Lead your company all the way to a massive exit without burning out.
Coaching CEOs funded by
Grow faster than your business and lead it to a massive exit
CEO Coaching
Deal Advice
Mark MacLeod
Get to Know me, Mark MacLeod
Since 1999, I have sat at the right-hand side of the leaders of high growth technology companies as either a CFO, VC or deal maker. I served as CFO for software companies including Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) and Freshbooks. As a CFO I experienced outright failures, wildly profitable exits, and everything in between.
I was a General Partner in Real Ventures, Canada's largest and most active seed stage fund. My investments there include the fund's largest cash on cash and highest IRR returns to date. Most recently, I founded SurePath Capital Partners the leading investment bank for SMB SaaS companies where we did hundreds of millions in financing and exit transactions.
I am a semi-active angel investor with a portfolio of 22 investments, 2 highly positive exits and counting.
In my spare time, I am a passionate CrossFit athlete and electronic music producer/ DJ.
Testimonials
Frequently asked questions
Coaching is a deep 1 on 1 relationship designed to help you generate your own insights, growth and path forward. We work through personal and company issues to remove blockers and unlock performance. It is not about me giving you the answers. It is about helping you unlock the answers within you.
Mentoring is about sharing past experiences and lessons learned. Consulting can take many forms such as advice or actual project work. Our sessions will sometimes touch on mentoring as clients look to leverage my experience. But, for the most part, we will be focused on coaching.
My clients are looking for both personal growth and to maximize their personal and company performance. They realize what is at stake and what it will take for them to deliver on their own and their investors’ expectations.
They choose me because I have sat in their shoes. I have operated venture-backed startups and scale ups. I have been a VC. I have been funding, growing and exiting technology companies since 1999.
Anything is fair game. Whatever you or your business is going through, I have probably encountered it before.
As you can imagine, I have private, intimate relationships with my clients. While I ask for testimonials and have shared them liberally on this site, the specific identity of my clients and the nature of what we work on together is highly confidential. As a result, I do not ask clients to do reference calls.
If we don’t know each other already, then I recommend a more immersive session upfront so that I have a deep understanding of you and your business.
From there, we move to ongoing calls. Usually twice a month, 55 minutes per call. I am available for spot coaching / special issues as needed. Coaching sessions are remote over Zoom.
It is important that we set clear goals for coaching upfront. That way we will know when we have succeeded.
I charge a monthly retainer and ask for a standard advisor option grant.
I strongly believe that a CEO of a venture-funded company is like a pro athlete. He or she needs to have the best team around them to enable elite performance. I work with CEOs and CFOs who realize what is expected of them and invest in themselves to exceed these expectations.
Individual sessions are 55 minutes long. The duration of the relationship is dependent on what you are trying to achieve.
We are never done growing! While you can terminate coaching at any time, my hope is that we will work together through to the successful exit of your company.
Still have questions?
Lead your company all the way to a massive exit without burning out.
