Executive Coach for Startups

The company is growing faster than the way you run it. I coach startup founders and their executives through the stage where hustle stops scaling — investor pressure, a first real leadership team, and a company that still routes every decision through you.

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2,000+ retail stores26 countries1M+ customers

Who this is for

Everything routes through you

Product, hiring, investors, the hard conversations — the company scaled, and the founder became the bottleneck.

The pressure has teeth

Runway, targets, a board with expectations. The stakes are real, and pretending you're fine is part of the job.

Your first real exec team

You hired leaders — and you're still doing their thinking. Nobody taught you how to actually hand things over.

Why executive coaching for startups usually misses

Most of it comes from one of two worlds. Corporate coaching — polished frameworks built for companies with org charts, budgets and time, none of which you have. Or startup Twitter wisdom — hustle harder, raise bigger, copy the playbook of a company that isn't yours. Neither has much to say to the founder holding payroll in one hand and a board deck in the other.

I've held both. I launched Puj in 2008 — into the worst consumer market in a generation — and scaled it to 2,000+ retail stores across 26 countries, through cash-flow crises, investor conflict and the seasons where the company nearly consumed me. I know what it costs to be the person the whole machine depends on, and I know the structural moves that get you out of that position without losing control of what you built.

So this is executive coaching for startups with an operating core: decision rights, a leadership team that actually leads, an operating rhythm your company runs on, and a founder who's still standing — and still married, still healthy, still glad they started — when the growth arrives.

What's different in 90 days

01A three-year vision specific enough to hire against, build against and say no against.

02Eight to twelve hours a week back — tracked, not estimated — pulled out of work your team should own.

03An executive team with real decision rights, so scaling stops meaning more of you.

04Investor and board relationships handled from strategy, not fear — the hard conversations prepared and had.

05A twelve-month operating plan with quarterly targets your whole team can be measured against.

Startup coaching, run on the Vital Framework

Five parts, run in order. It's the same system I use with every founder — tuned for the speed and stakes of a company that's still being built.

Vision

A specific picture of the company in three years — sharp enough to steer hiring, fundraising and focus.

Inspiration

Why this company matters — said plainly enough that your team and your investors both repeat it.

Team

The right people in the right seats with real authority, and the honest conversation about who isn't.

Alignment

Your calendar, your runway and your priorities pointed at the same quarter.

Leadership Systems

The meetings, metrics and decision rights that let the company scale past what you can personally touch.

Founders, real results

“Katie's strategy helped us grow the fund exponentially in a more efficient manner, while navigating difficult investor conversations.”

Liam Leonard

“Katie helped me align with my partner who is like a brother to me, but we struggled to agree for 18 months. With Katie's coaching, we had alignment in 3 weeks.”
Frank Fiori

“The TOP 3 people who have transformed my life? Katie Richardson and Russel Brunson are both in that top 3!”
Josh Forti

“Every entrepreneur needs to work with Katie.”
Alison Prince

2,000+

US retail stores

Countries

1M+

Customers served

About Katie

I trained as an industrial designer on a General Motors scholarship, then launched a baby products company called Puj in 2008 — into the worst consumer market in a generation. It worked. We reached 2,000+ US retail stores, 26 countries and more than a million customers.

It also nearly took me apart. Investor conflict, cash-flow crises, and a version of me who was only worth what the company had produced that quarter. The rebuild that followed is the reason I coach the way I do — I don't separate the founder from how the company is built.

Now I coach founders and executives through the Vital Framework, and I host the podcast What's Working Now.

Read the longer story

How it works

STEP 01

Book a call

Pick a time on my calendar. Five minutes, no payment, no funnel.

STEP 02

The diagnostic call

We map the real constraint — in the company and underneath it. You leave with something useful either way.

STEP 03

Begin

We start on the first structural change that week. If it's a fit, we build from there.

Questions before you book

What does an executive coach for startups actually do?+

Two jobs at once. The company: decision rights, a leadership team that actually leads, an operating rhythm, a plan your team can be measured against. The founder: judgment under pressure, the investor and board relationships, and keeping the person intact while the company scales. In a startup those are the same system.

How is this different from an advisor or a board member?+

Advisors give opinions and boards hold you accountable to outcomes. Neither works with you, week over week, on how you and the company actually operate. I'm not on your cap table and I don't need anything from your outcome — which is exactly what makes the truth affordable.

What stage do you work with?+

The sweet spot is a company that's found something real — revenue, traction, a team forming — and a founder who's become the constraint. Earlier than that, most problems are product problems. From there through scale, the structural work is where I earn my keep.

Do you work with the whole founding team?+

The engagement starts with one founder or executive. When co-founders are misaligned — the most expensive problem in startups — we bring both in and fix the alignment directly. I've watched an 18-month partner standoff resolve in three weeks.

How much does it cost?+

Pricing depends on format and length of engagement, and I quote it on the diagnostic call once I know what you actually need. I'll tell you on that call if I don't think the work will pay for itself.

How long before I see results?+

The first structural change usually lands in the first two to three weeks, because it's almost always something you already knew and hadn't decided. Ninety days is the honest window for the changes to show up in your calendar, your numbers and your team.