Case Study: A Tale of Two Co-Founders
The Client
Co-founder & CEO, pre-seed B2B SaaS company
The Challenge
The CEO was concerned their co-founder was chronically underperforming. The CEO was spending a lot of time trying to motivate and help their co-founder finish their work. Communication had become tense.
“Resolving the unhealthy co-founder relationship was huge! I strongly believe it saved the company”
Solutions
“Amy took us through her proprietary conflict transformation process where she first worked individually with each of us to prepare for an in-depth conversation. She facilitated this discussion where we were able to talk through the issues thoroughly and openly in a helpful way and make some important agreements. She taught us her Minimal Trigger Feedback Model™ which showed us how to both give and receive feedback effectively.
“In our coaching sessions, she shared a really useful method with me for holding others accountable without compromising anyone’s humanity.
Outcomes
“In the past year of working with Amy, I’ve grown so much as a CEO and as a person.
“Resolving the unhealthy co-founder relationship was huge! The conflict resolution process helped us to communicate more honestly with each other in both the facilitated session as well as future one-on-one conversations with each other, and to come up with solid agreements for performance and behavior. When my co-founder couldn’t meet their side of our agreements, it became clear that we needed to part ways. Our work styles and motivations aren’t compatible enough to be business partners, unfortunately, but we didn’t know that before we worked together. I never would have had the courage to ask them to leave were it not for my sessions with Amy.
“Even though separating was tough, I strongly believe it saved the company. I don’t think we would’ve made meaningful progress together and we would’ve burned through most of the runway. Ultimately, we would’ve also lost our friendship – and would’ve blamed each other.
“More tactically, Amy taught me how to give effective feedback and encouraged me to cultivate the habit of giving it regularly. Before, I always saved it for quarterly reviews. Now it’s become second nature to offer feedback on the spot or the next day before it gets stale and the other person can’t grow from it as much. This feedback training even helped me resolve a family issue successfully.
“Amy supported me to develop the skill of having challenging conversations in a constructive way and emboldened me.”
“I learned that if something bothers me, I need to address it ASAP, even if it results in a difficult conversation. It doesn't help to stay quiet and hope the person figures it out or the issue somehow goes away. Amy supported me to develop the skill of having challenging conversations in a constructive way and emboldened me: Now I’m less scared of having these talks, including firing someone, if need be. I’ve even used these skills to have difficult yet tactful conversations with investors.
“Having made a mistake or two with hiring, I’m now improving what I should be looking for in early hires and how I go about it. I used to be all about their technical skills. Now I try to get a sense of who they are and what they’d add to our culture before giving them a technical challenge.
“I’ve even used these skills to have difficult yet tactful conversations with investors.”
“When I discuss issues with Amy, she listens intently and always offers new ways to think about things without simply telling me what she thinks I need to do. She has the ability to help me take a fresh perspective, realize what I need to do and pull solutions from within myself. This means that I’m far more likely to implement them and they’re right for me.
“I feel a lot more comfortable in the role of CEO & Co-founder now; I really see through a different lens than six months ago. I highly recommend working with Amy. The things she has taught me directly impact my effectiveness as a leader, which ultimately impacts the success of the company.”
