“Dan has a knack for finding people and organizations right at the moment when he can make a big impact. He helped our team work through our assumptions about what our company’s core business is, what it’s next stage of growth could be, and how to develop our people to thrive in that future.

Dan’s superpower is sparking those moments of clarity that help a team reframe its brand or value proposition—and then navigating the complex conversations that get the rest of the organization on board. He’s a gifted facilitator who knows how to work with many executive styles, and an asset to any company looking to sort its strategy!”

“Each time we work with Dan, we do some of our best work. Last year, he took our leadership team through a six-month strategic planning process, and we ended up with a clear picture of what we do best, a feel for the strengths we use to do it, and a series of experiments for trying out how we could stretch those strengths into new strategic opportunities

Dan’s one of the most gifted listeners I have ever met—and a natural teacher. He doesn’t just deliver recommendations, he works alongside us, so that after it’s over we’re still saying “How would Dan look at this?” or “How would he say what we’re seeing?” ”

“Dan’s our compass. He keeps us clear on the core value we’re offering—what our clients really want and what we really care about. He keeps us focused on the problem we solve better than anybody else out there, and plugged in to our reasons for doing what we do…so when we put ourselves out there—through the service we offer, or how we talk to prospects—we’re saying something true and authentic.”

“Dan really is a coach: for 5 months he partnered with our team on a human-centered design project—interviewing users, understanding their needs and values, turning these insights into a sharp-edged set of design principles that we can build toward. But we also got an unexpected bonus: a deep infusion of organizational capacity. The project is over, but we’re still feeling the impact: we’ve got a disciplined, simple process for ongoing user research; a way to learn from our customers what makes them happy and what makes them hurt; and the tools to course-correct as we go. I couldn’t recommend Dan more highly. ”

“We’re a literary organization full of great writers, but we’ve struggled for years to get our brand right. It felt impossible to find a single message that captured all the different parts of who we are, why we matter, and why our stakeholders should care. Along came Dan! Dan led us through a thoughtful, rigorous process that took us deep. He asked tough questions and pushed back when we weren’t being clear or going far enough. He helped us peel back the layers to get to what we really mean. The whole team is thrilled with our new branding: it’s honest, authentic, and aspirational.”

“Dan is our secret weapon for storytelling—a spellcaster who helps CEOs boil down their stories from maple sap into sweet maple sugar. Techstars has dozens of talented mentors, but none are better than Dan at helping CEOs craft a narrative that gets straight to the heart of what makes their company unique—that captures the impact only they can make on the world. And the proof isn’t just in what the CEOs say about Dan; every team he worked with increased their customer-base and were oversubscribed in subsequent funding rounds.”

“Dan’s human-centered approach to problem-solving has been crucial in helping us work through important challenges we’ve faced as a startup, like better articulating the value proposition of our product, improving our client on-boarding experience, and finding better ways to support and communicate with each other as a team. The inquiry process he takes us through helps us reframe our challenges—and generate new and original solutions to seemingly intractable problems.”