Testimonials
Read what scale-up CEOs say about working with Dave.
"Dave is a truly tremendous coach who really helped me through the numerous ups and downs that come with being a Founder who wants to scale. I highly recommend him for his breadth of knowledge and experience and his ability to dig into even the most unfamiliar problems."
"Dave brings out the best in founders. He helps them translate their insights into clear strategy and decisive 'no-turning-back' action. Dave taps into the cutting edge research in business and human psychology to help founders understand themselves better and move forward with greater confidence."
"I've worked with several coaches. All have been good, none have stuck. Dave is the first I've stuck with. He's a rare breed of 'lesser spotted coach'. He has proper CEO and investor experience but doesn't try to solve it for you. His post-coaching notes are awesome too….well structured and highlighted."
"The role of CEO is complicated, stressful, and provides very few role models to turn to. Working with someone who is both so knowledgeable on being a CEO and also so empathetic to the strife of building companies is completely game-changing for me. My two hours with Dave are the most valuable part of my week. I come out of our sessions invariably energised, with a fresh understanding and clarity on the problems that I brought to the session. I cannot recommend Dave enough."
"For me, coaching is about identifying the most challenging topics you're facing, and discussing solutions from both functional and emotional perspectives. Dave helps me spend time on the most important leadership topics, tackle problems from different angles, and provides me with extra accountability. Since Dave has held several CEO roles himself, he's able to share first-hand experience that I really value. He's also extremely knowledgeable and experienced in coaching methodologies. With both sides covered, Dave is highly valuable."
"Dave helped me to explain the value of our proposition which has been a massive support in our fundraising efforts. CEO coaching helps you to clarify what you want from your role and your business and then gives you the strategies to turn this into a reality. I’ve had several new business line ideas which have come directly from our sessions. He is great at encouraging you to clearly articulate your own thoughts and provides accountability and space to think. I would be less effective in my role without him."
"Dave’s insightful coaching and powerful questioning helps me achieve clarity of focus—an essential requirement in the startup world. Highly recommended!"
"Working with Dave has given me more confidence in my decision-making and an awareness of my own thought patterns, feelings and actions. We've touched on just about everything across our business and my own thinking, and I believe there has been a positive impact across the board."
"Dave’s empathy and keen mind have helped us focus on what's important...which in every case is people."
"Dave helps me to reframe my doubts and my whole team has said how much my leadership has changed as a result. I've even started to practice coaching with them. I never thought I would recommend coaching, but now I'm the guy that raves about it, the same way people do about crazy fitness trends."
"Being a founder is learning by doing but without reflection there is little to learn. You can learn a lot through reading, listening, etc. but nothing has the impact of reflecting about great questions that are tailored to our everyday challenges. David is exceptionally good at asking pinpointed questions that help you to move forward and grow the company."
"David will be there to prompt you, question your thinking, steer you in directions you may not have pondered, give you insight from the lessons and experiences that have shaped his career, and connect you with his vast network to help unlock problems you are facing."
"Achieving clarity amidst the constant onslaught of opportunities and challenges as a CEO of a fast-growing scale-up is of the utmost importance. Dave is incredibly empathic and easy to work with. He is able to pinpoint issues quickly and keeps asking the right questions to facilitate arriving at a clear picture of a solution. Dave will challenge you - but always being in your corner of the ring. If you are taking self-development seriously I would highly recommend working with him!"
"David is a rare coach who has the wisdom and empathy required to support entrepreneurs in building their businesses and driving results."
"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Dave is a fountain of both knowledge and wisdom, and is an expert at navigating the line between mentor and coach effectively. He is excellent at differentiating clearly when he is actively coaching or when he is giving advice based on experience—I know that Huckletree is in a better place because of Dave.”
"Working with David has allowed me to grow into my CEO role as we doubled our team size following our seed round. Our sessions have helped me take a step back from the day to day rush of startup life and solve important challenges. I would recommend working with Dave to any CEO who is ready and wants to challenge themselves to evolve as leaders and fast track their own personal growth. "
"Dave has been my CEO coach since early 2018, I couldn't hope for a better coach. I particularly enjoy the fact that he always manages to help me distill complex situations into clear decision points that help me move faster with clarity. But most importantly, Dave has taught me how truly show up for myself in ways that improved my emotional, mental, and physical health. He helped me find my own definition of "balance" and, in this sense, helped me in many ways beyond business. I often leave coaching sessions with Dave having found words that connect and explain thoughts and values that had been knocking around in my head for years."
"Working with Dave has helped me understand more about myself - specifically my strengths and weaknesses. This realisation is helping me become a better person, a better thinker, and a better manager of other people. Having someone external to the company you can fall back on to get advice and feedback when you need it (which is all the time!) is the best thing about having a coach."
