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Bringing the
Human In:
A Personal Development Series
for Startup Founders
The context
A workshop series dedicated to the human behind the founder.
In a world of pitches, strategies, and metrics, personal growth is often overlooked in early-stage entrepreneurship. But for this cohort of 20 startupers in a European bootcamp program, something new was introduced:
A workshop series dedicated to the human behind the founder.
It was the first time the bootcamp had integrated personal development alongside business mentoring — and it was received with enthusiasm, curiosity, and depth.
Early-stage founders face intense pressure — decision fatigue, uncertainty, identity shifts — and yet few are given the space to process what that brings up internally.
This series invited them to pause, reflect, and reconnect to:
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Their core motivations
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Their relationship to change and risk
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Their personal capacity to navigate fear and doubt
The challenge
The approach
Over a multi-session arc, I facilitated a progression through four themes:
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The Nature of Change – Understanding inner and outer transitions
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Facing Fears & Doubts – Identifying saboteurs, limiting beliefs
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Inner Resources – Reclaiming strengths and self-trust
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Mental Fitness – Introducing the Positive Intelligence framework for resilience
The sessions included coaching questions, guided reflection, paired sharing, and group dialogue, with time for integration and embodiment.
The result was a rare blend of openness and insight — startupers left not only with tools, but with a felt sense of permission to be whole humans on their business journey.
“We’re constantly challenged on our ideas — but not often invited to check in with ourselves. This was needed, and powerful.”
The series sparked conversations that continued informally beyond the sessions, creating connection across the cohort and surfacing themes often left unspoken in entrepreneurial spaces.
The impact
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