The Founder Coach

ActiveVenture Capital

Updated: Mar 19, 2026 ·

About

Founder Coach® develops and delivers a proprietary leadership and coaching system specifically designed for venture-backed founders. The company provides a structured experience through over 500 battle-tested frameworks and tools, supported by workshops, pathways, and AI-driven utilities. This methodical approach helps CEOs make critical decisions, achieve company-wide alignment, and foster ownership within their organizations.

The company was founded by Dave Bailey, an experienced founder and coach, whose insights into the unique challenges faced by startup leaders led to its creation. The genesis of Founder Coach stemmed from a client's query to formalize his proven frameworks into a comprehensive program. Bailey meticulously built and refined this system over years, leveraging thousands of coaching sessions to develop its robust, interconnected methodology.

Founder Coach serves ambitious CEOs leading venture-backed companies, ranging from high-growth scale-ups to unicorn founders. These clients typically helm organizations averaging around 120 employees, seeking to elevate their leadership capabilities. The company’s mission is to advance the craft of founder leadership, empowering exceptional founders to build enduring companies while nurturing their personal development.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

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Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Oct 1, 2023	Thread	$15.0M Series A	—	Balderton Capital, Beringea, Draper Triangle, Greylock, Innovation Works, Starburst Ventures, Waverley Capital, David Haywood Smith, Errol Damelin, Ian Hogarth, Jared Kopf, Kevin O'Leary, Michael Birch, Nirav Tolia
May 1, 2023	RealBlocks	$10.0M Series A	—	Anthemis Group, Crosslink Capital, GoAhead Ventures, L Catterton Growth, Left Lane Capital, Pario Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, TMV, Jett McCandless, Ron Suber, Stanton Green, Ted Serbinski
Jun 1, 2021	Moonshot	$7.0M Series A	—	Balderton Capital, Beringea, Draper Triangle, Greylock, Innovation Works, Starburst Ventures, Waverley Capital, David Haywood Smith, Errol Damelin, Ian Hogarth, Jared Kopf, Kevin O'Leary, Michael Birch
Mar 1, 2021	Freetrade	$69.0M Series B	—	500 Global, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Cerulean Ventures, Comal Ventures, GoAhead Ventures, Hambro Perks, L Catterton Growth, Left Lane Capital, Moderne Ventures, Pario Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Vibe Capital, Sanjay Sathe
Jul 1, 2020	Stack Overflow	$85.0M Series E	—	Ambush Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Canary Ventures, CoinFund, Decibel Partners, Divergence Ventures, FounderPartners, Index Ventures, Northzone, Seed Club Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures, Mason Nystrom, Alexander Salnikov, Larry Braitman, Lawrence Braitman, Stefan George, Tegan Kline
Jun 1, 2020	TEOOH	$1.0M Seed	—	Spark Capital, Y Combinator, Larry Braitman, Lawrence Braitman
Sep 1, 2019	1Balance	$2.0M Seed	—	Accel, Spark Capital, Larry Braitman, Lawrence Braitman
Jun 1, 2019	Infarm	$100.0M Series B	—	Alate Partners, Jana Messerschmidt, Balderton Capital, Beringea, Cherry Ventures, Craft Ventures, CRV, Draper Triangle, Goat Capital, Goldcrest Capital, Greycroft, Greylock, Index Ventures, Innovation Works, M13, MATH Venture Partners, Relay Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, Starburst Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Waverley Capital, David Haywood Smith, Errol Damelin, Ian Hogarth, Jan Deepen, Jared Kopf, Kevin O'Leary, Michael Birch, Ning Sung, Oskar Hartmann, Stefan Jeschonnek, Steve Salis, Travis Vanderzanden
Feb 1, 2019	Ampjar	$2.0M Seed	—	LAUNCH, Predictive VC, Asher Leids, Daniel Ch, Kurt Bilafer, Mark Cuban
Feb 1, 2018	Infarm	$25.0M Series A	—	Balderton Capital, Beringea, Cherry Ventures, Draper Triangle, Greylock, Innovation Works, Starburst Ventures, Waverley Capital, David Haywood Smith, Errol Damelin, Ian Hogarth, Jan Deepen, Jared Kopf, Kevin O'Leary, Michael Birch, Oskar Hartmann, Stefan Jeschonnek
Apr 1, 2017	Sideways 6	$620K Seed	—	Ambridge Capital, Expon Capital, Firstminute Capital, FJ Labs, Freigeist, Project A Ventures, Martin Varsavsky, Mirko Caspar, Richard Cooperstein, Sina Afra
Mar 1, 2016	Charlie	$1.0M Seed	—	50 Partners, Anorak Ventures, Balderton Capital, Beringea, BlueYard Capital, byFounders, Cherry Ventures, Draper Triangle, FirstMark Capital, Greylock, Innovation Works, Partech Ventures, Starburst Ventures, Waverley Capital, Andrew Lacy, Brendan Iribe, David Haywood Smith, Errol Damelin, Jan Erik Solem, Jared Kopf, Kevin O'Leary, Maxime Paradis, Michael Birch, Oleg Tscheltzoff, Shriya Nevatia, Stefan Lindeberg
Mar 1, 2016	Netomi	$3.0M Seed	—	01 Advisors, Alpha JWC Ventures, Atreides Management, Balderton Capital, Beringea, Bessemer Venture Partners, Betaworks Ventures, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Bowery Capital, BoxGroup, C2 Investment, Charge Ventures, Convective Capital, DG Incubation, Draper Triangle, DST Global, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Flashpoint VC, Founders Fund, Goat Capital, Greylock, Gutter Capital, Hannah Grey, Indicator Ventures, Innovation Works, Javelin Venture Partners, Jungle Ventures, Kima Ventures, Locus Ventures, Matrix, Next Level Ventures, Jeff Richards, Primary Venture Partners, Silicon Badia, Social Starts, Starburst Ventures, Supernode Ventures, The Valley Fund, Waverley Capital, Y Combinator, David Haywood Smith, Drew Houston, Emmett Shear, Eric Wu, Errol Damelin, Ian Hogarth, James Beshara, Jared Kopf, Joe Greenstein, Kevin O'Leary, Kyle Vogt, Marissa Mayer, Michael Birch, Sam Altman, Tikhon Bernstam, Trevor Blackwell
Jan 1, 2016	Citymapper	$40.0M Series B	—	Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, AXA Strategic Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Balderton Capital, Benchmark, Beringea, Caffeinated Capital, Cherry Ventures, Kevin Ding, DN Capital, Draper Triangle, DST Global, Electric Capital, Felicis Ventures, FJ Labs, Founder Collective, FPV Fund, General Atlantic, General Catalyst, Giza Polish Ventures, Greylock, Human Augmentation Syndicate, ICONIQ Capital, Index Ventures, Innovation Works, InterWest, Kapor Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Lowercarbon Capital, Piton Capital, Sherpalo Ventures, Sound Ventures, Starburst Ventures, SV Angel, The Hit Forge, Vertex Ventures, Waverley Capital, Y Combinator, Brian Sugar, Errol Damelin, Felix Jahn, Ian Hogarth, Jared Kopf, Joshua Schachter, Kevin O'Leary, Michael Birch, Nils Johnson, Oskar Hartmann, Sam Altman
Oct 1, 2015	Insureon	$31.0M Series B	—	Armilar Venture Partners, Balderton Capital, Beringea, Citi Ventures, Draper Triangle, Greylock, Innovation Works, Oak HC/FT, PruVen Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Starburst Ventures, Waverley Capital, David Haywood Smith, Errol Damelin, Ian Hogarth, Jared Kopf, Kevin O'Leary, Michael Birch
Jan 1, 2015	Sendbloom	$1.0M Seed	—	1Flourish Capital, 5eyes Ventures, 8VC, A Capital, Advisors Fund LLC, Balderton Capital, Beringea, Bessemer Venture Partners, Bling Capital, Broadway Angels, Caffeinated Capital, CapitalG, David Namdar, CRV, Zachary Bogue, Draper Triangle, Flex Capital, Founders Fund, Freestyle Capital, Global Founders Capital, Gradient Ventures, Greylock, M.G. Siegler, Human Augmentation Syndicate, IDG Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Innovation Works, iNovia Capital, Ironspring Ventures, Javelin Venture Partners, Jigsaw VC, Khosla Ventures, KRM Interests LLC, LAUNCH, Liquid 2 Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Menlo Ventures, NEO, Nirmata-ai, Offline Ventures, Oyster Ventures, Partners Resolute, Practical Venture Capital, PS Investments, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Alexander Rosen, Gil Penchina, Roosh Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Slow Ventures, Soma Capital, Starburst Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, Summit Partners, The Hit Forge, Tiger Global Management, Triatomic Capital, Ulu Ventures, Uncork Capital, Upfront Ventures, Vayner RSE, Vertex Ventures Israel, Viola Ventures, Waverley Capital, Winklevoss Capital, Y Combinator, AJ Vaynerchuk, Akash Garg, Anil Dharni, Anthony Soohoo, Carmelo Anthony (Melo7 Tech Partners), David Haywood Smith, Dharmesh Shah, Eric Ries, Errol Damelin, Hadi Partovi, Ian Hogarth, Iqram Magdon-Ismail, Jabez Dewey, James Hong, Jared Kopf, Jeremy Stoppelman, Jim Lanzone, John Collison, Jonathan Boutelle, Josh Spear, Joshua Schachter, Karl Mehta, Kevin O'Leary, Konstantin von Unger, Marc Benioff, Mark Britto, Mark Goines, Matt Cutts, Matt Mazzeo, MG Siegler, Mike Hennessey, Narendra Rocherolle, Ofer Zinger, Othman Laraki, Philip Kaplan, Ralph Gootee, Rashaun Williams, Ronny Conway, Russell Fradin, Russ Fradin, Ryan Spoon, Scott Banister, Scott Belsky, Sumon Sadhu, Tim Ringel, Tracy Young, William Hockey, Yan-David Erlich, Ziv Kop
Jan 1, 2015	Stack Overflow	$40.0M Series D	—	Ambush Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Canary Ventures, CoinFund, Decibel Partners, Divergence Ventures, FounderPartners, Index Ventures, Northzone, Seed Club Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures, Mason Nystrom, Alexander Salnikov, Larry Braitman, Lawrence Braitman, Stefan George, Tegan Kline
Sep 1, 2014	SchoolMint	$2.0M Seed	—	Balderton Capital, Beringea, Draper Triangle, Greylock, Innovation Works, REMUS Capital, Starburst Ventures, Waverley Capital, Y Combinator, David Haywood Smith, Errol Damelin, Ian Hogarth, Joshua Schachter, Kevin O'Leary, Michael Birch, Steve Chen
Jul 1, 2014	EarnIn	$4.0M Seed	—	Kevin Hartz, ACME Capital, Balderton Capital, Beringea, Caffeinated Capital, Catapult Capital, Coatue, Cota Capital, Craft Ventures, CrunchFund, Draper Triangle, Felicis Ventures, Gideon Yu, General Atlantic, Greylock, Haystack, Innovation Works, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar, Glenn Solomon, Offline Ventures, Saga, SciFi VC, Seven Seven Six, Starburst Ventures, The Hit Forge, Thrive Capital, Tribe Capital, Trinity Ventures, True Ventures, Waverley Capital, Y Combinator, Aaron Levie, Andy Rankin, Charlie Cheever, David Haywood Smith, Ian Hogarth, Jared Kopf, Jeff Seibert, Jeremy Stoppelman, Joe Greenstein, Karim Elsahy, Kevin O'Leary, Louis Beryl, Michael Birch, Oliver Thylmann, Sam Altman, Wayne Chang
Mar 1, 2011	Stack Overflow	$12.0M Series B	—	Ambush Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Canary Ventures, CoinFund, Decibel Partners, Divergence Ventures, FounderPartners, Index Ventures, Northzone, Seed Club Ventures, SID Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures, Mason Nystrom, Alexander Salnikov, Larry Braitman, Lawrence Braitman, Stefan George, Tegan Kline

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at The Founder Coach.

Dave Bailey

Investor

Leadership Team

Key people at The Founder Coach.

Dave Bailey

Investor

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Founder Coach is a specialized leadership coaching firm dedicated to helping venture-backed founders and CEOs scale themselves and their companies. Its mission is to advance the craft of founder leadership by providing structured, founder-centric coaching systems that drive tangible results. Unlike traditional leadership programs, Founder Coach focuses exclusively on the unique challenges faced by founders, offering frameworks, workshops, diagnostics, and AI-driven tools tailored to high-growth environments. The company serves CEOs across Europe, the US, and beyond, with clients backed by top-tier venture capital funds.

Founder Coach’s approach is built around long-term development, momentum, and measurable impact, rather than generic “feel-good” sessions. Its signature offerings include the Founder Leadership System™, peer group coaching, and team training programs, all designed to help founders build iconic companies without burning out or losing control.

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Origin Story

Founder Coach was founded by Dave Bailey, a three-time venture-backed founder who previously built companies including Delivery Hero. After stepping away from founding to focus on coaching, Bailey realized that most leadership programs failed to address the specific needs of founders. Drawing from his own experiences and the frameworks he developed, he created a coaching system specifically for founders—structured, practical, and rooted in real-world challenges.

The idea crystallized when one of Bailey’s early clients asked if he had considered turning his frameworks into a full program. This sparked the creation of Founder Coach, which quickly evolved from one-on-one coaching into a comprehensive system combining workshops, diagnostics, peer groups, and proprietary tools. The company has since guided over 200 CEOs, earning recognition for its ability to deliver real transformation at scale.

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Core Differentiators

Founder-Centric Methodology: Every program is designed by and for founders, putting the founder—not the coach—at the center of the experience.
Structured Frameworks: Relies on proven IP, mental models, and practical tools rather than unstructured conversation.
Long-Term Development: Focuses on sustained growth and transformation, not just short-term fixes.
AI-Driven Tools: Integrates technology to embed leadership frameworks into daily operations.
Peer Group Coaching: Curated groups of 7–8 CEOs at similar stages, fostering deep connection and shared learning.
Team-Wide Impact: Offers training and alignment tools for entire leadership teams, not just individual founders.
Proven Track Record: Coaches have built or scaled major tech ventures and have collectively coached hundreds of founders.

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Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Founder Coach is riding a growing trend: the recognition that founder leadership is a critical bottleneck in startup success. As venture capital becomes more disciplined and the bar for execution rises, investors and founders alike are prioritizing leadership development as a key lever for growth. Founder Coach sits at the intersection of this shift, offering a scalable, repeatable system that helps founders navigate complexity, align teams, and drive accountability.

The timing is crucial—founders today are measured less by fundraising prowess and more by their ability to deliver results with limited resources. Founder Coach’s emphasis on practical frameworks, peer learning, and measurable outcomes aligns perfectly with this new reality. By elevating founder leadership, the company is helping shape a generation of more resilient, effective CEOs who can build enduring companies.

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Quick Take & Future Outlook

Founder Coach is poised to become a defining player in the leadership development space for high-growth founders. As the startup ecosystem continues to mature, the demand for founder-specific coaching will only grow. The company’s focus on systems, scalability, and real-world impact positions it to influence not just individual founders, but the broader culture of founder leadership.

Looking ahead, Founder Coach is likely to expand its suite of AI-driven tools, deepen its global reach, and further integrate team-wide training into its offerings. Its influence will extend beyond coaching—helping redefine what it means to lead in the modern startup era. For founders seeking to build iconic companies, Founder Coach is increasingly becoming the answer they didn’t know they were looking for.

Sources

High-Level Overview

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Origin Story

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Core Differentiators

Founder-Centric Methodology: Every program is designed by and for founders, putting the founder—not the coach—at the center of the experience.
Structured Frameworks: Relies on proven IP, mental models, and practical tools rather than unstructured conversation.
Long-Term Development: Focuses on sustained growth and transformation, not just short-term fixes.
AI-Driven Tools: Integrates technology to embed leadership frameworks into daily operations.
Peer Group Coaching: Curated groups of 7–8 CEOs at similar stages, fostering deep connection and shared learning.
Team-Wide Impact: Offers training and alignment tools for entire leadership teams, not just individual founders.
Proven Track Record: Coaches have built or scaled major tech ventures and have collectively coached hundreds of founders.

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Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

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