30-Minute Models for Every "1st"
- 1st Deal
- 1st Prototype
- 1st Co-Founder/Partner
- 1st Employees
- 1st Marketing Funnel
- 1st Fundraise
Startups with Isaiah McPeak
Get to and through seed stage
Spend less time, $, equity with the right models to build your machine that any founder can master.
What We'll Do
Role-play sales calls/pitches, write emails that get attention, build marketing funnels, set validation strategies, make spreadsheets to track things, hire gig workers, and make mindmaps… in 5-90 minutes.
Let me show you how a pen, paper, boxes, and lines can unlock your startup for way, way less.
You Don’t Need an Accelerator, Incubator, or Marketing Agency.
Just someone who has started every division of a business to give you confidence that you can do it.
KNOW How to Get to the Next Stage
If you’ve had an idea or gone ahead and started your early-stage business, you’re likely swamped with “things to do” that overwhelm you. From prototypes, to engineering, to design, to marketing, to sales, to internal team, to expensive tools, I can save you loads of heartache.
You see, I’ve been on the starting team of several startups, turned around several seed-stage startups spending way too much for far too little, and consulted dozens out of dropping $300k on prototypes for demand validation (you can do this for under $10k), quitting their day jobs too soon, hiring too big a team, structuring bad deals, and giving away the farm by overvaluing skills they don’t have.
Almost every time I speak or train on startups I’m told “you’re the best speaker we’ve had at this accelerator” or win best convention presentation and so on. Why? Because I’m down to earth and free you from bad advice, while showing you *exact tools and methods* to get done what you must: prototyping, demand validation, pitching, marketing, and closing your first deal.
Which Describes You?
What Is Growth Coaching?
Who is Coaching For?
The right advice at the wrong stage will kill your startup. Growth coaching is for founders who need a veteran founder that didn’t go to Harvard and isn’t an over-the-top sales or public speaker type: a regular person who can show the exact next steps for your business and call BS on hope as a strategy. There’s a way to win without winning the startup lottery. Growth coaching is for people willing to stack up the small wins that lead to a big one.
Marketing isn’t “arts and crafts.” It’s the founder stating the value proposition clearly in front of the right target market until heads nod, predictably, then building a small machine around it. You can launch marketing in two days.
Only founders should close the first deals. There’s an approach to relational selling backed by brain science and real results (from startups to Fortune 500s) that I teach, and it’s not douchy like the Challenger Sale. Empathy, Curiosity, Insight are the three gates of trust and you walk through them with a conversation plan that’s *going somewhere.* I’ll show you the way in an hour and help you with your first deals, sales emails, and more if you need.
(This is not legal advice) YOU DON’T NEED AN ATTORNEY for most things early on. I know several tried, true, and legal ways to structure things on the one hand, and will not let you give away too much of your company on the other. Get real clear on stages, investment structures, co-founders, dynamic equity, and incentives, while avoiding rookie mistakes (forgetting vesting anyone?).
I’ve gone head to head vs. McKinsey consultants (and won) and done business with all levels, raised millions, sold millions, and negotiated millions (and lesser deals too!). I follow “Never Split the Difference” negotiation approaches that don’t feel icky and teach you exactly how to show up as a thinking partner with something valuable to offer, not a peddler hoping the demo attracts the sale.
From mismanaged teams in India to overpaid execs in the C-Suite, I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff in startup land. Enough to know that you’ll be swindled by people who don’t even know they’re swindling you, because they don’t know your stage and aren’t disciplined enough to tell you what you REALLY need. I’ll help you navigate the gig economy and overseas vs. local development, plus build your team when it’s time (I’ve built teams from 0-50+ three times over and smaller ones much more than that!).
Tools don’t solve startup problems. You don’t need Hubspot, Salesforce, Asana, Jira, or paid Slack until you’ve got 15 people. Don’t invest a bunch of time into processes that *you can’t possibly know* you’ll need or not. I’ll help you use free tools like Miro, Whimsical, Trello, and WordPress when you need, plus help with choosing the right small bets that may give you lift.
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Testimonials
I believe in you as a coach. Through osmosis and occasional direct coaching moments at statUP you turned me into an extrovert who communicates like an introvert. This has helped me create better alignment in my teams with a focus on getting everyone to the same shared assumption.
Isaiah McPeak not only does a great job at quickly identifying where he can help, he is one of the quickest professionals I have ever met at then jumping in and making a difference. And even though he moves so quickly, he somehow figures out a way to be inclusive with all of the team members so that they are completely included in the identification and solve for the business issues identified. Transformation is tough, but it is made easier when you have people like Isaiah being part of the process.
You were very instrumental in getting ready us ready for our conversation with Bumble. Speaking of, the meeting went great! The conversation flowed and went back forth. [Name removed] is definitely a champion for us and we will be sending her and Sarah (Bumble’s COO) our proposal by the end of next week. We look forward to keeping you updated with how and where it goes.
Isaiah helps me think through how to effectively compete against existing players 50 to 100 times our size. He has helped me get to a level of depth on communicating what will really stick, with no fluff, and how to communicate that to Fortune 2000 execs. We both share a passion for authentic connection and he helps me continuously strive to add a “human” element to the way I think about engaging the market. Pound for pound, he’s the best outside in thinker and strategist I’ve met in a long time.
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About Me: I Start Things.
I’ve been on the first team of 4 winning businesses: statUP.com, 9Lenses.com, ethosdebate.com, Pinwheel.com.
…and several organizations: fpbb.org, vinylvoicesband.com, Nathan Hale Center for Intelligence Studies, multiple speech and debate clubs.
…and led two turnarounds for high-powered CEOs: Towny.com and NXTBoard.
And I’m into learning new things with my friends, kids, or alone. Voice lessons, poker, mountain biking, reading EVERYTHING, brain science, wellness/therapy, design skills, trumpet, piano, art, you name it. I collect frameworks.
And I wrote some books. One is published, three aren’t yet because I’m horrible at editing my own writing 😉
I’ve consulted or coached Fortune 10 C-Suite execs, dozens of medium and small business CEOs, and still more startups and merchants. Been flown around by GE executives, embedded as a consultant at Raytheon, and walked the streets of Waco working with founders of shops.
All that I do comes from the same source. As an intelligence analyst, classical liberal arts junky, rhetorician, reader, and brain science nerd, I’ve found that synthesis is my gift and actionability is my strength.
I’d love to lend that strength to you.
