Coaching for Startup Founder CEOs
Close the Gap Between Your Money and Your Technology.
You’re the founder CEO. More than half of your money goes into product and engineering salaries and hosting. Can you tell if it buys the right things? Your CTO says the roadmap takes nine months, your runway says six. The board asks about your AI strategy and you can’t give an answer because the CTO just fiddles around. You need someone who speaks both languages: money and technology.
Founder CEO Coaching
Personal Story
I've coached founders in office hours for years. What CEOs valued most was not my technology knowledge - it was that I understand their business, close the gap between money, CAPEX, OPEX and what product and engineering do with it, and bring ideas they didn't have.Who This Is For
Not for you if you're a CTO or VP of Engineering - for you I have CTO coaching.
Coaching Topics
Why me
What Is Founder CEO Coaching?
Founder CEO coaching is 1:1 coaching for founders who run their startup as CEO. It is not executive coaching for corporate managers and not CTO coaching for technology leaders - it is coaching for the person who owns the whole company and its money.
My founder CEO coaching is for CEOs of startups with 20 to 200 people. I’m Stephan Schmidt: 3x founder, one exit, one VC-financed startup, ex-eBay, have been in the valley, ex-ImmobilienScout24, and I have coached 100+ CTOs and founders. Coaching happens remote via video call, in English or German, from Germany, with clients worldwide. Two sessions a month plus async access in between, month to month.
The Money-Technology Gap
Every CEO has someone to talk to about money. Investors, the CFO, other founders. Almost no CEO has someone to talk to about technology who also understands money.
So you make the biggest spending decisions of your company half-blind. Your CTO wants three more developers. Your dev agency wants another EUR 50k. Someone on the board says you need a Chief AI Officer. The roadmap slips again and everyone has an explanation. You can approve or push back, but you can’t judge - and everyone in the room knows it.
I’ve sat on both sides of this. As a CTO I’ve explained technology to CEOs and boards. As a founder I’ve watched my own money disappear into development and asked myself the same questions you ask. The gap between the money side and the technology side is where startups lose the most - in wrong hires, wrong bets, and roadmaps nobody challenged.
That gap is what we close. Not by making you technical. By giving you someone in your corner who can tell you what’s real.
What We Work On
Money and technology. What your spend buys, what the roadmap promises against your runway, build vs buy, when to push back on your CTO and when to trust them. Before board meetings: what to say about technology and AI, in your words.
Your organization. How to set up product, engineering and AI as you grow. Whether you need a CTO, a CPTO, a CPO - or nobody new at all. Who reports to whom, and what to do when your setup stops working.
Yourself and your exec team. Delegation, accountability, performance, hard conversations. This is the same work I do with CTOs every day - the problems of leading people don’t care about your title.
Your ideas. You have more ideas than money. I pressure-test them with you - from experience, not from a framework - before you bet a quarter of runway on one.
How It Works
Two sessions a month, 60 to 80 minutes each. Between sessions you can reach me async - questions, a document to look at, a decision you want a second opinion on before tomorrow. Month to month, no long contract. If it doesn’t help you, you stop.
It starts with a free call. We look at where your product and engineering money goes, what your roadmap promises, and what worries you most. I tell you what I see and give you one recommendation you can act on - whether we work together or not.
Schedule a Welcome Call
Book your free 30-minute discovery call below. Let's talk about your challenges and whether coaching is the right next step for you.
Current availability: Booking 2-3 weeks out for new coaching engagements
Coaching, Advisory or a Fractional CTO?
You have one urgent problem - a decision, a hire, a due diligence: that’s advisory. We solve it and move on.
You need someone to run technology hands-on, one or two days a week: that’s a fractional CTO.
You want a standing sparring partner for the decisions that keep coming - money, technology, organization, people: that’s this.
Not sure? Book the call. In 30 minutes we’ll figure out which one you need - I’ve had this conversation hundreds of times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is founder CEO coaching for?
Founder CEOs of startups with 20 to 200 people, where technology is the biggest spend and the biggest lever. You don't need to be technical - most CEO clients aren't. CTOs and VPs of Engineering are coached separately in CTO coaching.
How is founder CEO coaching different from CTO coaching?
CTO coaching helps a technology leader run engineering. Founder CEO coaching helps the CEO run the company: where the product and engineering money goes, how to organize product, engineering and AI, the exec team, and decisions the CEO can't judge from outside the technology.
Do I need a coach or a fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO runs technology hands-on one or two days a week. Coaching is a standing sparring partner for money, technology and organization decisions when a leadership team is already in place. Many founders who think they need a CTO hire need something smaller.
What does founder CEO coaching cost?
There is no price list - pricing is discussed in the first call. The structure is month to month with no long contract. It costs less than fractional CTO work, because the client gets judgment, not hours.
How do the sessions work?
Two sessions a month, 60 to 80 minutes, via video call, in English or German, with async access between sessions. Stephan Schmidt is based in Germany and works with clients worldwide.
What happens in the free first call?
A look at where the product and engineering money goes, what the roadmap promises, and what worries the CEO most - ending with one actionable recommendation, whether or not the coaching continues.
Half Your Money Goes Into Technology. Get Someone in Your Corner Who Understands Both.
I’ve helped founders and CEOs with these decisions for decades - in office hours, in advisory, and behind 100+ CTOs and founder coachees. If you want someone who speaks money and technology - let’s talk.
TL;DR: Coaching for founder CEOs of startups with 20-200 people. The core problem I solve: the gap between your money and your technology. Half your budget goes into product and engineering and you can't tell if it buys the right things. I've been a founder three times, had an exit, ran a VC-financed startup, and coached 100+ CTOs - I know both sides. Two sessions a month plus async access, month to month. Not for CTOs - for them I have CTO coaching.