Who I work with

I look to work with executives who have 1) a strong sense of purpose and values; 2) inherently curious and 3) relentlessly pursue growth (personal and professional)

Founders

Nothing is more important than your vision and values to making your company fly. We will dive into any variety of topics on how to make your vision to come fruition. Through that process we'll dive into what is most important to you now on both a business and personal level because they are inseparable.

CEOs

Real talk about what your company needs now. Fundraising, strategy, priorities, hiring, team management, KPIs- there are so many things are on your plate, but we'll key in on what actually is most important and then how to best achieve them.

VCs and Private Equity

Different companies need different support at different times. I jump in as someone who built and led venture funded companies but also understands a fund's perspective to help support your leaders. I'm not a fractional leader but with sit with the CEO/Founder to have first principles conversations on what needs to be done for the company to excel.

Working With Me

What to Expect

What we won't do is beat around core issues and get distracted by opinions. What we will do is create clarity on what is most important for you and your organization and work from first principles on how we get from where you are to where you want to be.

  1. Discovery Call

    Quick call to test fit and values.

  2. Priority & Goal Setting

    This is where we hone in on the top 2 to 3 priorities that will have the biggest impact. From there, we define what success is and align how we will work in future calls.

  3. Regular Check-ins

    Typically bi-weekly or monthly calls plus telegram/whatsapp conversations as necessary.

  4. 3 Month Review

    Reflection is a key aspect of learning and growing. We'll carve out time every 3 months to assess what has changed.

Sample Engagements

My areas of expertise allow me to support you in everything from global expansion to HR transformation to everything in between

Listed Co Expands to New Markets

Situation: A publicly listed company, built a new delivery tech BU and had expanded a rapid rate. The rapid expansion had them expand to many new markets and offer different services for different clients. This put extreme pressure on the whole organization particularly product and tech which couldn't support some much customization. It also created inefficiencies in org design and operations as each market operated different versions of the same business.

The Work: I worked with the CEO to identify the core strengths of the business in the context of the hold co and dramatically reduce the global footprint and the number of services they offered. The company closed several under performing markets that did not leverage the overall company's existing footprint. In addition, the reduced the number of services they offered the market to limit the variations in process across operations and product.

Outcome: Streamlining the markets and services dramatically improved the company's effectiveness and efficiency. It's allowed them to build better product, higher service levels and establish consistent top line growth while cutting their cost base by more than 50%. They are now once again looking to plot more market and service expansion where they can leverage M&A or their hold co's assets with a much more scalable organization.

To Sell or to Scale

Situation: Founder has been building a company for more than 7 years. The company is doing more than USD 30M in revenue and has recently become profitable but top line growth has slowed down. In addition, capital markets for expansion to take the company to foreign markets has disappeared as there are large players in nearby markets that would make expansion risky and expensive. The Founder has put his heart and soul in the business and is conflicted on whether the prospects of future growth are worth the incremental effort.

The Work: The Founder and I spent a lot of discussing his internal "why". This included both personal and professional elements. He was able to be honest about being really tired but not wanting to let existing employees and investors down by "selling". I helped him reach out to several outside investors in VC, PE and Corporate to determine what level of interest there was in potential investment or acquisition. In addition, we clearly defined the need to become more profitable to either increase a sales price or solidify the sustainability of the company in the event funding was scarce.

Outcome: The Founder now has a price for which he and existing investors are willing to sell and also a streamlined business which increased net margin. The streamlining had the side benefit of making the organization less taxing to run which has helped him regain his energy for whatever is to come.

Securing Investment at an Early Stage

Situation: Founder of a pre launch product is struggling to raise money for a media meets commerce concept. An MVP is built but not yet launched.

The Work: Spent considerable time with the Founder redefining the value proposition, positioning and go forward plan to illustrate to potential investors that not only was the concept investable, but as importantly that the Founder was a credible executor with a plan to realize his vision.

Outcome: Founder secured additional investment from angels, institutions and professional organizations within the space.

A Journey of Growth
Why I started Roots and Wings

A Journey of Growth

I've had the fortunate experience of being part of an incredible journeys building a few companies from the ground up.  Some of those companies fizzled to nothing and Lalamove grew to more than 10,000 employees and $3B in funding. But since I left Lalamove, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on what I learned in all those experiences and what is important to me moving forward.  The range of experiences and I emotions I felt as an entrepreneur, leader and post exit were something I could never have prepared for.  Huge swings in circumstances in often a very short period of time left me at times feeling confused, lonely, and facing imposter syndrome.  I was fortunate to have an incredible partner to share this with and keep me grounded during the hardest of time and drew inner strength from the dedication and discipline of my teams.  

My desire with Roots and Wings is to help Founders and CEOs not only nurture and grow incredible companies, but find a partner in me who understands the behind the "curtain" experience of building and leading companies.   I want to help you create and maintain a solid foundation (“Roots”) so that when you want to push it to new heights (“Wings”) you are brave and confident in testing your limits.  

What I've found through my own self reflection tends to ring true across most CEOs and Founders are the following 3 things

1) you absolutely love what you do but

2) you also recognize how challenging and lonely at times the role of the leader is and

3) it's hard to find the right support that can look at you and your situation without bias.

My goal is to be that unbiased partner that you can lean on for the hard questions and provide a structured and outcome driven mindset to what is most important to you and your organization.

Contact Me