem you didn’t want to deal with, or maybe the company out-grew them. In any case, your job will be to terminate them.

You will face crises from time to time. A key employee will leave. A company fundraising may fail. A significant customer may leave. Each time you face a crisis, you will feel alone just at the time you’ll need to have someone to turn to.

You will doubt yourself. You may feel like you’re in over your head. You will be encountering many things you don’t fully understand. In some cases, you won’t even know what you don’t know.

A great CEO Coach will help you through all the learning curves you face and will help you come up with those curves faster than you would on your own.

Determine if Glenn IS Right for You

How Startups Can Go Wrong Fast

In startups, every decision you make is critical to the company’s success. Some decisions may look not all that critical at the moment but can turn out catastrophic.

For example, you may need funding when raising money, so you overlook what your intuition tells you about the source’s trustworthiness. Many startup CEOs have lost their jobs when they thought they were in charge. The investors hold much more power over you than appears on the surface. Are you making the right decision getting into bed with them?

Another example is talent acquisition. Hiring the right people is the CEO’s most important job. But what constitutes the right people at your particular stage of growth? Are these the right people to take you to the next level, or do they look perfect for today’s company? Hiring the wrong people can take you from success to failure quickly.

DOWNLOAD THE CEO SUCCESS PROGRAM

Experience that Makes Glenn Gow the Ideal Startup Coach

I was a CEO for 25 years. My company did extremely well, and I had to live through a roller coaster ride. Sometimes the challenges seemed insurmountable, but somehow I always got through them to another growth phase.

During that time, I had a CEO Coach for 17 years. My coach was like compound interest. I kept getting better and better as time went on. What was difficult for me at first became much easier as time went on.

I learned about all the operational aspects of running a successful business, and I learned how to become a great CEO — becoming a great CEO means understanding how the CEO thinks, how the CEO communicates, how the CEO makes decisions, and how the CEO leads.

Each of us brings certain strengths and weaknesses to the role. You need to understand what part of you is serving you well, which parts are not and how to change these to continually become a better CEO.

The critical factor for me was that I leaned into learning. I realized that in spite of my Harvard MBA, I knew nothing about the mind of the CEO. I was hungry for continual improvement and having a great CEO Coach gave me that.

Watch My 30-Minute Webinar Now

Everyone Should Look Up to Someone and Learn From Their Experiences

Imagine you are one of the best athletes in the world in a sport. You are at the top of your game.

Or, imagine you are one of the best actors in the world. Everyone wants you to be in their movie.

Or, imagine you are one of the best CEOs in the world. You are playing the game to win and things are going well.

What’s common across the people who are at the peak in performance is that they all have coaches. They have coaches today not because they aren’t already great at what they do. They have coaches because they know a coach helps them become even better.

The other thing they have in common is that they all want to become even better than they are today. They all want to achieve peak performance.

I had a coach for 17 years while I was a CEO. It was an amazing experience that helped me become who I am today. I took that learning from my coach and first applied it to success in my business. Then I turned that learning and applied it to my coaching of CEOs while in venture capital.

ALL TESTIMONIALS

Coaching Testimonials

Accolades From My CEO Clients

● “I feel I have superpower eyesight with you in my corner.” – Michael Kadisha, CEO, Treedom

● “Every coaching session with Glenn has been extremely valuable.” – Jeff Strnad, CEO, DOOR USA

● “Glenn is definitely world-class.” – Albert Navarro, CEO, MetricLock

Personally, I get incredible satisfaction from watching my CEO clients grow and improve. That’s why I do what I do. The key to significant growth is being coachable. Being coachable means doing what your coach asks you to do, especially when it’s uncomfortable for you.

It’s in these areas of discomfort that your greatest learnings will occur.

When you become coachable, we really start moving the needle. You get continually better, and the company’s performance improves along with your personal improvement.

Receiving great coaching is one of the keys to success.

Glenn Gow’s Coaching Program

A CEO’s success is very personal to me. I do this work because I love it. But I only love it when I am helping a CEO get better and better as a CEO.

I am committed to the success of my CEOs. I only win when they win.

Glenn deeply cares about our success. – Srinivas Akella, former CEO of Wootcloud

One of the things many of my CEOs like when working with me is that they don’t need to prepare for meetings. (Of course, you can if you like.) Most CEOs like to “come in hot” with whatever the most important issue of the day is.

What that means to you is that we will dive into the issue that will help you the most at the moment.

When we do that, I will make sure that we are dealing with the most important issue to you and the success of the company. I will help strip away the things that get in the way of success so together we can work on the most critical issues.

When we work together, you will feel the difference in yourself. You will grow, and the company will grow beyond what you thought was possible.

Are You a Startup CEO or a Founder? Contact Glenn Gow and Start Your Coaching Sessions Today!

I had a hard time choosing a CEO Coach when I was a CEO. I understand it’s not easy.

Let’s make it easy. Schedule a chat with me at calendly.com/glenngow.

We’ll just get to know each other and see if it feels right. If it feels right, we’ll go to the next step, but if it doesn’t, we’ll stop there. I’m looking for a relationship that benefits us both. I look forward to getting to know you.

BOOK AN APPOINTMENT

TESTIMONIALS

Take Their Word For It

I’ve been working with Glenn Gow for about two years now, and I can say without a doubt that Glenn has made a massive impact to who I am today as a CEO. Everything that a CEO could possibly want comes from Glenn.

AJ Bruno

CEO of QuotaPath

I’m learning a lot from Glenn. He’s helped me determine what’s really important so I can make better, more timely decisions to steer my company to where I want it to go.

ROB LEWIS

CEO of Radical Imaging LLC

What Glenn’s Clients are Saying…

SUCCESS STORIES

Janice Raises Over $100M for Her Company

ALL SUCCESS STORIES

As one of the founders, Janice had created the perfect solution in an exploding market. As her CEO Coach, we worked very hard to create a scalable business model that significantly accelerated revenue growth. This model included geographic expansion, the addition of new product offerings, and stickiness to create repeat business.

This triple revenue-acceleration model not only worked but it attracted the interest of growth investors.

But a growth model wasn't enough. We needed to help Janice become a better CEO. Specifically, we worked on how to manage her board, so their faith in her as the CEO grew as time went on.

For some CEOs, the board can be intimidating. At first, it was for Janice as well. We worked on how to manage the board and get the most out of the board. Ultimately, we turned the board into a strong set of advisors and advocates for Janice as the CEO.

The support and confidence of the existing board was a critical factor in enabling her to raise well over $100M in the next round, increasing the valuation by more than $600M.

Darren Raises His First $3 Million

ALL SUCCESS STORIES

My CEO client (Darren) was starting a company in a new category. He was focused on raising capital for his business and wanted help crafting his story. Darren is a brilliant CEO, yet he realized he could produce a better story with help from someone who has created successful fundraising stories many times.

When we started working together, his story was overly complex, difficult for investors to understand, and not as strong as it could have been. Together we built a story about the tremendous value the company was creating. We used historical precedent to bolster the vision and mission. We gave investors confidence in the founders. We proved that the company could scale.

Investors are pattern-matchers. They look for the patterns that tell them this opportunity is like other opportunities they’ve seen, giving them a strong belief in the potential ROI. Together, Darren and I constructed a winning story that helped key investors see the patterns of success.

According to Darren, “Glenn gave me the perspective and confidence I needed to succeed.” Darren raised $3 million for his startup company in his first round. Darren has continued to successfully raise money in later rounds as well.

Meilin Creates A Scaling Organization

ALL SUCCESS STORIES

Meilin was always asking, "How can I help my company grow faster?" She was successful by most measures but had higher growth ambitions.

As her CEO Coach, I helped focus her efforts and energies on an often-overlooked area for many CEOs. This area enables scaling and enables the CEO to manage their team more effectively -- values.

Most CEOs have corporate values but don't use them as the ultimate way to install a belief system - a way for every employee to focus on the most critical issues for the company.

Meilin and I worked on making the values core to the thinking and speaking of the management team. Once the management team adopted these values and started speaking about them in their regular communications, we knew that we were on our way to ensuring that every employee “lived” the values.

While values are not the only thing a company needs to grow fast, they are critical to its success. Meilin's company is now growing over 100%.

Sean Gets It All Done

ALL SUCCESS STORIES

As CEO, Sean had no work-life balance, and he was struggling with the overwhelming responsibilities of being a CEO. One of the biggest challenges of any CEO is to get everything done. The list of critical items seems to grow every day.

As his CEO coach (and as a former CEO), I recognized the stress he was under. That level of stress is no fun. To help Sean become a better CEO, I focused him on delegation, talent development, and balance.

First, we focused on developing Sean's delegation skills. Delegation is the "8th wonder of the world." When you make it work, your workload diminishes, and the company performs at a higher level. As Sean became better at delegating, he also began to see strengths and weaknesses in his leadership team from a different perspective.

The next step was to refresh his leadership team. We created a plan to either develop the ones that could step it up and perform better or find new leadership team members for those that couldn't help the company grow.

Finally, we worked on creating a way of living for Sean that provided him some balance. I tell my CEOs to "put their oxygen mask on first." If a CEO wants to perform at the highest level, they need to take care of themselves first.

Now that Sean has a much better leadership team, he has become a master delegator. By delegating many of the activities he had taken on before, he now has much more time to take care of himself.

Sean's company has now entered a new growth phase. More importantly, he is enjoying his work a lot more and his life a lot more.

Viraj Fires His “Best” Employee

ALL SUCCESS STORIES

As a CEO, Viraj was focused on employee retention. He recognized the value of keeping high-performing employees and the high cost of turnover.

One of Viraj's direct reports was one of his "best" employees. This person consistently out-performed against their targets. Within their function, they were a rock star.

However, this same person was toxic to the rest of the organization. They constantly argued with others, and they made most others feel bad about themselves. Viraj found he was spending a great deal of time managing around the toxicity created by this employee.

Viraj valued this person's contributions within their function, and he also really hated the idea of employee turnover. As a result, Viraj put up with this person and continued to work around the toxicity issue.

As Viraj's CEO Coach, I helped him understand that team alignment and team cohesion are critical factors to help the company grow. We agreed that preventing employee turnover is a good goal, but not at the expense of creating a well-functioning team.

Viraj wanted to become a better CEO, and he knew what he had to do. While it was difficult, he decided to fire the person he once thought was his "best" employee.

The first thing he heard from the rest of his direct reports was, "What took you so long?"

Olivia Finds Product-Market Fit

ALL SUCCESS STORIES

Olivia, my CEO client, is a product genius. She is highly creative, an excellent problem-solver, and knows how to get products out the door on time.

Olivia raised a great deal of money based on her product ideas and some early successes. The challenge was that her company wasn't growing fast enough. The pressure from the investors was building, and she was worried.

Raising a lot of money early is a blessing and a curse. The curse is that Olivia delivered her product too quickly. She delivered it, making too many assumptions about the market she was serving. When the product was released, it was a good fit but not a great fit.

Olivia was concerned about the time and dollars it would take to conduct research and test product-market fit in multiple market segments. We created a partnering strategy that enabled us to test multiple new market segments in a short time.

Olivia has found multiple market segments that are a fit for the product. Now that she has achieved product-market fit, the strategy is to "go big" on the go-to-market. And her company is taking off.

Wilson Turns the Board Around

ALL SUCCESS STORIES

Wilson was a first-time CEO. The company was doing well, but not quite as well as the board had hoped. Wilson found himself uncomfortable as a minority shareholder working with a board that could fire him if he didn't perform.

