About what I do & how I work

The Top Line

→ What: I support ambitious, mission-driven people and ventures on their way. Usually this means helping them straighten out the path from where they are to where they want to go.

→ Why: Ideally "impact alpha" aka creating a lock-step flywheel of purpose and profits; most often refining pragmatic models along a range of returns and trade-offs that help them make (more) money while doing (some to a whole lotta) good.

→ How: Through 1:1 advising sessions, 1:many trainings, structured Strategy Sprints, Special Projects and, for the right opportunity, going in-house.

→ As: An Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), Operating Partner, Advisor, Consultant and occasionally an in-house strategic operator.

^^I get that this can seem squishy. I promise it is real, meaningful and valuable work with concrete results:

So, like explaining the difference between Mentoring & Advising, I thought I'd take a moment to share more about the through-line and distinctions of several hats I wear/titles I have. Let's dive in, shall we? ⬇️

The Through-Line

Whether I'm working through advising sessions, trainings, Sprints, Special Projects or rolling up my sleeves in-house for a while, the question underneath is the same. What does an Entrepreneur in Residence, Operating Partner, “Value Creation Lead” or “Advisor” actually do? The short answer is a) it depends, and b) for me, they are all versions of the same core job:

I help founders and funders move from insight to action and from possibility to proof. Ultimately my work helps them grow their value proposition (ideally that's to make more money while also producing more social impact aka "impact alpha").

Clear as mud, right? Maybe some context of how I got here is helpful...

A twenty-year career built in political campaigns and startups comes in seasons. Between significant in-house roles as a leader and operator, I spent many off-cycles and incubation periods "smoke-jumping" into special projects in an entrepreneurial and advisory capacity. The constants in this "it depends" model are: a high-rate of learning, quickly assessing leverage points, building a right-sized plan, creating alignment, and then getting things done.

To do this, I wear many hats, including:

• LFJ the mission-driven biz believer, skeptic, realist, strategist, planner & do-er

• LFJ the spreadsheet queen

• LFJ the customer discovery and GTM expert

• LFJ the storyteller, translator and humourist

• LFJ the challenger, guide, coach, founder whisperer, Cassandra, venture and financing doula here to help you on your way

  
  

These are not costume changes. They are integrated lenses shaped by decades across sectors, functions, and global contexts. They let me zoom in and out, understand opportunities and hazards when applying best practices from one domain to another, see both the features and the bugs in any “pick and mix” approach, and effectively communicate while in a boardroom, a founder garage, a foundation reporting cycle, or an investor diligence call.

Given I work with a variety of stakeholders, I am not attached to the label on the jar -- the title of the role. I am more interested in making sure the language they use to describe me makes sense to them and their constituencies so we can get the same page quicker to get the job done. Most of the time the role falls into one of these categories, which are both used very specifically and used very imprecisely.

Getting any clearer yet?

What an EIR Really Does

Usually an Entrepreneur in Residence is a recognised expert who has their own body of work in motion. They are hired by a fund, studio, or academic organisation to share their experience in exchange for time, money, and strategic access.

In venture, “In Residence” engagements often serve as temporary homes for founders who have exited, are navigating a non-compete, or are incubating a new idea. They advise portfolio companies or the investment team while pressure-testing their next venture, ideally with the hosting investors getting early access to that pipeline.

In other “In Residence” setups, the work can involve contributing to specific remits, sharing insights from each side’s advantaged market position, exploring markets, testing hypotheses, running the experiments no one else has time for, and designing pathways for opportunities that would otherwise stay on the whiteboard.

There are also “Intrapreneurs” who use their specific set of skills inside large corporate environments to help these industry titans -- built for growing established revenue drivers -- shape new ideas into investible opportunities. This is not what I do. 

What an Operating Partner Does

Operating Partners are more hands-on. We are often utilized by a fund to strengthen what lives under the pitch deck. The work can span the business model, go-to-market, product-market fit, team design, unit economics, strategic narrative and, sometimes, the founder’s decision-making patterns.

It can also go deep into specific remits such as forecasting, building and leading hiring plans, turnarounds, or special circumstances (read: something is very wrong and needs to be made right).

What “Value Creation” Means in Practice

At its most basic, value creation is the work of helping a company move from potential to performance by strengthening revenue models (and other avenues for value capture), operations, strategy, people and financial clarity. While some people know value creation through the lens of private equity, that happens at a different stage, with different incentives and tactics. The early-stage, mission-driven work I do focuses on long-term, enduring, integrated value creation for both profits and purpose.

Similar to a Value Creation Plan, the Startup Strategy Sprint framework I use includes many of the same core elements, such as:

• moving between strategist, operator, coach and translator so founders gain clarity and momentum

• identifying the riskiest elements of the model and addressing those first

• examining and improving revenue models, governance, data practices, operations and expansion plans, including team, markets, products and services

• building a right-sized roadmap with initiatives, KPIs, accountabilities and milestones

• aligning story and substance so internal and external stakeholders can engage with confidence and accuracy

What about Advisors?

Unlike an Operating Partner, an Advisor does not generally hold the pen on creating deliverables. However, a good advisor does have enough proximity to understand you and enough distance to see what you cannot.

As an advisor, my work usually takes the form of regular, founder-led “Ask Me Anything” sessions on Zoom. We start with an orientation conversation where we set our overarching goals. Three questions tend to reveal almost everything I need to know about the founder, the venture and where we are likely to focus our time:

1. If everything goes right, what does success look like in ten years? (Reveals long-term intrinsic motivation and orientation to the venture)

2. At the end of this quarter, what do you want to have accomplished and what is keeping you up at night? (Reveals short-term priorities and relationship to reality)

3. How do you get your money out? (Reveals depth of understanding of investment models and financial pathways)

   
   

Through our sessions, we work toward those goals while also responding to timely challenges and emerging opportunities. There's a range of breadth and depth of what we discuss because: a) founders have a range of needs, and b) especially at this (MVP) stage it's especially important to right-size the solutions. So, it's not unusual to move fluidly between strategy, operations, fundraising, team design, storytelling, and even "founder whispering" e.g.:

• tackling a "marketing problem" requires examining the underlying go-to-market strategy which may reveal another underlying challenge that points to out-of-date or incomplete customer discovery,

  
  

• or, "fundraising" challenges may hinge upon unclear unit economics in a shaky financial model that isn't robust "simply" because the founder has deep-seated financial trauma from growing up in a low-income environment OR over-confidence from being told how to pitch "to Silicon Valley investors for no less than $3mm for pre-seed)

  
  

• ET CETERA...

  
  

Oh the joy of pulling the thread on the sweater-- seriously: it's sincerely a pleasure & privilege to earn the trust of an innovator to help them unlock a leverage point that frees up a whole lot of up-and-to-the-right movement!

Examples: Advising Office Hours

In case you're wondering about "A Day in the Life", here are some examples from a recent week of Advising Office Hours which covered:

→ GTM signal versus noise, using a refined, data-driven digital version of a cocktail napkin to identify & sequence the right beachhead market

→ Team design, from FAST agreements to RACI-based headcount forecasting to right-sizing the first sales hire

→ Exit modeling, clarifying intrinsic motivation, ownership stakes & the capital plan

→ Investment Readiness & Investor Targeting, based on portfolio patterns & LP expectations

→ Rest/Burnout, because longevity is a strategic asset, the founders I work with won't get in the rocket ship if their family can't come too (and "showing up" as Uncle Bernie serves no one)

It's not all talk either. Here are some examples of the resources I've created over the years that we work from:

Examples: Trainings & Sprints

It's a pleasure to partner with funds, accelerators, organisations, and teams to train many people at a time. A few of the topics I train on include:

→ Investment Readiness: Demystifying venture capital (VC) and the process to raise investment (especially for under-represented founders)

→ Beyond VC: Alternative Financing paths for early-stage startups (especially for mission-driven ventures)

→ Storytelling for Startups: winning pitches, narratives, and design to convert your target users, customers, investors & markets

→ User Journeys & Go-to-Market: Concrete tools to know what really matters to your key audiences and how to reach them

→ Strategy Sprints: Together, we use tools, templates, and deep dives to clarify your long-term vision and short-term roadmap inclusive of SMART goals & KPIs, financial and implementation models

Examples: Special Projects

I get to do some pretty cool things with some great partners. Here are some examples + let me know if you want to know more about any of these or how we might partner on your special project:

• Building Capital Explorer with Village Capital and Aunnie Patton Power

• Helping a GP of a Conscious Capitalism Venture Fund re-org his accelerator into a non-profit while raising Fund II and aligning all narratives

• Bringing the "Equitech" brand and movement to the global stage at SXSW along with 22 leading funders for purpose & profits

• Helping a marquis Family Office assess & create detailed impact investing strategies for caregiving in the US

• Serving as a right-hand coach-player to a global VC as they navigated staffing transitions requiring both leadership and someone in the trenches to maintain key stakeholder relationships, advance a 14 week-accelerator programme, on-board new staff, and shepherd 24 new portcos (from a funnel of 800 ventures that required 1st screen through IC, value creation, and follow-on co-investment)

• and more...

Bringing it all together

I trust it's clear by now that the range of my work is the key driver of the value of my work. It is the work. With the urgency of a seasoned smoke-jumper, the analytical mind of a spreadsheet queen, and the bed-side manner of a venture and financing doula, my job is to meet founders, funders and teams where they are, spot what matters most, and help them move with intention toward the outcomes they want. I help them grow ventures, markets and capital strategies that match their ambition and work in the real world -- which, by the feedback I get and by the numbers, seems to be working well so far:

In short: I help ambitious, mission-driven people and ventures on their way. If you want to connect about how I might be able to help you, let's talk.

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