Petra Leo - Coaching & Consulting

MOVING
STARTUP LEADERS
FROM
SURVIVING
TO
THRIVING
THROUGH
LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE

GROW

LEAD

THRIVE

65% of viable Startups fail due to a lack of bad leadership according to an HRB study!

Startup Growth often outpaces employee, team, and leadership growth.

How are YOU as a Leader keeping up with the challenges of the unique, rapid-paced demands, the ambiguity, and the never-ending people issues?

Have You landed A Leadership Position in a Startup, or a rapidly expanding organization?

You should be thrilled, Instead you are – Exhausted, stressed and distracted by all the people issues rather than working on important strategic projects and decision.

Do any of these statements sound familiar?

EGOS &
Know it alls

Managing and leading a rapidly growing team is not what you expected. And you are not comfortable asking your peers for leadership advice because they seem to think they are born leaders (even when they are not)

Letting go of
your baby

You are a founder turned leader, or early-stage team member struggling to trust others with “your baby”.

Culture ChallengeS

Your organization prides itself on cultural diversity, but somehow the multi-national team struggles to work together efficiently and cohesively.

BURNT
out

You are motivated, enthusiastic and all in, but you are also exhausted and struggle to focus. You don’t want to appear weak in a high-energy environment.

Where's the TOP TALENT?

You need to hire. Fast! And you have no idea where to start or how to handle the recruiting process to find and retain the top talent your start-up needs to thrive.

IMPOSTOR
SYNDROME

You battle the relentless inner critic telling you that you are not good enough, not experienced enough, not successful enough – and you shouldn’t be a leader.

It doesn’t have to be this hard!

Or lonely. Leadership starts with yourself, and a little help.

I've walked in your shoes...

As a Startup tested, certified Leadership Development & Intercultural Coach, I partner with you to level up your leadership skills so you’ll successfully lead yourself and others in the crazy, exhilarating, frustrating, inspiring, and addictive world of startups.

Being a Leader can be fulfilling – and also hard, stressful, and exhausting!

You feel leadership should come intuitively, using the powers of observation, and being around great leaders, but it is just not happening that way for you. Insights are not coming fast enough for the unique challenges of the startup world. You try to fake it ’til you make it. And you wait to be found out.

Good news! Leadership is – contrary to common belief – rarely a personality trait. Leadership can be learned – if you put in the work!

My mission is to help Startup Leaders become their vision of a Leader to build highly efficient teams and create successful, profitable, and sustainable organizations.

Do you have what it takes to be a successful Startup Leader?

If you are ready to MOVE
from SURVIVING to THRIVING Startup leader,
apply to
The Startup Leader Playbook Academy

The Startup Leader Playbook Academy will empower you to

Define your vision of a Startup Leader and help you confidently step into that vision.
Accelerate your leadership competency so you can motivate and excite your team to achieve extraordinary results.
Design, recruit, onboard and retain top talent that is also a great cultural fit for the organization.
Set you up to navigate the demanding and unique startup environment with less stress.
Successfully lead your team through growth, change and ambiguity - from Sprint to Marathon.

Now imagine our work together is complete…

Tenacity

Lean into your strengths and own your areas of opportunity to continue the work towards your leadership excellence and growth.

RESPECT

You command the room and hold your own in tough negotiations, with the big egos. Your are in control of your emotions.

Sanity

Regain balance and conquer your anxiety by stepping back from the day to day Startup mess and focus on important Leadership challenges.

COURAGE

Lead your team through constant change, unique challenges, from sprint to marathon; from ideation to unicorn.

EMPOWERMENT

Eat difficult conversations for breakfast. Rock the investor meeting.
Communicate with clarity and kindness.

NAILED IT!

You are the visionary Leader your team wants to follow.
You are confident and ready for the next chapter!

I was referred to Petra by a colleague in an early stage startup. I was ready to throw in the towel. I came to the organization as a marketing analyst through the co-founder. Growing at an insane speed, I got promoted a few months in. I was super excited and proud to be acknowledged for my hard work. As part of the promotion came a team of 7. I was ready for the challenge. Managing a team would be awesome and with my MBA and some volunteering I knew I was ready to do this. 4 weeks later I wanted to quit. Had I known how much time and energy managing and leading a team would take, I may have declined the position. Most of the team didn’t like me because they had hoped for the job, and they didn’t hide it. They stalled timelines and sabotaged projects. I didn’t have time to do my actual job. Worst of all, I had no idea how to fix any of it. Petra helped me with immediate damage control to get the project back on track. Long term she helped me gain perspective and self-awareness (not always my favorite part when she prods) and quickly scale my skills to have tough conversations, work with a team of prior peers, and - hard to accept at first - tackle my need to micro-manage to stay “in control”. I am far from perfect as a leader, but I am much more confident and less stressed. And my team has not left and given me positive feedback. I call Petra my “angel coach”.

Sabine B., Sr. Marketing Manager, Seattle WA

When I started working with Petra, I was transitioning from working at a massive corporation to a hyper-growth startup with about twenty employees. Her mentorship helped me trust my intuition and gave me the self-confidence to navigate the blurred boundaries in the organization and form relationships with cross-functional stakeholders. Thanks to her, I have learned how to turn the discomfort inherent in professional transitions into opportunities for growth.

Wade, Sr. Manager

I joined an early stage startup early on in my career. With the rapid growth and success of the company, my responsibilities grew from single contributor to Manager to Director in no time. Suddenly I was in charge of people and then of people leaders. I had read a lot about leadership and values driven organizations, but it is different in real life. And I became a little overwhelmed juggling both day to day tasks and also focusing on leading my teams, guiding them while I was drowning myself. So I started working with Petra, and boy - did she help me become the leader I always wanted to be. She helped me transition from overwhelmed Imposter to being in control of my time, empowering my team to take on tasks and projects, so I can manage up and find the time to develop them into better versions of themselves. I now feel in control of my day, I feel like I can make a difference in someone's professional life through my leadership. Thank you Petra, for being my guiding light in my leadership journey!

Christine G. Munich, Germany

Book your
Free
Strategy call

Click the button below.

Get accepted to "the Startup Leader" Academy

Apply Here

CREATE YOUR LEADERSHIP PLAYBOOK

Become the Leader you’d want to follow.

65% of viable Startups fail due to a lack of bad leadership according to an HRB study!

Do any of these statements sound familiar?

EGOS & Know it alls

Letting go of your baby

Culture ChallengeS

BURNT out

Where's the TOP TALENT?

IMPOSTOR SYNDROME

I've walked in your shoes...

If you are ready to MOVE from SURVIVING to THRIVING Startup leader, apply to The Startup Leader Playbook Academy

Tenacity

RESPECT

Sanity

COURAGE

EMPOWERMENT

NAILED IT!

Are you ready to thrive as a Startup Leader?

Book your Free Strategy call

Get accepted to "the Startup Leader" Academy

CREATE YOUR LEADERSHIP PLAYBOOK

EGOS &
Know it alls

Letting go of
your baby

BURNT
out

IMPOSTOR
SYNDROME

If you are ready to MOVE
from SURVIVING to THRIVING Startup leader,
apply to
The Startup Leader Playbook Academy

Book your
Free
Strategy call