The Problem

As a founder, you’re constantly feeling pressure to succeed.

Some of that pressure is internal—it’s part of your competitive nature. Some of that pressure is external—related to the demands of satisfying customers, investors, and the expectations that come with building a startup in the world.

But despite the intense responsibilities that accompany your role, few resources specialize in supporting your mental and emotional growth. And even fewer are capable of addressing how ongoing stress impacts you, your decisions, and your relationships.

Business coaches don’t know how to address emotional functioning. Traditional executive coaches fail to comprehend the unique stressors associated with startups. And mental health therapists don’t know anything about business.

The Solution

The Cofounder Clarity Coaching Method addresses the challenges unique to founders, entrepreneurs, and other ambitious leaders.

To become a more authentic person, and build a more sustainable business, it’s crucial to align three components:

1. Who you think you are

2. What you’re not aware of in yourself

3. How you present yourself to the world

It’s these three parts—the true self, the unconscious, and the mask—are often misaligned in successful individuals due to the significant pressure they feel to succeed.

Aligning these three components is what leads to fulfillment, authenticity, and effective leadership.

This conversational method of coaching challenges you to dig deep within yourself to discover your implicit, unconscious motivations. In that process, you will enhance your capacity to identify the unconscious blocks restricting your growth, discover and amplify your true self, and transform the way you relate to others.

It restores balance to your mental and emotional wellbeing, reducing stress, and increasing your ability to live with intention.

As a result, it leads to greater clarity, better decisions, and more effective relationships.

In contrast to most coaching, this method is not for people only seeking an ego boost.

Traditional coaching focuses on solving your problems, maximizing the strengths you already have, and emphasize using willpower to change your feelings. While that’s what your ego wants—to avoid discomfort by engaging in more of what you already possess—that’s not what you need to unlock your potential.

Traditional coaches will tell you everything you want to hear, but will fail to deliver lasting results.

The leaders I work with already possess plenty of strengths. They have an abundance of willpower. And they are smart enough to know what they should do. It’s often something else—something they’re not aware of in themselves—blocking them from taking effective action. This method shifts the focus from superficial strategies to inner depth—where real change happens.

The Cofounder Clarity Coaching Method addresses internal barriers directly and effectively.

After completing my coaching program, you will live with greater intention, presence, and clarity.

Cofounder Levels Framework

Depth-psychology built to improve cofounder communcation.

The Cofounder Levels Framework extends the core curriculum of the Founder Clarity Method to the interpersonal dynamics between founders.

According to the Founder Clarity Method, to become a more authentic person, it’s crucial to align three components:

1. How you present yourself to the world (your mask)

2. Who you think you are (your true self)

3. What you’re not aware of in yourself (your unconscious)

Extended into the interpersonal realm between two people, these become:

1. Level I

2. Level II

3. Level III

For optimal alignment between cofounders, both partners need to be speaking to each other from the same level.

1. Level I - Includes rapid speech, quick decision-making frameworks, efficient / low-energy investment, and is how you typically engage with others.

2. Level II - Features deeper, slower, more deliberate consideration that requires greater mental effort and focuses on emotional complexity.

3. Level III - Involves the unconscious communication, your expectations for the other person, the unspoken feeling between you.

How the Levels Framework Explains Cofounder Communication

Most cofounder partnerships go wrong through a series of small missteps.

These minute interactions—forgetting to complete a task, harsh criticism, stepping away in a moment of conflict, avoiding difficult conversations—build over time and accumulate in Level II.

Often, these feelings remain unexpressed.

Perhaps you tried to voice your concern int he past and it did not go well. Maybe you’re avoiding a difficult conversation because you worry it will lead to more conflict. Either way, you’ve determined the cost outweighs the benefit of sharing and get stuck in a pattern of keeping those uncomfortable thoughts to yourself.

As unexpressed affect intensifies in Level II, they disrupt Level I.

What was once a rapid, logical conversation becomes recurring arguments. You stop seeing eye-to-eye on key issues like hiring, compensation, and strategy. Your conflicts follow predictable patterns that leave you feeling unheard and frustrated. You’re not able to make decisions with the same speed and agility as you did in the past.

Once Level I discussions are disrupted, your personal and professional satisfaction drops.

You stop looking forward to your meetings and start feeling drained by your partner. You find yourself feeling greater emotional distance and tension. This friction leads you to think more and more about these problems with your cofounder. You may have difficulty sleeping, feel constantly on edge, and have less patience with every person in your life.

When Levels I and II are out of alignment, Level III is also activated.

Your state of irritability permeates all aspects of your being. Your internal model, or set of expectations for how your partner may feel or act, is rigid and inflexible. Each time your partner does something that confirms your expectations, you grow more frustrated. Thinking about an upcoming meeting or sharing space with your cofounder elicits tension for each of you. You feel stuck and you’re not sure how much you can tolerate this dissonance.

Once all three levels are out of alignment, it’s difficult to fix.

Level I to Level I conversations are broken. With the influence of Level II disrupting your logical thinking, your decision-making process is much less efficient and effective than in the past.

Level II to Level II discussions are avoided. Neither of you feel safe having a heart-to-heart moment with each other. The past has taught you trying to provide candid feedback only leads to explosive arguments, denial of responsibility, or complete withdrawal. None of these encounters are productive for your relationship or business.

How the Levels Framework Improves Communication

To improve your relationship dynamic, you need to re-align.

The best way to have more effective conversations is to have a guide facilitate a series of meaningful Level II to Level II conversations. The expert guide needs to be trained in depth psychology and have expertise working with founders, cofounders, and startup executives. The guide prevents these discussions from getting derailed through unproductive and defensive habits. As those old patterns are unlearned, new frameworks can be developed for more productive conversations.

Building familiarity and comfort in Level II clears Levels I and III.

Learning key tools to more productive Level II conversations allows each person to feel understood. As you each begin feeling heard and respected by one another, you begin learning more about your cofounder. As you discover more insights about them than you were previously aware of, your internal model—the expectations for your partner’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors—shift to include more openness and flexibility. This Level III flexibility creates the opportunity for Level I conversations to become more efficient, as they are no longer impeded by Levels II and III.

While learning these new skills across all three Levels takes time, energy, and effort, they create alignment that lasts years beyond our work together.

In our work with cofounders, we leverage the Cofounder Clarity Coaching Method and the insights from this Cofounders Level Framework to redesign how you communicate with your cofounder.