Wilson wanted to know how to manage a Board of Directors. The first step was to acknowledge that a board has different measures of success than the CEO. That means there will naturally be tension. The second step was to dig in to deeply understand what the key drivers are for each board member.

Based on this information, Wilson can now address his needs, the company's needs, and the board's needs. That was the first breakthrough.

Once he knew how to address the needs of the board, we turned to address his needs. As Wilson's CEO Coach, I helped him realize that the board is an incredible asset to leverage.

Wilson began to build relationships with the board members individually to understand better how they could be of service to him and the company.

When Wilson works with the board, he is fully aware of their needs and addresses them appropriately. More importantly, he now tells the board what he is doing and relies on their insight and experience for feedback on how to help the company perform at a higher level.

Wilson is no longer concerned about the board and now gets more out of them than ever before.

Darius Solved His Crisis

ALL SUCCESS STORIES

I got the call at 10 PM on a Thursday. Darius, a CEO client, reached out to me just as I was about to end the day. "Glenn, my Chief Revenue Officer, just resigned, and I'm not sure what to do."

Darius was running a rapidly-growing business that was highly dependent on a well-run sales organization. He had delegated sales responsibility to his Chief Revenue Officer so Darius could focus on engineering and product.

The good news is that Darius didn't relinquish oversight or reporting of sales, just sales execution. It's also true that Darius wasn't in a panic, and we had worked on a plan for the departure of each of his direct reports.

At the moment, though, Darius and I needed to review that plan to ensure it was our best option. We checked whether or not the interim head of sales could genuinely step into the role. We discussed which accounts Darius should immediately nurture relationships with. We agreed that the recruiter we would need was still the right recruiter.

We quickly put together a communication plan on how to bring this news to the leadership team and the rest of the company. We worked on the exact next steps to interact with the interim head of sales, the director of sales operations, and HR.

Darius felt he didn't know what to do, but in actuality, he did. We had prepared for this, and he just needed to talk it through in the heat of the moment so he could execute against the plan immediately.

Startup CEO Coaching

Coaching Services for Startup CEOs

Have a Question for Glenn?

Why Startup CEOs Should Work with a Coach

How Startups Can Go Wrong Fast

Experience that Makes Glenn Gow the Ideal Startup Coach

Everyone Should Look Up to Someone and Learn From Their Experiences

Coaching Testimonials

Accolades From My CEO Clients

Glenn Gow’s Coaching Program

I am committed to the success of my CEOs. I only win when they win.

Are You a Startup CEO or a Founder? Contact Glenn Gow and Start Your Coaching Sessions Today!

Take Their Word For It

AJ Bruno

ROB LEWIS

What Glenn’s Clients are Saying…

Albert Navarro

CEO, MetricLock

Srinivas Akella

Former CEO, Wootcloud

Rick Jones

CEO, Workreels

Jeff Strnad

CEO, Door USA

Darren Marble

Co-CEO, Crush Capital

Liam Nguyen

CEO, Pixel Canvas

Michael Kashida

CEO, Treedom

Allan Njoroge

CEO, Actriv Healthcare

Cynthia Tusan

CEO, Idea Lab

Olin Hyde

former CEO, LeadCrunch

Aaron Schoenberger

CEO, Soteria Intelligence

Ian Foley

CEO, acuteIQ

J. Yoon

Director, Public Company Board

Simon Law

CEO, LoginID

Sameer Ahuja

President, GameChanger

AJ Bruno

CEO, QuotaPath

Janice Raises Over $100M for Her Company

Darren Raises His First $3 Million

Meilin Creates A Scaling Organization

Sean Gets It All Done

Viraj Fires His “Best” Employee

Olivia Finds Product-Market Fit

Wilson Turns the Board Around

Darius Solved His Crisis

Apply for a Complimentary Coaching Session With Glenn Gow