Whether you’re a seasoned CTO or someone new to leading in a software
engineering team, your role in the ever-changing environment of a start-up or
scale-up is complex.
As your career advances, you are expected to take more responsibility for how
you spend your time, set your goals and define and develop your role. While
this is often exciting and rewarding, it can also be stressful and lonely.
Knowing who to turn to for advice and support might be hard.
Working with a coach is a pragmatic and effective way to tackle the challenges
and stresses of your role. My coaching can help you navigate change, build
your confidence, accelerate your learning and development and support you in
achieving your goals.
Areas that I can support you with include (but are in no way limited to):
successfully navigating change (e.g. scaling, pivots, re-organisations,
promotions, starting a new job)
reducing your levels of stress and giving you more control
managing both up and sideways more effectively
improving how you delegate work and set expectations
tackling dysfunctions in how your teams operate
improving your decision making
accelerating your development
As a first-time CTO at a growing tech-startup Joel’s coaching has been
instrumental in helping me step up to my new leadership role and to work
through some of the most challenging aspects of scaling a company. After only
a few months I have seen really positive results. I couldn’t recommend his
coaching any higher!
Adam Hurst, Co-founder & CTO, Log my Care
Flexible support tailored to you
My coaching programmes are flexible. We will explore what you are looking to
achieve during an initial chemistry call and
design a programme that will work best for you.
The length of the programme, frequency and length of sessions and the amount
of support between sessions will all vary depending on the programme we agree
on for you.
Coaching sessions are via video call. This allows us to meet when and where
works for you.
This can be anywhere in the world. I have coached engineering leaders from
Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy,
Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the
USA.
I am based in the UK and if the time difference between us is large this may
mean that the times for our sessions are more restricted. For example, if you
are live on the Pacific Coast of the USA sessions are likely to have to be
before 10am.
Joel’s coaching was crucial to my personal development when I had to 4X the
team and handle plenty of new challenges. He also helped me develop
techniques for dealing with future challenges, which I’ve put to use
successfully since our coaching finished.
Tom Wilshere, CTO, Florence
A coach and mentor
I am Joel Chippindale. I am a CTO Coach who has worked with more than 100
talented senior engineering leaders in recent years. I also have over 20 years
experience building, scaling and leading software development teams, mainly in
start-ups, including CTO and COO roles at
FutureLearn and CTO roles at
Econsultancy and
Unmade.
I believe in the importance and value of building inclusive and sustainable
teams and have experienced the challenges of nurturing the cultures, skills and
practices that enable teams and individuals to achieve their full capabilities.
I offer a combination of coaching and mentoring to support you to make the most
of your skills, knowledge and experiences and help you develop your
capabilities.
Where appropriate, I can offer suggestions and guidance based on my hands-on
experience of leading engineering teams at start-ups and scale-ups.
The impact for you
I share these quotes from some of my coaching clients to offer you a tangible
sense of the experience and benefits of being coached by me.
I really valued Joel’s extensive experience as a CTO, which meant he could work
through tricky problems with me. He helped me focus on strategic priorities
even when there were urgent activities competing for my time.
Anna Shipman, CTO
I highly recommend Joel to any CTO seeking a coach with a nuanced
understanding of organisational dynamics, coupled with the flexibility needed
to navigate the complexities of growth.
Dimitrios Tzelepis, CTO & Co-founder, SMPnet
Joel’s skilful blend of coaching and mentorship allowed me to develop my own
leadership style while providing valuable tips on becoming a successful CTO.
I recommend working with Joel, if you’re looking to sharpen your CTO
skills.
Luca Grulla, CTO, Signal AI
Joel has an impressive ability to create a safe space and calmly discuss a
range of topics and to provide useful input. His technology background allows the
conversation to veer into technical challenges for guidance. His coaching would
benefit anyone who is going through a difficult and stressful challenge in
engineering leadership.
Klaus Thorup, CTO, ClearScore
Working with Joel during my transition into my first CTO role was
transformative.
As an executive coach, he provided invaluable guidance that helped me navigate
both the tactical and strategic challenges of C-level leadership. Joel was
instrumental in helping me overcome imposter syndrome and build genuine
confidence in my abilities. His coaching approach enabled me to develop
new problem-solving strategies that delivered meaningful results for both
my personal growth and my company’s success. After six months of working
together, I’ve not only grown into my role but have developed a solid foundation
for continued learning and development.
I highly recommend Joel to any CTO / technology leader looking to accelerate
their leadership journey.
The coaching programmes that I offer are personalised for you and the cost will
vary depending on the programme we design for you. Coaching programmes start
from
£4,000
+VAT.
