What leaders say about working with me

The success of my clients speaks louder than anything that I could say about my work.

I have had the privilege of working with over 150 amazing, talented founders and engineering leaders as a coach and mentor.

I share the testimonials below in order to provide you with a tangible sense of the benefits and experience of being coached by me.

I have organised these by theme to offer you examples of the types of challenges and situations that I work with engineering leaders on.

If you want to find out more about what it would be like for you to be coached by me, then book a free coaching chemistry call. We can then explore this further.

Stepping into a new role

Coaching is invaluable when you have been promoted to new role or are moving to a new company. It supports you to navigate the complexities of these transitions faster and more effectively.

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  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.

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  Joel started coaching me just as I was stepping up into a new leadership role. He challenged me, asked thought provoking questions, helped build my confidence and supported me to develop the tools, techniques and capabilities to navigate difficult and ambiguous situations. His coaching enabled me to excel in my new role and I highly recommend him to anybody looking for coaching to support their development at any stage of their career.

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  Throughout our sessions, Joel’s questions, active listening and advice nudged me in the right direction and allowed me to focus and deliver on more strategic and important issues. He also helped me build some sustainable practices that I’ll keep using to manage myself and my team. Most importantly, having Joel to support me allowed me to grow more confident of my abilities of doing a great job as CTO. I’d definitely recommend any leader going through challenging and stressful times to be coached by Joel More ↓

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  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!

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  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.

Find out more about the coaching and mentoring that I offer.

Scaling and growth

Start-ups and scale-ups are in constant change. In this environment coaching is a powerful way to support you to grow with your company and pro-actively change your role to adapt to the changes.

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  Over eight months with Joel, I went from a CTO buried in day-to-day engineering details to an operator who actually belongs in the room at C-suite level. That shift happened during the most demanding period in my company’s history: a Series B raise and a scale-up from under 40 to over 120 people. Joel didn’t hand me playbooks; he helped me find a way of leading that fits who I am. I’d recommend him to any technical leader stepping into real scale More ↓

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  Joel brings a really valuable combination of well structured coaching and the experience of having been a CTO, so he is also able to offer concrete advice. I really enjoyed working with Joel and his support helped me navigate a critical transitions and make step change in my role as a CTO. Thank you!

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  Joel played a crucial role as my coach during Florence’s rapid growth, both before and after our Series B raise. His coaching was instrumental 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 More ↓

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  Joel’s expertise in implementing effective mechanisms for building and managing large engineering teams has been invaluable. His flexible approach to leadership and strategy has allowed us to tailor solutions that align with SMPnet’s unique needs. Whether it’s streamlining workflows, optimising team dynamics, or fostering a culture of continuous improvement, Joel’s guidance has been adaptive and responsive to the evolving challenges of scaling engineering teams.

  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.

Find out more about the coaching and mentoring that I offer.

Impact and influence

I support many of my clients to increase the impact that they have in their role.

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  Joel has really helped me to grow in my current role. For each of the challenges I have been facing, he worked with me to help me understand how I could look at the problem differently and ensure I was focused on solving the right problems. Joel has been instrumental to my personal development, helping ensure I am set up for success not just in the present but in to the future too. He has helped me get the best out of my team and understand the needs and motivations of my peers and stakeholders across the business.

  I highly recommend Joel as a coach for any engineering lead looking for an experienced mentor. The impact he has made on my career development has been clear to many of my colleagues, and the advice he has given me will help me for many years to come.

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  Joel helped me figure out practical steps to take to communicate my ideas across my organisation and build buy-in and commitment to change. With his coaching, I was able to see my options more clearly and often found that I already had the answers in front of me.

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  As a newly minted tech executive in a fast growing company, Joel was an amazing resource and guide in my growth journey.

  Navigating the complexities of exec team dynamics, inherent tension between short and long term business decisions, and trying to create something truly built to last can be… difficult. During our sessions, Joel would always ask questions forcing me to thinking harder and dig deeper, eventually becoming more successful through reading the room and what is on peoples’ minds that they aren’t saying out loud.

  I highly recommend Joel to anyone who needs someone to help them level up and seek a higher understanding of their tech leadership craft.

