My name is Dave and I’m a serial founder.
I coach and write too.
My personal mission
We live in a world of hyper-growth. The pressure on founders to grow as fast as their startup has never been greater. To succeed in this new, uncertain world, founders need to be more adaptable, more decisive and more resourceful than ever.
That's where I fit in. My mission is to support early-stage founders on their journey to becoming great CEOs. I developed the Founder Coach®️ System to help founders reflect deeply on their own answers to the most important questions, gain new perspectives and find clarity in the chaos.
Core values
When I started my coaching practice, I developed the following set of core values to guide me. Nearly a decade on, they still feel like the right ones:
- Questions are more powerful than answers.
- Clarity comes from perspective.
- Experience is the best teacher.
- Accountability drives results.
- Vulnerability makes you stronger.
My team
Ed Mellor
Chief of Staff
Ed helps me with... pretty much everything. Ops, tech, content, you name it. Previously, Ed helped scale two VC-backed startups.
Tamzin Foster
Program Partner
Tamzin takes my programs from good to great. Previously, Tamzin previously Head of Programme and International at The School of Life, and a management consultant at OC&C.
Vital statistics
200+
Articles and guides
60+
Workshops designed
£1bn+
Raised by clients
London
Headquarters
2.5m
Views on blog
110+
Mentored CEOs
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A few facts about me
- I went to Oxford University in 2001 and got a double first in Mathematical Sciences. Much of what I studied underpins what we now call AI… I honestly had no idea it'd become so useful!
- In 2004, I challenged myself to learn French to conversational fluency in 17 days—and succeeded. I wrote an article about it featured in Time Magazine. I went on to learn Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish, losing most of my French. C'est la vie!
- I attended one of the first cohorts of Singularity University, a graduate program based in NASA Ames in California. We had multiple lectures on cryptocurrency when Bitcoin was less than 10 cents. None of us bought any—typical.
- I left Delivery Hero after building a nightlife aggregation app in my spare time that went viral in Brazil. I raised money to scale it but the economics didn't work out.
- I became a CEO coach after writing this blog post about the benefits of coaching for founders which went viral on Medium.com. Google made it the #1 search result for the term ‘founder coach’ which led to several CEOs harassing me until I agreed to coach them. I’m so grateful they did.
- I’ve only ever coached CEOs and racked up several thousands hours of coaching sessions. Every time a CEO comes to me with a problem, it feels genuinely personal.
- In 2022, I launched Founder Coach®️ with my wife, Lorena, as a global CEO coaching community, and it continued to grow quickly. Lorena since left to work in a Fintech. Mixing family and work is not easy.
- I’ve trained over 40 scale-up CEOs how to coach their teams. It’s incredibly fulfilling work, and I expect many of them will become coaches to other founders in the future.
- While I’ve published over 150 thought pieces, I have just as many unpublished. Getting them online is what I’m currently working on.
- I’ve structured over 1 million words of notes for my clients. I take 30-60 minutes to do this after each session. Writing is my secret to getting a clear mind.
Media and Press
I occasionally work with journalists around the world to share stories and insights as a CEO coach. If you’re a member of the media and would like to talk, please get in touch.
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