Nathan works with founders, cofounders, C-suite execs, and scale-up leaders to help them achieve personal and professional breakthroughs.
My process focuses on a combination of “self-discovery” and “uncomfortable actions” enabling you to break old patterns and become the most effective version of yourself.
I call this the “Sharpend Approach.”
The sharp end is a rock climbing term for when you are climbing above your last piece of protection. It is in this place of discomfort that our mind sharpens and theoretical lessons are consolidated into true behavior change.
The Sharpend Approach:
Our coaching philosophy recognizes that growth happens when you are in a trusting environment, slightly outside of your comfort zone.
Working together, our coaching will focus on the following three pillars:
Awareness. Awareness is the first step. I use a variety of tools (including 360 reviews, the Enneagram, vision exercises, and more) to help you understand yourself and articulate where you want to go.
Action. Transformation requires action. Together we will commit to experimenting with new behaviors that give you new data and enable you to break old patterns that have been holding you back.
Accountability. Taking risks and changing old ways of being is hard. I work with clients to design goals that stretch you in the direction you want to go. I provide tactical support and accountability and knowledge through this period of uneasy growth.
Select Testimonials
"Nathan is a deep-listener, experienced, and action-oriented coach. Our work gave me clarity on some longer-term choices I was exploring and Nathan was a powerful thought partner through a number of more tactical decisions."
-Fynn Glover, CEO and Founder, Matcha
“I secured my dream role as Product Manager at Facebook—I wanted to make sure I started on the right foot. I worked with Nathan to make this happens. Nathan is a phenomenal listener. He focused on me as an individual and how habits and patterns of mine, were impacting me as a professional. He helped me anticipate growth areas and pushed me to take actions to support the direction and impact I wanted to achieve.”
-Fritz Charles, Senior Executive, Facebook
"Nathan helped me stay grounded and focused during a critical time in our startup’s growth. He challenged me to make important leadership shifts, which he delivered with a deep level of concern for my success."
-Allyson McDougal, COO and Founder, Workchew
“Feals is the second startup my co-founder and I have built together (after our first business successfully exited). Even with our long history of working together, my co-founder and I chose to work with Nathan to improve our communication and grow our co-founder relationship. Nathan has been an incredible individual, co-founder, and team resource, throughout the ups and downs of building our company.”
-Alex Iwanchuk, CEO and Founder, Feals
“Nathan is an incredible coach in helping think through big picture decisions that you run through often as a founder. He provided me with a bunch of different frameworks to use and has always been a great sounding board. Easily one of the best investment decisions I've ever made!"
-Ben Levy, CEO and Founder, Endemic Labs
“Nathan's coaching helped me develop leadership skills that changed the trajectory of my startup and strengthened my co-founder relationship. Nathan is strategic and an incredible listener. In particular, Nathan has a unique ability to understand challenges, pull out key learnings, and hold me accountable to new behaviors.”
-Dhaval Bhatt, Senior Executive, Microsoft
"Working with Nathan led to a positive shift in my relationship with my co-founder, while also improving my personal happiness and our business' outcomes. Nathan provided tactical skills training and created a space where we could navigate difficult conversations together, which led to lasting effects for our team and company."
-Nicholas Stepanek, CEO and Founder, Hedge Fund
My co-founder and I came to Nathan to make sure we were getting ahead of any challenges that would arise in our partnership, especially while working remotely.
Nathan helped us better understand who we are as leaders, how we complement one another, and how we can communicatre more clearly with eac other..
As a result, we’ve been able to collaborate in a more meaningful way and we recently raised our next round of capital.
-Rahkeem Morris, CEO and Founder, Hourwork
"Nathan has been an outstanding executive coach, helping me better understand my strengths, weaknesses, and patterns. Our work together has helped me make big changes in how I operate, helped me find greater range as a leader, and created inflections on my team and those around me."
-Brian Leonard, VP of Marketing, AppSmart
“I partnered with Nathan during a challenging time in our business—undergoing a team change in the midst of COVID-19. Nathan helped nurture a shift in my mindset, which led to a turnaround in our results. In addition, Nathan helped me identify leadership patterns that were holding me back, namely, conflict avoidance, and then worked with me in overcoming this issue. This work has led to a lasting impact on my team and personal trajectory.”
-Brad Keiller, CEO, Nomad Donuts
Nathan has been an amazing coach to work with, so much so, that we engaged with him for two separate engagements.
Our cofounder and executive teams had been working together for a decade, which created strong bonds and operating styles but also work to be done to march together in unison.
Nathan supported the cofounders to navigate past frustrations and later coached our executives who have different management styles. His work was transformative on our team trust and communication and resulted in a lasting impact on our team performance.
I appreciate Nathan's unique ability to create a structured space where we could move past discomfort, expand our individual and collective growth edges, while being mindful of the original joy that sparked our adventure together.
Nathan was able to leverage his operational experience having scaled a startup and his deep knowledge of individual/team behavioral patterns to drive our results.
Working with Nathan resharpened our focus, streamlined our communication, and prepared us for the phase of our endeavor as a tight unit.”
-Shivang Dave, PhD, CEO and Founder, PlenOptika
“I was skeptical of hiring a coach, but after a few months of working with Nathan, the value could not be more apparent. Growing as a founder is all about feedback loops—try, fail, learn, improve. Nathan has added a sober and experienced set of eyes to my thought process. We shouldn't have to deal with the ups and downs of building a company in the echo-chamber of our own heads. I highly recommend Nathan to any founders looking to take their leadership skills and company velocity to the next level.”
-Zachary Shakked, CEO and Founder, Chargeback
