If Your Company Can't Run Without You, You Own a Job, Not a Business.
Build the team and the systems that take you off the critical path and let your company thrive. Strategic coaching for founder-CEOs of growth-stage companies, from first leadership hire to final signature.
CEOs advised, from first leadership hire to final signature.
75+
Leadership teams coached through strategy and alignment work.
250+
Strategy sessions and retreats facilitated.
$10B+
In combined client company valuation.
Three Stages
Where You Are Decides Where the Work Starts.
Every founder-CEO is somewhere on the same path: Build Your Team, Clarify Your Strategy, and Prepare Your Exit. Each stage has one core program. Not sure where to start? A strategy call will show you which one fits.
Your company has outgrown what one person can hold. LEADERSHIP360 builds the leadership team, the accountability, and the operating rhythm that let the business run without you in the room.
Activity is not progress. ROADMAP12 gives you a clear twelve-month plan, the few priorities that actually matter, and the cadence to keep the whole team executing the same strategy.
A buyer pays for the company you built, not the one you promise. VALUE10X builds enterprise value and removes the risks that discount the deal, long before you need to sell.
Looking for something else? Explore our other programs: NEXTLEVEL for executive coaching, ALIGN90 for business partners, BLUEPRINT90 for founder exit readiness, and DEEPDIVE for leadership retreats.
Coaching From Experience
The Hardest Part Has No Playbook.
The shift from doing the work to leading it is the climb most founders face alone. This coaching comes from having made it: building a Lean/Agile software agency, scaling it onto the Inc. 500, and exiting in 2013.
Founded a Lean/Agile software agency in 2003, led it through five consecutive years on the Inc. 500/5000, and exited via acquisition in 2013.
Fluent in Multiple Frameworks
Scaling Up, Metronomics, Predictive Index, and exit planning as a Certified Exit Planning Advisor. Adapted to your company, never forced from a template.
Leading and Coaching Since 2003
Two decades in the CEO seat and beside it, with 1,000+ podcast episodes and a regular column at Inc.com along the way.
Find Your Starting Point
Find Out Where You Stand.
Each free assessment takes about ten minutes and scores the company against one stage of the journey. Start with the problem that is loudest right now. If more than one fits, the earlier stage usually needs attention first.
Scores your leadership team against what your next stage of growth demands. It surfaces where accountability is unclear, who has outgrown their seat, and the gaps that will slow you down.
Measures how clear and aligned your strategy really is. It shows whether your team is executing one plan or quietly running several, and where focus is leaking.
Gauges how ready your company is for a sale. It flags what a buyer scrutinizes first, what discounts your value, and what to fix while you still have time.
These founders ran companies that could not move without them. Here is what changed when they stopped being the bottleneck and built businesses that run on their own.
"I've had the pleasure of working with Bruce as a strategic business coach and facilitator for over six years from early stage to over 1B valuation."
Sam KassoumehCOO and Co-founder, SecurityScorecard
"His ability to transform strategic uncertainty into clear, executable plans is exactly what every growing organization needs."
Stephanie ShieldsHead of Employee Benefits, Equitable
"He helped us define our priorities, streamline our operations, and develop a clear roadmap for our exit strategy."
Norman RosenbergCEO, Lutron Shades
"Bruce's expertise lies at the intersection of strategic planning and leadership team development. Having been a CEO himself, he brings real-world experience that is often missing in the consulting world."
Paul RicciCEO, Best Egg
"The ability to really coach is a rare skill and Bruce has it. He reframed problems in new ways and mentored the team to take action."
Liesel KippEVP Core Product, HBO Max
"His practical advice and tools offered clear, actionable strategies that have already transformed how we approach key account management."
Nelson TepferFounder and CEO, ProCFO Partners
The Book
The Exit Planning Book for Founder-CEOs.
Springboard is a founder's guide to selling your company with purpose, clarity, and a vision for what comes next. Most exit advice starts with the transaction. This one starts with the founder.
"Springboard is one of the most honest and strategically grounded books I've read on exits."
Shannon Byrne SuskoFounder & CEO, Metronomics
"All founders and business owners should be required to read Springboard. Far too often, they retire without a plan."
Bill SnowManaging Director, FOCUS Investment Banking
"This is not just a book about exiting a business. It is a guide for using an exit as a true springboard into a meaningful next chapter."
Gregg LedermanNYT Bestselling Author, Brand at Work
The Podcast
What an Exit Really Looks Like.
From Angel to Exit goes behind the deal. Real founders and advisors on what happens when you build, scale, and sell, including the parts no one prepares you for.
Join over 5,000 founder-CEOs who read Better, Faster every week. A new issue lands every Thursday, and it has never missed a week.
Get Started
Start With a Strategy Call.
Every engagement starts with this call, and plenty of them end there too, with a clearer read on the problem and a few concrete moves. There is no pitch at the end of it, and no obligation on either side.
Fill out a short form to request a strategy call. It takes a couple of minutes, asks what you are dealing with and roughly where the company is, and there is no screening call in front of it.
02
Share Background
You get a few specific questions and a short background request ahead of time, so the call opens on the actual problem instead of thirty minutes of orientation.
03
Dig In
You pick a time and work the topic directly on video. Expect to be pushed on your reasoning. That pressure is the point, and it is what makes the hour worth it.
04
Get a Plan
You get a written follow-up with a read on the problem, what to do first, and the concrete next steps, whether or not the path forward involves working together.
