❤️ FROM STARTUP LEADERS
Eddie coached me in my leadership role at a high-growth, early-stage startup. He has been a trusted partner and sounding board. Eddie’s coaching style is direct, tangible and immediately actionable. His work experience allows him to be empathetic towards the unique constraints of working cross-functionally within a young team. I look forward to working with him again! 🙂
CHRISTINE KEUNG
VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS OPERATIONS
DROPBOX, FOUNTAIN
I was in the middle of moving into a more customer success focused role that was new to me and, concurrently, into a leadership role. In stressful times, I always found myself looking forward to time working with Eddie. Compared to other coaches and mentors I’ve worked with, Eddie takes a refreshingly different approach to solving problems and helping. Since working together, I’m more confident in my real strengths and also much more capable of having actionable paths forward in improving on areas that have long felt less than clear to me. In the world of startups, this can make all the difference and my only wish would have been to start working with Eddie sooner.
MATT GROETELAARS
HEAD OF CUSTOMER SUCCESS, SALES STRATEGY
SEGMENT, AUTOMILE
Eddie is a compassionate and strategic leader who brings a fresh perspective to management - aligning cross functional teams and uniting them to achieve common goals. Eddie is thoughtful in his approach, and triumphant in helping us set aggressive targets - inspiring team members to innovate and drive improvement. He is an exceptionally gifted facilitator and knows when to lean in and when to let go. I highly recommend Eddie and would be delighted to work with him again.
HALLIE POND
DIRECTOR, CUSTOMER SUCCESS
NERDWALLET, GLASSDOOR
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
WE MADE IT!?
As emerging leaders in high growth startups, we feel like we made it. Finally, our talents have been recognized and we’ve been trusted to lead a team of professionals to achieve great things. BUT. AND THERE’S A BUT. Without the training and support in our leadership roles, we often feel like we’re barely hanging on for dear life figuring out how to motivate and lead a team to deliver business results.
THE STRUGGLE
Despite not having adequate leadership training and support in our new roles as leaders, we don’t complain. We press on. We leverage our grit, passion and resourcefulness like we always have to figure out how to become better leaders. We voraciously read every book and blog on leadership. We seek the expertise of experienced mentors. We even fork over our own money to attend leadership conferences and trainings. And yet despite our resourcefulness, WE STILL can’t help but feel alone, chronically reactive, barely surviving, busy being busy. Worst yet, we feel like imposters.
SEE THE FOREST THROUGH THE TREES
So now you have a choice my friend. Keep doing what you’ve been doing. Or try a different approach to help you gain the leadership confidence and clarity you deserve to more effectively lead your team with less stress, more fun and repeatable business outcomes.
Leadership Masterminds is a different kind of training and support program specifically designed for busy startup leaders like you with 0-3 years of management experience. Our program incorporates the most effective learning and development techniques and battle tested to meet the unique needs of startup leaders.
Mastermind Pods: peer learning, support and accountability with 3-5 emerging leaders just like you
Micro Learning: management fundamentals, real-time challenges, case studies
Expert Facilitation: led by trained leadership coach and former startup COO, VP (Eddie Nguyen)
Method: weekly live sessions (in-person dependent on pod interest and office availability)
HOW IT WORKS
SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
Previous participants tell us that the insights, vulnerability, experience, accountability and support from their pod peers was the most valuable part of the experience. To ensure we keep the pods intimate and quality bar high, we only accept 3-5 new applicants at a time.
MASTERMINDS POD ASSIGNMENTS
We review each application thoroughly and invite 3-5 new participants based on their motivation, interests and scheduling availability. This is an intimate 10 week program so we do everything we can to ensure compatibility and quality to help create an amazing experience for startup leaders.
WEEKS 1-5: MANAGEMENT FUNDAMENTALS
Eddie Nguyen covers management fundamentals using case studies, role playing and exercises. We don’t attempt to cover every management concept under the sun. Instead, we focus on the most critical skills startup leaders need to thrive including planning, performance management, critical feedback, delegation and influencing without direct authority.
WEEKS 6-10: POD DRIVEN TOPICS
While management fundamentals provides a lightweight framework that EVERY startup leader needs to be effective, each leader in the pod typically has a few acute management challenges unique to them. In the remaining 5 weeks, we leverage the wisdom of the pod and help each leader address challenges with more clarity and confidence.
SHOW & TELL
To help startups focus their efforts on a common goal, startup accelerators like Y Combinator, TechStars and AngelPad each have their version of Demo Day at the end of the 3 month program.
At the conclusion of our 10 week program, leaders in each pod present a summary of their key takeaways, learnings they’ve applied during the program, and their plan to take their team to the next level. And then receive critical (and supportive) feedback from their pod peers and Eddie Nguyen.
