Direct, actionable founder and executive coaching

I’m here to help you win

Hi, I’m Scott Handsaker

I’m a founder, startup coach, board member, venture partner and amateur drummer.

I’ve been in startups since 2008. I’ve built them, mentored them, invested in them, and even had a few of my own. I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring over 100+ founders.

Scott Handsaker

Company building is life

My experience includes:

  • Created an event registration startup, raising VC in the process. Struggled and pivoted into a new one that worked, until we ran out of emotional runway.

  • Took over a meetup group called Lean Startup Melbourne. Grew it from 1,500 members to 12,000 in 12 months. Hosted Brad Feld, Steve Blank, Dave McClure and others. Pivoting that meetup into StartUp Victoria (now The Startup Network under new leadership).

  • CEO and co-founder of a B2B marketplace startup. Raised the first round of capital from blue-chip venture capital firms.

  • Lead mentor for Melbourne’s first accelerator, Angelcube. Mentoring at Startmate.

  • Led CyRise, the Asia Pacific’s leading cyber security startup accelerator for six years.

  • Made 39 investments with CyRise across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India and the US. I left with a portfolio investment multiple of 3.2x and a gross IRR in excess of 50%.

  • Venture Partner at Black Nova Venture Capital.

I coach founders and leaders of high-growth companies so that they can achieve their goals faster. I want to help you win.

Sound interesting? Book a free 45 minute call and we can work through one problem you need help with. If after that you’d like to work with me regularly, we can design a schedule that works for both of us.

About you

Founders and executives come in all shapes and sizes. Some are stepping into the role of a manager for the first time, while others are on company number 10. If you’re thinking about working with a coach, you might have some of the following characteristics:

A team who reports to you and who rely on you for leadership and guidance

A keen desire to build a high-growth company that grows globally

A willingness to course correct, take feedback and be better

You’re a good human

How we’ll work together

I’ll coach you to make better choices. I will have opinions, but the hard work of execution is for you to do. I won’t design your strategy, build your GTM or tell you who to hire, but I will ask the questions that matter to help you make those decisions.

I am here to help you win, and to do that I coach you in five main areas.

Individual Operating Model

Over time I have crafted a strategy that helps me be as productive as possible. A method that focuses on reducing the cognitive load of leadership. All my techniques have been copied from others and nothing I teach is original. I stand on the shoulders of giants, and now you can copy from me.

Group Operating Model

What does the operating rhythm of a well-run company look like? Why are most board meetings a waste of your time and how can you get more out of them? What does a great one-on-one look like? How do you get everyone to buy into the vision and is it even important?

Personal Truth-Telling

Your triggers, blind spots, and behavioural patterns don't disappear when you rise in the hierarchy. They just get more expensive.

How do you deal with conflict and how does that match what your colleagues need from you? Why don't you like giving feedback that you know the other person needs to hear? What are you not saying that needs to be said?

These aren't comfortable questions, but they're necessary ones. Self-examination can be confronting, but the best operators are those who clearly see their own flaws and work to either change them or build guardrails around them.

Sounding Board

What is your most pressing problem and what should you do about it? Should you hire a new SDR or save money for additional runway? Your biggest competitor has just raised $250 million and Masayoshi Son has joined their board. Should you throw in the towel?

Running a company as a founder is an endless stream of situations you have never faced before. It can also be incredibly lonely and isolating, while co-founder conflict is never far from raising its head.

My job is to ask the questions that get you to the best available answer. You will leave with a concrete action to take.

Manager

If you’re the CEO, you don’t have a manager. Which means you have no-one to give you feedback, keep you accountable and drive you to higher performance. The board will not do this for you.

I will be your outsourced manager that 100% believes you can build this company, but that also knows that without feedback and course correction you risk leaving a hole the size of the Chicxulub crater.

  • My interactions with Scott resulted in a complete rehaul of my maturity and capability in running a company. Rather than giving advice, Scott provided me with a framework for thinking deeply and empowering my own decisions, based on fact. Scott did not have any agenda in mind other than the success of my company and my wellbeing, and quickly became my go-to for tough calls and sharing wins. The guidance I received from Scott was raw and transparent, with (sometimes necessary) brutal honesty, calling it like it is. Anyone seeking one-on-one coaching or mentoring from Scott can expect him to be there for the long game, and his ability as a super-connector provides access into many great circles requiring years of ‘social capital’. Overall, I see myself continuing to learn from Scott in the future and would highly recommend his services without hesitation.

    Mike Monnik
    Drone Threat Intelligence

My values

I believe strongly in fundamental principles that guide behaviour. These are mine and if you work with me, you will get sick of hearing about them.

Give before you get

If you give up your time and experience without expecting anything in return, good things happen. (You might recognise this as a Techstars philosophy. It is and I shamelessly stole it).

Radical transparency

Those who have worked in an enterprise will have received feedback via the classic “shit sandwich”. Positive insights, then the actual feedback, followed by another positive insight. What a waste of an opportunity to deliver feedback. I prefer radical transparency. Direct feedback is delivered with honesty and kindness. No sandwich.

Team before individual

You cannot build a company by yourself, and the higher you go and the bigger the company gets, the more you rely upon others. If you work for a company then you are in service to the group, not to yourself.

Seek truth

I prefer robust debate over feeling comfortable. I want to know if I’m wrong as quickly as possible. Truth is my highest personal value.

Raise your standards

I spent many years thinking I was a high performer until I worked with someone whose standards of execution were off the charts. It was a deeply painful lesson. I’ve never been the same since, and now I think about what ‘great’ looks like almost every day.

If you’d like to see if we’d work well together, book a free 45 minute call and we can work through one problem you need help with. If after that you’d like to work with me regularly, we can design a schedule that works for both of us.