Hi, I'm Dawn.

I help venture-backed founders not get fired.

I help venture-backed founders not get fired.

I help venture-backed founders not get fired.

I guide venture-backed founders to become the company builders and people leaders their company needs them to be.

I guide venture-backed founders to become the company builders and people leaders their company needs them to be.

I guide venture-backed founders to become the company builders and people leaders their company needs them to be.

I immerse myself in understanding the founder, help them to deeply understand themselves and others, decipher where their gaps are and develop a personalized roadmap to ensure they are growing faster than their company. I also develop a roadmap for high performance company design that is designed to amplify the founder's impact.

My specialty, passion and focus is predominantly on those neuro-divergent founders who are on the spectrum.

Why do I say I help founders "not get fired"?

When you take investment from a VC, you are signing up to build a company (which is very different from building a product or a business) and to grow that company at an unnatural pace. If you personally do not grow at the same or at an accelerated pace to your company, it will outgrow you.

You need to grow from being an innovative creator to a company builder and an effective people leader. And you need to start early, earlier than you think - I'd say when you make the decision to raise VC money.

If you cannot grow to be the leader your company needs you to be, the company will need to find someone who can, which can lead to being fired. (You can read more here).

I can help you long before you get to that point.

If not before, you will likely start to feel the pain when you have raised a significant seed or an A round and you have to switch to leading through people and you feel a deep overwhelm that feels outside of your current capabilities, like you can't shake the feeling that you are alone, a bad leader and/or are not made for this.

I have directly helped 150+ founders during my career and of those, I have helped 10+ founders exit their companies, but not one was fired. There is a better way.

I immerse myself in understanding the founder, help them to deeply understand themselves and others, decipher where their gaps are and develop a personalized roadmap to ensure they are growing faster than their company. I also develop a roadmap for high performance company design that is designed to amplify the founder's impact.



My specialty, passion and focus is predominantly on those neuro-divergent founders who are on the spectrum.

Why do I say I help founders "not get fired"?


When you take investment from a VC, you are signing up to build a company (which is very different from building a product or a business) and to grow that company at an unnatural pace. If you personally do not grow at the same or at an accelerated pace to your company, it will outgrow you.


You need to grow from being an innovative creator to a company builder and an effective people leader. And you need to start early, earlier than you think - I'd say when you make the decision to raise VC money.


If you cannot grow to be the leader your company needs you to be, the company will need to find someone who can, which can lead to being fired. (You can read more here).


I can help you long before you get to that point.

If not before, you will likely start to feel the pain when you have raised a significant seed or an A round and you have to switch to leading through people and you feel a deep overwhelm that feels outside of your current capabilities, like you can't shake the feeling that you are alone, a bad leader and/or are not made for this.


I have directly helped 150+ founders during my career and of those, I have helped 10+ founders exit their companies, but not one was fired. There is a better way.

Why me?

I've been there.

I've been there.

Why me?

I've been there.

Trusted by:

I deeply know and understand tech startups and I bring a unique and personal understanding of the triumphs and challenges faced by founders.

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 bought and sold tech startups.

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 and as a neuro-divergent individual with a neuro-divergent child, I bring a personal connection and empathy to my work.

I deeply know and understand tech startups and I bring a unique and personal understanding of the triumphs and challenges faced by founders.

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 bought and sold tech startups.

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 and as a neuro-divergent individual with a neuro-divergent child, I bring a personal connection and empathy to my work.

I deeply know and understand tech startups and I bring a unique and personal understanding of the triumphs and challenges faced by founders.

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 bought and sold tech startups.

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 and as a neuro-divergent individual with a neuro-divergent child, I bring a personal connection and empathy to my work.

Outcomes.

I bring unprecedented results to startups and VCs.

Outcomes.

I bring unprecedented results to startups and VCs.

Outcomes.

I bring unprecedented results to startups and VCs.

Outcomes.

I bring unprecedented results to startups and VCs.

Outcomes.

I bring unprecedented results to startups and VCs.

Outcomes.

I bring unprecedented results to startups and VCs.

Startups

Startups experience significant progress from working with Dawn and implementing her practices & tools.

  • "I feel understood for the first time"

  • Ease, clarity & understanding

  • The company moves out of "fight or flight" and has a more flexible nervous system / culture

  • Company-wide effective communication and alignment

  • Increased psychological safety

  • Productive conflict & debates

  • Less micro-managing, more trust and empowerment

  • A desirable culture that is also a recruiting asset

  • High-performing teams replace high-performing individuals

  • Resilience - founder, teams & company

"I've learned more from working with Dawn for 2 months than I have in years of therapy."

Founder & CTO, US

"The change in the entire company is indescribable. I wouldn't have thought this could happen. I'd make the investment again and again."

Founder & CEO, US

Venture Capitalists (VCs)

I help to de-risk the VCs' investment by optimizing the most important asset in the company, the founder and their team. I bring:

  • A solution to a well-known and significant issue that no one wants to talk about

  • Better relationship with founders

  • Clarity & understanding

  • Trusted and highly experienced partner that has been on both sides of the table

  • Consistency & predictability

  • Enhanced value of company

  • Less "hard conversations" required

  • Longer period to exit & higher returns

"This is an area that is prevalent, but not talked about. We didn't have a real solution for this, until Dawn."

VC, Canada

"Knowing the company is partnered with Dawn made the decision to invest easier."

VC, Canada

By understanding the founder and designing their company to amplify their impact.

Last updated Jan 11, 2024

Founder Growth

Founder Growth

I immerse myself in understanding the founder, help them to deeply understand themselves, decipher where their gaps are and develop a personalized roadmap to ensure they are growing faster than their company.

Examples of things we may dig into:

  • Unveil present cognitive schemas / models of the world - evaluate and reframe

  • Updates to "human simulation software" through direct and specific examples

  • Nervous system awareness

  • Understanding why people do the things they do

  • Identity and leader roles - who needs what from you when and how to show up

  • User manual development

High Performance Company Design

I architect the ideal c-suite and next level supporting roles and team design, as well as a supporting OS to support and amplify the founder and set the teams up for success.

  • Design org structure, role requirements and the ideal type of people who will work well long-term with the founder

  • Design a custom OS - protocols and processes - to optimize the founder and the c-suite team and to build organizational:

    • Trust

    • Clarity & alignment

    • Accountability

    • Effective & safe conflict & debates

Talking about what others won't.

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Get notified when I release new content

All rights reserved © 2024 dawnumlah.com

Get notified when I release new content

All rights reserved © 2024 dawnumlah.com