I also offer coaching scholarships
to engineering leaders at startups or scaleups who identify as being from a
group that is underrepresented in technology and cannot afford coaching yet.
Next steps
Let’s have a call and we can explore your needs and how the coaching and
mentoring that I offer can support you.
Joel stands out not just as a coach but as a mentor, especially suited for
senior technical leadership challenges. His advice is grounded in a deep
understanding of tech, allowing him to toggle between coaching and advising as
needed.
His calm and reassuring presence creates a safe space for open, honest
dialogue, allowing vulnerability and growth. Each session felt like a reset,
leaving me optimistic and more aligned with my professional goals.
If you’re at a crossroads in your tech career, do not hesitate to engage with
Joel. His coaching goes beyond professional development; it is a world-class
partnership that offers a transformative experience, equipping you to navigate
both current and future challenges.
Valerie Dryden, VP of Engineering
Frequently asked questions about coaching
I coach engineering leaders who want to improve their performance at work.
The majority of my clients are the most senior technology person in their
start-up or scale-up, perhaps the CTO, or Head of Engineering, or Director of
Engineering. But I also coach people in a wide range of senior engineering
leadership positions, including Directors and VPs of Engineering.
You need a coach if you want to improve your performance. If you want to serve
your teams better. If you want to accelerate your development. Or, if you feel
stuck.
My coaching programmes are flexible and we will build a programme
that works for you.
In a typical programme we would start by exploring your goals for
coaching and set an ambitious vision for where you want to be at the
end of the programme.
We would then have regular coaching sessions and I will use coaching
and mentoring to support you to:
Focus on your most important goals.
Provide a calm and safe space for you to think and reflect and help
you make sense of your thoughts, needs and situation.
Build your confidence in yourself and your abilities.
Challenge assumptions and beliefs that you may be holding you back.
Identify concrete actions to take that will make progress towards
your goals.
Accelerate your development and build your ability to self coach.
I will recognise many of the challenges you face from my own
experiences of being a CTO and so, where appropriate, will also be
able to share these experiences with you.
I will also be available to offer support between sessions.
I can also support you to get feedback from those you work with.
The length of the programme, frequency and length of sessions and the amount
of support between sessions will all vary depending on your needs.
Most of my clients have their coaching paid for by their employers.
Companies pay for coaching because of the high return on investment
from the impact it has. It is a pragmatic way for companies to
support the development of their best senior leaders by working
through their challenges and transforming their learning directly
into results for the organisation.
I can support you to think about the impact of your coaching programme in
order to make the business case for your coaching. Let me know if you want to
cover this in our chemistry call.
Mentoring is when you learn from the experiences of others. This can
be very valuable and can accelerate your learning.
Coaching starts from the position that you are capable, resourceful
and whole and that the answers to your challenges are already within
you. A coach is a thinking partner who will support you in
discovering these answers.
Coaching can be much more powerful in building your confidence and
skills, and in arriving at solutions to your challenges that really
work for you and your context.
I offer a combination of coaching and mentoring to ensure that you
get the support that you need.
You are probably busy. You probably have a role where you are never
“done”. In this environment it can be difficult to feel that you have
the time to be coached.
Coaching supports you to focus on what is most important. This helps
you spend your time wisely and have a greater impact in less time.
Most of my clients feel like they have more time rather than less as
a result of coaching.
If you feel that you are too busy for coaching then this is likely to
be a sign that you coaching would be particularly valuable for you.
Each coaching relationship is different, and as we work together we will learn
what works most effectively for you.
We will learn which how to adjust the coaching approaches that work best for
you and also explore the balance of challenge vs. support, of coaching vs.
mentoring.
I also recommend the following to get the most from your coaching relationship
Be ambitious. You are more capable than you believe and with coaching
support you can go further than you you give yourself credit for. If you
don’t have clear goals when you start your coaching that is OK and we can
work together to identify where you are going.
Be open. Coaching is a thinking partnership and the less you hold back,
the more effectively we will be able to think together. I will keep
everything you say confidential and hold you in unconditional high-regard in
order to provide you with a safe space to explore your ideas and feelings.
Take action. Our sessions will provide you with space to understand
yourself and your situation more clearly, challenge self-limiting beliefs
and commit to actions to make change. However this will just be talk unless
you also take action between our sessions.
Offer feedback. We will learn how to work together more rapidly if you
offer direct feedback about your experience of being coached. This will help
us both adapt our approaches so that you can get the most from your coaching
programme.
I can also recommend Evgeny Shadchnev’s article How to work with a
coach that
provides great advice for getting the most from your coaching
relationship.
If you’re ready to get started, then book a complimentary
“chemistry” session. As part of this
first meeting, there will be ample opportunity to ask any further
questions you might have.