Greg Rublev · Startup CEO coach
Greg Rublev is a startup CEO coach with multiple exits, including 8- and 9-figure private equity acquisitions. Now he helps founders find their biggest growth lever, build the plan around it, and execute it week by week.
COMPANIES GREG HAS BUILT OR COACHED:
Services
You’re growing, but not the way you expected, and you’re not sure which of the forty things on your list is the one that matters. We find the growth lever and build the plan around it.
“Greg helped me prioritize and focus on the most important areas of my startup.”
Hannes BendFounder & CEO, Breathing.aiWhat got you here was doing it yourself. Now you need to hire, delegate, and sometimes have a hard conversation with a co-founder. We work out who you need and how to hand things off.
“It was no longer about what a small team could do, but how I could best empower people.”
Jon FeinmanInnerCity WeightliftingRunway, fundraising, paying yourself, or starting to think about an exit. We model it out so you’re making the decision with real numbers.
“The value of talking to someone who’s been in the trenches of fundraising, hiring & firing, and exit planning cannot be overstated.”
Tom ZhangCo-Founder & CEO, ZenblenWhatever it is, we start with a plan.
Book a planning session“Our company has grown so much just in the two months of working together… I always gain a lot of clarity about the challenges that I’m facing.”
Minette YuFounder & CEO, Lumi“He guides me toward answers instead of giving me answers. As a result, I’m far better equipped to make my own independent decisions… and my business is flourishing!”
Matt FitzgeraldFounder & Head Coach, DreamRun“We were facing numerous challenges around product-market fit and financial runway… After a few months of working together, I can wholeheartedly say that it exceeded all of my expectations.”
Aabesh DeFounder & CEO, Flora“I have found Greg Rublev to be the most effective professional coach/advisor that I have worked with during my career.”
Greg NortonPresident & CEO, Twisted RopeDoes any of this sound familiar? If any of this sounds like you, keep reading.
Planning Session
One
The goal, the time frame, and what the company is, synthesized from everyone's answers into one. I have run this with four teams in four industries, and the first answers have never been close.
Two
Everyone brainstorms on their own, we merge the lists, and we rank every idea for expected impact and expected cost. Defining each one is where the team gets aligned. Out of roughly fifty ideas, five to fifteen make the cut.
Three
Four strategic imperatives, and under each one, who is doing what by the end of the quarter. This is what you run the next ninety days against.
“I was surprised how many ideas there are.”
I am surprised every time. Between any two people on the same team, the overlap in ideas is never more than 20%.
Weekly CEO Coaching
The planning session gives you the plan. Coaching is how it survives contact with the quarter.
THE PLAN
We start with where you want to go. Sometimes that goal changes once we talk it through. Once the goal is clear, we look for the one move that would grow the company the most next year.
THE CHECK-IN
You bring whatever’s going on. We look at whether it’s part of the plan or a distraction. If it’s a distraction, we set it aside. If it’s not on the plan but it matters, we change the plan.
“Are we still talking about the same plan?”
THE EXPERIENCE
I helped grow ZoomInfo’s product from zero to $25 million. Then two partners and I built CompleteCase without investors and sold it to private equity for high 8-figures. I still run a company and sit on the boards of several others, so I’m in the same rooms you are. So when you’re stuck, I usually won’t tell you what to do. People tend to resist that. Instead, I’ll tell you what happened when I was in the same spot, or what happened with another founder I’ve worked with. More often than not, that’s what gets you to make the call.
ZoomInfo
Founding engineer, $0 to $25M
CompleteCase
Co-founder, bootstrapped, sold to private equity
Runzy
CEO today
THE NETWORK
Most of the breaks I got as a founder came from an introduction. When I can do that for someone else, I do. For clients, that has meant angel investors, attorneys, and the private equity firm that bought my last company. If there is somebody I know who could help with what you are working on, I’ll introduce you.
Process
First, we make a plan together: where you’re going and the milestones along the way. After that, every session follows the same rhythm.
We meet every week.
We start with what’s going well. Ideally, that includes the thing you said you’d do last time.
What do you want to talk about? If it’s not the thing we talked about last session, I’ll bring that up too.
We look at whether this is part of the plan or a distraction. If it matters and it’s not on the plan, we change the plan.
We decide what you’re going to do before next time, and I write it down. Next session, I’ll ask how it went.
“Our coaching sessions are never just theoretical. They're working sessions where I walk away with a clear direction and renewed confidence to execute.”
Sona ShahCEO & Co-Founder, Neopenda“Our conversations are more than just updates on wins and struggles. I feel like I can be open about my concerns as we brainstorm ways to solve problems.”
Paul CoustonCEO, Ascent Integrated TechnologiesFAQ
I’m a CEO coach. We meet every week or every other week. There’s no fixed agenda. We talk about your biggest challenge, where we are on the plan, and what’s next.
You’ll leave the first conversation with a next step, whether we work together or not.
If you know a founder who could use this, send them my way.
Not sure which one fits? Pick “Not sure yet” on the form and I’ll tell you.