"Dave coached me through the most crucial points of growing VenueScanner. He has a unique combination of personal experience from operating scale-ups, start-ups, marketplaces, funding, investment. This understanding combined with his highly personalised coaching helped me to make better business decisions, be a better leader and pushed me to develop my company further and faster. Nothing is too much to ask, I felt supported 24/7 through thick and thin and would highly recommend Dave."
Guilherme Freire
CEO, Dolado
RAISED $2.2M FROM
"Dave is my 'go-to' person when I'm facing the most difficult situations. He's a great listener, always insightful, and he's helped me to think strategically and rationally and grow as a leader. One of the most difficult parts of being a CEO/founder is that people often expect you to have the answers and appear strong all the time. By having a coach like Dave, you have someone you can show your vulnerabilities, share your fears and, more importantly, have a valuable second opinion on how to make important decisions that will shape the future of your company."
"Dave is often the first person I turn to when spending a lot of time stuck on a difficult problem. He has a knack for being able to ask questions which get to the core of an issue as quickly as possible, drawing on his broad experience as a founder, VC and coach. Through a question-based approach, he has helped me to think through problems from different perspectives. I'd encourage anyone looking for a CEO coach to strongly consider working with Dave."
"Dave helped me to believe in myself again. Ultimately, this allowed me to be future-focused and to truly believe that my best work is still ahead of me."
"David is a terrific coach. He is a brilliant blend of EQ and IQ. His entrepreneurial and investment experiences combine to put him in a very uniquely advantageous position to help emerging entrepreneurs best negotiate the rollercoaster of start-up life. I would very highly recommend him!"
"Dave’s exceptional ability to listen without judging—something you won’t get with a board member or teammate—has led to multiple breakthroughs. I recommend Dave to every founder."
"Dave helps me to separate the wheat from the chaff and refocus on the truly important priorities Dave’s coaching has been invaluable in helping me stay focused on the truly important priorities for my business, and not lose sight of the big picture."
"Dave’s support and true partnership were invaluable to me through a very challenging period, which ended up in an acquisition."
Clarity Program
"The Clarity Program provided several frameworks which I am using as prompts for deeper thinking, along with different tools for arriving at clarity with my team. As a CEO, the Clarity Program is a great way to take a step back and work on the essentials of how to create and share an inspiring story about your company."
"Dave's Clarity program relentlessly delivers on its promise session after session. I left with pragmatic tools and concepts that were immediately impactful on our company. I recommend this to every CEO with aspirations of growing as a leader."
"Dave has put together an incredibly applicable program with structured sessions, backed up by practical examples. Clarity helped me to clarify our mission, vision and strategy enormously, as well as improving overall focus. The group format also allowed me to share ideas and experiences with fellow founders in a friendly and collaborative way. I recommend Dave’s Clarity program to anyone seeking a pragmatic and logical way to enhance and clarify their business outlook."
"I 100% recommend any founder to apply to this program. Dave has a ton of frameworks, and his case studies are amazing to work through. The program really changed my outlook on the mission and vision of my company and more importantly how to present our objectives and work to the team."
Will Ritchie
CEO, Chosen AI
ACQUIRED
"I wouldn’t have paid for Dave’s Clarity programme as a first time founder but wouldn’t think twice now. I’ve learnt new skills and frameworks that are already saving me hours of work and unnecessary stress."
VC Platform
"Dave Bailey is an incredible coach, subject expert and speaker and it wouldn't be the same without him. He combines a very rare set of magic skills... practical company building experience, an ability to communicate and inspire, and the patience to coach others. We can't recommend him highly enough (so long as he still saves some time for us!)."
"Dave gave a great workshop to 30 of our portfolio CEOs in Berlin. His mix of materials, frameworks and personal stories led to amazing discussions which he perfectly moderated and summarised in clear takeaways."
"In Dave, we found not only a likeminded person, but a coach and speaker who delivered exactly what we were looking for at our CEO “Get Together”. He provided a multitude of insights, coupled with strategic views, as well as a clear actionable path which both our CEOs and our team could follow. We consider Dave to be one of the top start-up CEO coaches and would recommend him to our fellow VCs."
"Dave led a workshop for 29 of our AI-focused venture-backed entrepreneurs. The session was brilliant and delved into important topics that are usually very challenging to cover. Having been a founder, a VC, and a coach, Dave brings with him a unique and practical perspective that has immediate value to any founder navigating a scaling journey."
"Dave has done Conference keynotes, intimate workshops & webinars for our founders at Startup Grind. We keep getting him back because the feedback we get is fantastic. His content is always incredibly well thought-out, well organised & super engaging and it is always jam-packed with actionable insights. Highly recommended!"
Inquire about CEO coaching
Dave takes on a limited number of scale up CEOs each year. To inquire, please, fill in the form below: