A little about me
About me.
I'm a Founder Growth Strategist and Company Builder with 20+ years of experience leading, scaling and exiting tech startups.
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I am a founder growth strategist and company builder, not a coach.
Why the distinction? - I deeply know and understand tech startups and I bring a unique and personal understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by founders. My experience and approach comes from being in the trenches beside founders. I am not an armchair expert. I give you individualized and actionable insights and roadmaps that are rooted in experience, science and best practices.
I know the pain, I know the joy, I have been there and I can guarantee I have likely seen it all - the great, the good, the bad and the ugly.
For over 20 years, as a VC, board member and through several instances of being the first non-founding executive, as CEO or COO, I’ve directly scaled up, scaled down, invested in, shut down and exited tech startups and have playing pivotal roles in orchestrating over $1 billion in corporate transactions—including IPOs, acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships, and fundraising efforts.
I have masterfully been the trusted business partner to founders and the company and team builder for companies during critical phases of growth, expansion and transition. Given most of these founders were neuro-divergent, I've also also happily been the:
one to "deal with the humans" so the founder could "focus on the machines",
"“wtf is wrong with humans, or is it me” sounding board”,
"human simulation software updater",
"translator", and their
confidante where they can take off their "human suit" and be themselves in safety, with no judgment.
I have brought myself back from a "system failure" state of burnout, where my cognitive decline was significant. Through this recovery I have immersed myself in years of understanding human brains, bodies, resilience and why we do the things we do through the lens of our nervous system, neuropsychology, neurobiology, evolutionary psychology, developmental psychology, relationship dynamics and trauma.
As a neuro-divergent individual with a neuro-divergent child, I bring a personal connection and empathy to my work.
Combined, my skillset, life experiences, and passions are uniquely aligned to guide founders and their companies by getting to the root cause of the issues (vs. masking or hiding from them) and providing an empowering and fun roadmap to sustainable high performance for the founder and the company.
Why do I focus on this?
I have such respect and awe for founders - the ones who boldly and courageously put it all out there, chase their vision and work hard to bring it into this world, with a special place in my heart for those founders on the spectrum. The act of company and team building lights me up, it is my creative landscape and I love nothing more than seeing someone realizing their potential.
When I think of impact, which is a significant driving force for me, I have realized I have a unique experience base, outlook and skillset to help founders scale their companies without losing themselves in the process. If I can amplify world-changing geniuses who beautifully see the world differently, there is no bigger impact that I can do than that.
Founders I've worked with
150+
VCs I've worked with
60+
Corporate transactions involved in
$1B +
Board seats
17
Founders left their company
10+
Founders fired
0
My Career Cred.
I am passionate about building and elevating high-performance companies and teams to unprecedented levels of success. Boasting a wealth of executive experience across a spectrum of venture-backed software and hardware enterprises in diverse sectors and stages, I have not only played pivotal roles in orchestrating over $1 billion in corporate transactions—including IPOs, acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships, and fundraising efforts—but I also masterfully scaled these companies and teams during critical phases of growth and expansion.
My passion for building companies and fostering cohesive teams was ignited at the outset of my career when I had the privilege of being the first non-founding employee of DHX Media Ltd. (now WildBrain), a leader in the creation, production and licensing of family entertainment rights. I was instrumental in the company's rapid growth, guiding its evolution from a private entity to a public powerhouse with a valuation surpassing $1 billion through a growth by acquisition strategy. I transitioned the company and subsequent acquisitions from privately held to public, completed six acquisitions and was the main point for evaluation, due diligence, post-acquisition integration and my leadership was crucial in navigating the companies' teams and internal operations through multiple phases of exponential growth. While at DHX Media, I completed my CMA and MBA.
During my tenure at BlackBerry, I revolutionized partnership approaches with an innovative model that attracted leading mobile gaming companies and served as a trusted advisor to the COO for BlackBerry’s first deeply integrated revenue-generating acquisition, showcasing her unique strategic insight.
At Innovacorp (now Invest Nova Scotia), I helmed the IT venture capital fund and all aspects of investment review, approval, closing cycle and subsequent board of director roles. My hands-on approach and board leadership across over a dozen IT and cleantech portfolio companies helped to accelerate their growth, scaling, and follow-on financing.
As COO of Spring Loaded Technology, I led the company from an engineer-built prototype to an in-market, repeatable product built on-demand by production technicians and orchestrated a transformative production overhaul, reducing order lead times from six months to a mere five days. My visionary leadership not only fostered pivotal partnerships but also culminated in the seamless transition of a management team poised for sustained success post-my tenure.
As CEO of npm, Inc., the largest repository of JavaScript code, I led the company through major organizational challenges and changes, realigned the company, and continued to meaningfully grow ARR YoY despite significant challenges. I ultimately led the sale of the company to GitHub. Post acquisition, I joined GitHub where I subsequently ensured the seamless integration of npm, demonstrating my commitment to both organizational success and employee well-being.
Post-GitHub, I have emerged as the quintessential strategic advisor for CEOs, boards of directors, and investors facing critical junctures in their businesses - typically around teams, growth, turnaround and exit. Specializing in navigating complexity and uncertainty, I devise and implement transformative strategies that propel companies toward their desired trajectories. My unparalleled ability to quickly assimilate into diverse environments, assess situations and people, and formulate innovative strategies underscores my status as an adaptive and astute entrepreneur and advisor, revered for my direct, but heart-centered approach to leadership, growth, and corporate evolution.