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  Joel made it very easy to share my thoughts, feelings, aspirations and challenges. He very quickly got to the root cause of issues, helped me navigate politics and gave me confidence in my own voice. He has profoundly changed the way I interact with my peers and those senior to me. He brings all of his incredible experience to the table as a coach and he is worth every penny More ↓

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  I was lucky enough to work with Joel as my coach. Although I’ve been an engineering leader for several years, I wanted to improve and be reassured during a challenging period in my job.

  During our programme, he helped me to be more explicit in stating what I want and to gain confidence by focusing on my strengths. We talked about how to handle difficult relationships, with Joel expertly turning around my questions so that I drew my own conclusions. The outcome was that I moved into a new role, a change that may not have happened without the programme.

  Joel has a wonderfully calm, patient and curious approach. He’s incredibly easy to talk to, and our sessions were never a chore. I now have a priceless toolkit of techniques and practices to use in the future. It can be lonely as a technology leader, so get yourself expert support and guidance by working with Joel.

Find out more about the coaching and mentoring that I offer.

Focus and clarity

Coaching can be really powerful in terms of supporting you to cut through the noise, focus on what is really important and find a clear path forward.

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  I worked with Joel over the past two years at a particularly intense phase for both me and the company. What stood out is his ability to cut through noise and get to the real problem, often in a way that felt obvious in hindsight but wasn’t at all at the time. He helped me sharpen how I think, communicate, and prioritise, and pushed me to be more deliberate in how I show up as a leader. I can draw a clear line between that work and how I operate today.

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  I really valued Joel’s extensive experience as a CTO, which meant he could offer useful advice and support, as well as work through tricky problems with me. He helped me focus on strategic priorities even when there were urgent activities competing for my time.

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  Looking back through a year’s worth of reflections, I can see a clear change in how I think about leadership. I spend less time trying to solve every problem myself and more time creating clarity, setting direction, and helping others succeed. I’ve become more reflective, more intentional, and more aware of where I add value as a leader.

  The impact has been real. Better conversations. Better decisions. More confidence. More clarity. A better understanding of my role and where I should spend my energy. More ↓

• I would come to a session with some big topic on my mind and by the end I would have a clear path forward and a weight lifted from my shoulders. I wholeheartedly recommend Joel as coach!

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  After a coaching session with Joel, I always feel my mind is clearer and more focused.

Find out more about the coaching and mentoring that I offer.

Building confidence

Coaching to build your confidence in yourself and your decision-making enables you to perform at your best.

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  The impact of my coaching program with Joel was multifold. I gained more confidence, I have learned to trust myself more, when seeking solutions to tough problems I would ask myself the thought-provoking questions Joel used to ask me. Though our program has ended, the impact continues. I highly recommend Joel’s coaching.

• Our coaching sessions were really challenging in a good way. I came away from each session with a real feeling of being able to tackle any problem, and with a collection of tools and mental models to help me approach the challenges that lay ahead. Joel is fantastic at asking the right questions to prompt reflection and to help you unlock your thinking. His coaching helped me rebuild my confidence and rediscover my strengths.

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  Joel is magic. I was really impressed with how much progress I was able to make with his support. He is a natural at making you feel proud of yourself and your work. He encourages you to seek out your own answers and helps you build the confidence to make the changes that you need to make.

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  Joel’s coaching has been genuinely transformative for my career toolkit, giving me the strategies, mindset, and support to not only identify my goals, but a clear path to achieve them. I’ve dialed up my bravery and learned to voice, and even run towards, the things that scare me. Even my friends have felt the ripple effect and benefited indirectly, because his strategies and insights are impossible not to share More ↓

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  Joel helped me get out of my own head in a practical, not-fluffy way. We worked through real situations that I am facing in my role. By the end, I wasn’t just handling those situations differently; I was going into them with more confidence.

  I finished the programme with a clearer sense of the leader I am (not the one I thought I needed to be), and enough confidence to make a big decision I’d been putting off.

  If you’re at a crossroads or just feeling like you’re not operating at the level you know you can, I’d recommend Joel without hesitation.

Find out more about the coaching and mentoring that I offer.

Growth that lasts

Coaching supports you to develop the tools, habits and ways of thinking that continue to serve you long after our work together ends.

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  Over two years, I worked with [Joel], I dealt with some of my most difficult professional challenges, and I’ve grown into a well-rounded engineering leader in a way I’m very proud of. I use the tools and frameworks Joel helped me develop every single day. His support and coaching while I went on this long professional journey are something I’ll always value.

  Growth isn’t linear, and he never pretended it was. One of my favourite things I’m taking away is something he said about the phrase “we should do this”, it’s a terrible way to look at things, because nothing is a “should”. It’s always about whether it’s the right fit at the right time. That’s shifted how I think about a lot of decisions More ↓

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  Joel’s coaching sessions were nothing short of exceptional. I felt heard and empowered during these sessions. They made space for deep thinking and were also action driven. I’ve experienced an immense amount of growth as a result of these coaching sessions. I highly recommend coaching with Joel.

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  I found it very easy to connect with Joel’s coaching style. He was able to provide the pace that I needed, never rushing the conversation nor lingering unnecessarily on any one topic. He clearly had the experience needed to handle some particularly complex situations I brought forward. I gained real, practical value from his insights and suggestions and his coaching has resulted in a lasting influence how I execute my role and my professional life in general.

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  Joel doesn’t just give you answers—he helps you find them within yourself. His coaching approach unlocks the knowledge and skills you already possess, making solutions feel authentic and personally meaningful. The result? Better retention and real-world application because I felt the insights were truly mine.

Find out more about the coaching and mentoring that I offer.

Landing your next role

When you are looking to make a change in your career, coaching can provide powerful support to get clear on your goals and then achieve them.

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  I cannot recommend Joel highly enough. He is a thoughtful and considered coach who guides you through your own thoughts and limiting beliefs with a sturdy and trustworthy hand.

  Thanks to him, I took on some experiments in social interactions and improved my own understanding of what was important to me in both my work and development. With these actions, I landed a new job - moving me in the direction I wanted while also increasing my salary by over 20%.

  If you want someone who will just tell you what to do, that’s not Joel. Instead, he will help you uncover what you really want and what is stopping you from getting there, offering suggestions and thought-provoking questions along the way.

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  Joel’s coaching sessions were fantastic! I came away from each session feeling positive and confident. Joel listens and reflects back in a way that brings clarity and focus. He asks questions to help you dig deeper. He offers tools, practical solutions and direct advice when asked.

  Not only did I achieve my goal, to take my next career step into a role that is meaningful, challenging and exciting, I also have more clarity on what I value at work, more confidence in expressing my opinion in difficult situations, and better able to navigate professional relationships. And most importantly, I feel bolder! I highly recommend Joel!

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  Working with Joel was like having a critical friend who truly understood my world. He had a talent for asking the right question at the right time. He was comfortable in challenging me when needed and offered valuable insights from his own experience when appropriate.

  During our time together, I regained confidence in my technology leadership skills, gained clarity on my career goals, and ultimately found the right role for me. Joel continued to be a valuable sounding board during the first few months of my new role.

  If you’re a technology leader I highly recommend working with Joel. He is calm, approachable, and will help you gain clarity on your goals and support you in achieving them More ↓

• What sets Joel apart is his exceptional talent for non-judgmental communication and his dedication to active listening. These qualities, combined with his deep industry knowledge, created a safe and effective coaching environment. With Joel’s guidance, I not only found clarity in my career goals but also gained the confidence and skills to pursue them.

Find out more about the coaching and mentoring that I offer.

Working out what you really want

Coaching can support you to clarify what you really want from your work and the kind of leader you want to be.

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  What stood out most to me was Joel’s ability to gently challenge and guide me toward a clearer understanding of the kind of leader I want to be—and the kind of organization I want to work for. Through our work together, I’ve gained more confidence in my leadership style and a stronger sense of direction for the next chapter of my career.

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  I started working with Joel when I was feeling stuck in my role. My team had grown significantly in a short period of time and I was also unsure what I needed to do in order to take the next step in my career.

  Joel’s coaching helped me better define what I wanted from my role and career while also giving me a toolkit to support myself going forward. Joel doesn’t hand you answers. He asks questions about what outcomes you actually want, what the other person’s incentives are, and what concrete step you can take right now. That approach forced me to slow down and reflect rather than jumping straight into solutions.

  Through our work together I got better at giving timely feedback, reframing my ideas in a way that resonated with others, and building relationships across my organization. He helped me see that taking the first step matters more than over-analyzing the whole problem. That shift changed how I operate day to day. I feel set up for long term growth as a leader in a way I didn’t before we worked together.

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  Joel helped me identify what I really wanted from my career. He helped me navigate my thoughts, aspirations, and emotions and supported me in transitioning to a new role that aligned much more with my personality, skillset, and overall career ambitions.

  Throughout the journey, Joel encouraged me to reflect and introspect deeply. He would challenge me where I needed to be challenged and he would support me where I needed to be supported - while continuously sharing relevant experiences and insights along the way.

  I’ll always look back at this period of my life as a significant turning point in my career and I have Joel to thank for that.

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  Joel’s style of coaching resonated with me and I found our first conversation very engaging, with an healthy dose of challenge. Joel managed to pick up on a lot of nuances on what I was saying. He gently questioned and challenged some of my thoughts and perceptions of myself, and situations around me. Even when it made me feel (physically) uncomfortable, with his help, I was able to navigate my ways of thinking and identify where I was heading into negative thinking/behaviours and adapt my approach More ↓

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  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 More ↓

Find out more about the coaching and mentoring that I offer.

What it is like to be coached by me

My clients can give you a flavour of what the experience of being coached by me would be like.

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  Working with Joel has been transformative for my career as a senior technical leader. His unique blend of coaching and mentoring combined with deep expertise helped me navigate complex leadership challenges, guiding me to understand myself better than I could’ve ever imagined in the process.

  Joel creates a space where you can think clearly, challenge your own assumptions and discover solutions you didn’t know you already had. I’m endlessly grateful for his guidance, it’s genuinely been life-changing for me.

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  What I appreciated most about Joel’s coaching was his calm and thoughtful style. He didn’t just address the symptoms but helped me through a process of discovery to get to the root causes holding me back. He challenged me with tough questions, sometimes to the point where I didn’t have immediate answers and then guided me through frameworks and solutions.

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  Joel has an impressive ability to create a safe space and calmly discuss a range of topics and to provide useful input. His coaching would benefit anyone who is going through a difficult and stressful challenge in engineering leadership.

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  I was a bit sceptical about the coaching approach - I didn’t really believe that I could possibly have the answers, and wanted someone else with more experience to advise me, not ask me questions!

  However, I actually found it very effective. Joel asked incredibly insightful questions, which allowed me to really dig into the issues I was experiencing, and look at them from different perspectives. He helped me tackle some difficult relationships and situations at work, and supported me in identifying actions that I could take even when I felt that certain things were beyond my control.

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  Just giving advice is fairly easy, but Joel does the hard stuff (and makes it feel natural and easy!) by asking open questions, providing time and silence for one to work through problems yourself - no judgement, no strong opinions, just the odd nudge or asking for clarity and you find yourself leading yourself to various conclusions.

Find out more about the coaching and mentoring that I offer.

My work as a CTO

I offer both coaching and mentoring and so you are able to tap into my experience of being a CTO.

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  Joel was the founding CTO and subsequently COO of FutureLearn from launch and laid the foundations for its successful fundraise at a valuation of £100m in 2019. He is not only a clear expert in his technical field but also one of the best managers and leaders I have had the privilege of working with.

  The high-performance, supportive culture that we built at FutureLearn was heavily influenced by Joel’s leadership instincts and expertise. I strongly endorse Joel as an outstanding CTO and extremely valuable all-rounder in a start-up/scale-up company.

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  Joel is a talented CTO, who I’ve enjoyed working alongside for the past two and half years. He brings experience to the table, in not only building effective technology development teams but ones that are inclusive, supportive and that people love to work within. These skills have allowed Unmade to build better products but have also been applied across the organisation to make it operate more effectively as a whole.

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  The wealth of experience that Joel brings from his years as a CTO/COO in high-growth, mission-driven companies has been invaluable to us. He’s particularly astute when it comes to building great engineering cultures, and he really helped us shape our thinking around what we need to get our new tech product off the ground.

  I’d highly recommend him to any growing startups keen to build engineering teams that are inclusive and high performing.

• Joel operates smoothly at a C-suite level, where he’s knowledgeable and confident about technology but is also a great communicator with both fellow technologists and with “lay persons”. He’s got fantastic tech craft chops and is also highly skilled on the “people” side of things. He’s influential and calm, and able to build confidence with stakeholders and teammates alike. He’s also deeply credible on the operational aspects of digital businesses and departments.

  One of the best aspects of having Joel as a colleague and teammate is that he’s a fantastic role-model, both for peers and for the teams he manages. I really benefitted professionally and personally from working with Joel.

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  Joel ran the least dysfunctional engineering team I had ever worked in.