The project
Leadership coaching inside a mission-driven venture builder
Zinc is a London-based, mission-driven venture builder that gives talented people the time, space and support to build commercial businesses tackling some of society’s biggest challenges, from environmental crisis to sustainability and the future of ageing. Each cohort moves at pace, from a single societal challenge through deep research to founding a company.
I work as a leadership coach across the programme, providing one-to-one coaching to founders, CEOs and CTOs as they build. The work is about the human side of company-building: helping mission-led and technical leaders grow into the leaders their companies and teams need.
The challenge
Building a company is a test of leadership, not just ideas
Building a mission-driven company from scratch is intense, uncertain and personal. Founders and technical leaders are under pressure to make big decisions with incomplete information, while growing into new roles almost overnight.
- Stepping into leadership. A brilliant engineer becoming a CTO, or a specialist becoming a CEO, has to move from doing the work to leading the people who do it, a shift that is as much about identity as it is about skills.
- Co-founder dynamics. New, high-stakes relationships form fast, and the way founders communicate, share power and handle conflict can make or break the company.
- Ambiguity and pace. Decisions are made under real uncertainty and time pressure, with the mission raising the personal stakes.
- Isolation and self-doubt. Leaders often carry the weight alone, and imposter feelings are common in people doing something genuinely new.
“The hardest part of building a company is rarely the technology. It’s becoming the kind of leader the company needs you to be.”
My approach
A safe space to think, and to grow as a leader
As a Co-Active trained coach (CPCC) and ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC), I create a confidential, judgement-free space where leaders can think honestly, be challenged, and take real ownership of how they lead.
- One-to-one leadership coaching for founders, CEOs and CTOs, tailored to where each leader is in their journey and what their company needs from them next.
- Leadership identity and presence: supporting technical and specialist leaders as they step from doing into leading, and grow into a leadership style that is authentically theirs.
- Co-founder and team relationships: working through communication, trust, feedback and conflict so leaders can build cultures of psychological safety.
- Decision-making under uncertainty: helping leaders get clear on what matters, hold their nerve, and lead with intention rather than react to pressure.
- Resilience and wellbeing: keeping leaders sustainable and grounded through the emotional highs and lows of building something new.
The outcome
Leaders who build with clarity and confidence
The coaching helps Zinc’s founders and technical leaders lead more consciously and sustainably, better able to hold the pressure of building, and to bring their teams with them.
- Greater self-awareness and a clearer, more authentic leadership style.
- Stronger co-founder and team relationships, grounded in trust and honest communication.
- More confident decision-making in ambiguity, with leaders acting from intention rather than fear.
- Healthier, more resilient leaders who can sustain themselves through the intensity of building.
- Technical specialists growing into the leadership roles their companies need them to hold.
“Aimee was incredibly helpful in clarifying my objectives and guiding me toward practical solutions. Her advice was clear, actionable, and made a big difference in how I approach strategy for my own personal development roadmap. Aimee could use her varied coaching and business skills to provide focused guidance depending on what I needed. I’m very grateful for her support and would highly recommend her as a coach.”
Beata Green, Healthcare CTO, coached through Zinc
Reflections
What this work reinforces
- Leadership is the real work of building. Technical brilliance gets a company started; the ability to lead people is what lets it grow. Coaching that shift early pays off for the whole team.
- Self-awareness is a founder’s superpower. Leaders who understand their own patterns, triggers and values make clearer decisions and build healthier cultures around them.
- Mission intensity needs sustainable leaders. The bigger the mission, the higher the personal stakes, and the more leaders need space to stay grounded, resilient and well.
