Is the business waiting for you?
You started it, won the first customers and made nearly every decision that mattered. That is why it worked. It is also why it now slows down whenever you are not in the room.
If the business is growing and the work queues behind your sign-off, your relationships or your judgement, the ceiling is not the market. It is you, and it can be fixed. The answer is not more people or longer hours. The answer is changing what you personally own and building a business that holds its standard without you.
That is the founder-to-CEO transition, and it is what this coaching is for.
What changes when a founder becomes a CEO
Three things change, usually in this order:
- What you decide. Most founders are still making decisions two levels below where they should be. We find those decisions, name them and hand them to the person who should own them. Then they stay handed over.
- What you measure. A founder runs on instinct and relationships. A CEO runs on a few numbers that tell the truth every week. If you have to ask someone to know the state of the business, you cannot lead it at scale.
- Who is accountable. Not who is responsible: who is accountable, by name, with a date.
A coach and a mentor, in one relationship
- Coaching for when the answer has to come from you. I am an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC), trained at Henley. The work is structured and challenging, not a sounding board.
- Mentoring for when direct experience saves you a year. I have sat in the founder's seat: I grew Noffee and exited by selling my shares, and I co-founded Wild & Stone. When you hit something I have been through, I will tell you what I learned.
- A method, not just a conversation. The Compass method gives the work a shape: where you are going, what is in the way, and what you own over the next 90 days.
Bring the thing the business keeps catching on.
Book a free 30-minute call →Who it is for
Founders, CEOs and C-level leaders of businesses from idea to £50m, in the UK and internationally. It bites hardest at the stage where the business is too big to run on instinct and too small to carry a full executive team.
It works best if:
- you own the business or carry real P&L authority, so the decisions we make actually happen
- you suspect the constraint now sits with you, not the market
- you want to be challenged, not agreed with
It is not for you if you want someone to confirm you are doing fine, or someone to run the business for you. That is a hire, not a coach.
How it works
- Sessions every three to four weeks. We book 90 minutes and you only pay for the time we use.
- WhatsApp between sessions for quick questions.
- Clear direction, written down. We focus on where you are going. If we work on a specific topic, the outcome is the plan for that topic. Either way, you get clear notes after every session.
- Progress reviewed every session against the North Star, not against how busy the month felt.
- No tie-in agreement. If it isn't working, you are welcome to leave.
What clients say
I was in need of direction and clarity around my new role, and Warren has been excellent at providing direction, focus and honesty on what my short and medium goals should be.Barry Rylance · CRC★★★★★ Google review
Warren came in during a crucial moment of our business. What's interesting is that we hadn't fully grasped the reasons we were in a crucial moment, nor how crucial the moment really was…Konstantinos Savvanidis★★★★★ Google review
Working with Warren has been one of the most transformative experiences of my professional life. He asks the right questions, challenges the way you think, and somehow makes you discover the answers within yourself.Ranim El-Ech · Paradox★★★★★ Google review
Frequently asked questions
What is founder-to-CEO coaching?
One-to-one work that helps a founder move from doing and deciding everything to leading a business that runs without them. In practice that means changing what you decide, what you measure and who is accountable.
What is the difference between a CEO coach and a business mentor?
A coach works on how you think, decide and delegate, so the answer comes from you. A mentor draws on having done it and tells you what they would do. I do both, and I am clear which one I am doing at any moment.
How do I know I am the bottleneck?
List the decisions you made last week and mark the ones only you could have made. If that list is short, the problem is not your workload. It is what you have not handed over.
Who do you work with?
Founders, CEOs and C-level leaders of businesses from idea to £50m. Most are in the UK and some are international. Sessions run in person or on video.
How long does coaching last?
There is no fixed programme and no tie-in agreement. You set how often we meet and you pay for the time we use. If it isn't working, you are welcome to leave.
What happens on the first call?
It is a free 30-minute conversation, not a coaching session. You tell me where the business is going and where it keeps getting stuck, and I tell you honestly whether I can help.