Tactical Support & Performance Coaching

 

OVERVIEW

We work with startup founders to help move the needle on the hard things. Our service is a fusion of tactical support and performance coaching. Unlike traditional advisors, Format One provides more hands-on, highly responsive tactical support to founders so they can continue to scale at speed:

  • Fundraising

  • Board Leadership

  • GTM

  • Team Performance & Accountability

  • Hiring

  • Operational Planning & Hygiene

Some areas where we have been noticeably helpful as of recent (but not limited to):

  • Secure more capital with a proven strategic fundraising process. In 2023 alone, we helped more than five founders secure additional capital (Series A+) with both inside and outside capital — a round that was considered to be impossible to secure.

  • Grow revenue through fractional support with sales, business development, and partnerships. Some examples include helping founders increase ACVs to $500,000K+ (from $100K) and structuring partnerships to add >$65M revenue in 2 years. The focus is on moving the revenue needle with what you have versus waiting to hire the perfect leader for the role.

  • Create paths to profitability. For example, we have helped founders find early PMF, boost revenue 2-3X, reduce burn, and create paths to profitability within 12 months.

  • Fractional people support. Assuming you are scaling, you don't have time to find and hire the best VP of People— we have provided fractional leadership to help lay processes and coach IC’s so your people function can hum until you secure the leader you want.

WHO

We typically work with early and early-growth (Mature Seed to Series C) B2B businesses who are unifying— often for the first time— fragmented ecosystems that are long overdue for an upgrade. We have experience working with startups spanning industries such as: Finance, Recruiting, Freight, Life Sciences, Hospitality, Aviation, Advertising & Marketing, E-Commerce, and Education.

Our clients are backed by venture investors such as: Tiger Global, Sequoia, Goodwater, Softbank, a16z, Lightspeed, Accel, and Founders Fund, to name a few.

APPROACH

Our services are a compound of tactical support and performance coaching. Unlike traditional advisors, we enjoy providing hands-on, highly responsive tactical support to founders so they can continue to scale at speed. Our approach is a unique integration of three disciplines:

  • Capital Strategy: fundraising (narrative, process, networks), planning, financing, and leading the board.

  • Hands-On Tactical Support: GTM, hiring, team performance & accountability, planning and operational hygiene.

  • Performance Coaching: focus on consistently moving the needle despite challenging constraints. We help dissolve any mental barriers to accelerated scale and execution.

We especially shine when it comes to helping with hard-decisions that must be executed at speed and in concert with challenging constraints. When you confront unnecessary drag— mental, tactical, and/or material— we will help you reorient for greater speed.

Engagement

To commence engagement, we require a 3-4 month commitment to start— typically focused on moving the needle on a high-value project such as fundraising, go-to-market, operational planning & hygiene, or stabilizing people changes with fractional support, for example. Assuming the 3-4 months works well for both parties— client and advisor/coach— the intention is to secure a more long-term engagement. 

If you would like to work with us, your first step is to get in touch via a warm introduction from one of your networks. As part of your request, please state your angle of interest, let us know how you think we can help, and, more importantly, how you believe our values align.

Assuming we work together, here is what your first engagement period could look like:

  • Weekly 60-Minute Virtual Sessions: we will conduct these over an appropriate teleconference service such as Zoom. Additional calls available upon request (and within reason).

  • Asynchronous Email & Text Support: we provide support via email and text (Whatsapp and/or Signal) as needed. 

PARTIAL LIST OF CLIENTS, INVESTMENTS AND ADVISEES: