Operator Coaching
Operator Coaching for Technical Founders
Coaching from someone who has sat in your chair. Four exits, $54.3M raised, $1.33B+ in documented revenue impact across Google, Microsoft, and Protocol Labs. Not a former therapist. Not a framework reseller. An operator who builds your judgment the same way he built products: hypothesis, test, evidence, decision.
$2,500 · Creditable against month one · Or book a fit call →
Who this is for, and who it is not
This is for founder-CEOs from seed to Series B building in AI, blockchain, or data platforms, and for first-time CPOs and Heads of Product stepping into executive scope. It works best when you have a live venture, real customers or users to learn from, and at least one decision you cannot delegate.
It is not for teams that want done-for-you execution. If you need someone to run product for you, that is a different engagement: see Fractional Product Leadership. It is also not therapeutic support of any kind. Coaching here develops operating judgment and leadership execution, nothing else.
The Trellis Method
A trellis does not grow for the plant. It gives growth structure and direction, then gets out of the way. That is the job of a coach, and it is why every engagement runs on the same five components.
1. Guiding-question bookends
Every session opens on a single question and closes on the same question, answered. The discipline keeps sixty minutes pointed at one decision instead of ten status updates.
2. Four-box segmentation
Every customer hypothesis gets mapped across four boxes before it earns engineering time: Segment, Need, Value, and Ethical Boundary. The fourth box is the one most founders skip, and the one acquirers ask about.
3. ICP narrowing
Growth-stage judgment is mostly the discipline of deciding who you will not serve. Here is the worked example, from Erick's own company:
When Erick co-founded Trensant, the platform could read risk and sentiment signals for almost anyone: journalists, traders, marketers, analysts. Almost anyone is not a customer. The team cut the ICP down to enterprise supply chain and risk teams, said no to revenue that did not fit, and rebuilt the roadmap around that single buyer. The product got narrower and the company got more valuable, because a focused intelligence platform was legible to strategic acquirers in a way a general one never was. Trensant was acquired by Interos.ai. The discipline that got it there is the same one applied to every coaching client's venture.
4. A hypothesis worth disproving
Founders protect their favorite assumptions; operators price them. Each month you leave with one falsifiable bet about your business and the cheapest test that could kill it.
5. 30/70 delivery
Thirty percent of any session is concept. Seventy percent is applied to your live venture: your numbers, your team, your board, your next decision. Nothing is taught in the abstract.
Format and pricing
From $4,000 per month
Two 60-minute sessions per month, with async access between sessions for the decisions that cannot wait two weeks. Engagements begin with a 3-month initial term, then run month to month.
The price is published on purpose. You should know whether this is in budget before either of us books a call. The number also reflects a simple fact: capacity is capped. Erick carries at most six coaching clients alongside two to three fractional engagements, so this practice sells depth, not volume.
The record behind the method
Coaching at SproutVest is new as an offer and old as a practice. Erick has mentored continuously for over a decade: seven years with graduate founders at the Global Innovation Exchange, four years as startup mentor, due diligence lead, and fund manager at the Seattle Angel Conference, and program mentorships with Plato and the Global Mentorship Initiative. The full record is on the About page.
Frequently asked questions
How is coaching different from a fractional CPO engagement?
A fractional CPO does the work: owns the roadmap, manages the team, ships the artifacts. Coaching develops you to do the work. If your company needs deliverables, hire the fractional practice. If it needs your judgment to get better, hire the coach. Some clients move from one to the other, and the fit call will tell you which door you are standing at.
What timezone does this run in?
Erick works from UTC+8, which means native business-hours coverage across APAC and a reliable evening window for founders in the US. Sessions are scheduled around your calendar, not his.
Is this confidential?
Yes. Everything discussed is covered by a mutual NDA signed before the first session, including the diagnostic. No client is named publicly without written permission.
How does the Trellis Leadership Diagnostic work?
It is a paid, scored assessment: a 24-item questionnaire across six leadership dimensions, a perspective check answered by your team, a written report with one 90-day priority, and a 90-minute debrief with Erick. It costs $2,500, fully creditable against your first month of coaching, and the report is honest even when the honest answer is that you do not need a coach. Full details here.
Find the constraint first
The Trellis Leadership Diagnostic is the front door: $2,500, fully creditable against your first month of coaching.
Not ready for the diagnostic?
Take the free slice of the method. The Four-Box Segmentation Worksheet is the one-page tool Erick uses to pressure-test any customer hypothesis.