Coaching

I coach design and product leaders — helping them land the right story with the people who matter.

I work at the intersection of company building and product leadership. My coaching is for leaders navigating high-stakes decisions, lots of ambiguity, or a role that’s moving faster than feels comfortable.

The bulk of my coaching is with design leaders. I help you build influence, speak the language of business, and stay steady as expectations rise — so you can elevate design without feeling like you’re doing it alone.

I also work with startup founders and senior product leaders on product direction, team growth, and leadership under pressure — especially when the role is moving faster than your support system.

Coaching emerging leaders (and player-coaches)

This is for new and emerging leaders — often moving from lead to leader, or early in your management journey. It’s also a good fit for player-coaches (senior ICs who are effectively leading without the title).

The aim is to help you become the kind of leader people trust: clear, calm, and commercially credible.

Common challenges:

  • making better calls in ambiguity, and building confidence in your judgement
  • getting your team working well: priorities, cadence, collaboration, and feedback
  • hiring, supporting, and developing people without overcomplicating it
  • navigating stakeholders and being taken seriously
  • making design/product legible to the business by connecting work to outcomes

Coaching experienced leaders

I also coach Heads, Directors, and VPs of Product and Design stepping into bigger executive scope — managing managers, shaping strategy, and operating closer to the top table.

The aim is to help you operate with more influence and less friction: clearer narratives, better alignment, and stronger leadership leverage.

Common challenges:

  • building alignment, telling the story, and getting decisions made
  • executive presence and stakeholder navigation
  • developing other leaders and strengthening the leadership layer
  • org design, role clarity, and avoiding avoidable dysfunction
  • staying effective under pressure as complexity increases

Coaching startup founders (occasionally)

I sometimes coach founders — especially first-time founders — when the work is primarily about leadership and product judgement, rather than ongoing company advisory.

This can be useful if you’re:

  • trying to find your footing as a leader as the company grows
  • strengthening product direction and narrative (customers, investors, the team)
  • building the early team and avoiding “chaos as culture”
  • doing founder-led sales and needing clearer positioning

(If you’re looking for more continuous founder support — fundraising, PMF, hiring, GTM and decision support between sessions — that’s usually a better fit for my Advising offer.)

What coaching with me looks like

I usually recommend starting with a block of six 1-hour sessions, typically every couple of weeks.

It’s practical and collaborative: I’ll pressure-test your thinking, help you make clearer decisions, and leave you with actions you can actually take. Between sessions there’s light-touch support for quick questions, accountability, and the occasional bit of “homework” when it helps.

Expect each session to end with a small set of decisions and actions — plus a clear focus for the next couple of weeks.

What makes a good design leader? Andy shares the five key challenges design leaders face, and the skills necessary to recruit, manage and foster a successful collaborative culture, at Awwwards Conference Amsterdam.