Your Async Innovation Advisor
Enjoy the Flexibility of Our Async Advisory Package
We empower you in a flexible manner without live meetings, tailored to fit your busy schedule
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Async Innovation Advising: How It Works
Receive relevant and action-oriented strategic guidance based on your top priority without meetings.
(Learn more about our packages and pricing.)
The below illustrates our standard “trial period” engagement, which can be modified based on your needs.
Three key phases
• Phase 1: Problem Refinement. Clearly refine the top challenge to ensure focused solutions
• Phase 2: Solution Prototyping. Release initial implementations and/or quick wins to assess impact
• Phase 3: Solution Iteration. Improve solutions and next steps based on feedback and insights
Trial Period Engagement
Every engagement begins with a low-risk trial period, allowing us to ensure that the relationship is a mutually-beneficial fit. There is zero obligation to continue after the trial period.
Phase 1: Scope & Problem Refinement (1-2 weeks)
Clearly refine the top challenge to ensure focused solutions
Own | Own / Deliverable | Average Timing |
Client | • Align on Scope of Work • Sign Contract with Confidentiality Agreement • Pay Invoice | Must complete to start engagement |
Advisor Client | • Ask questions to refine problem and constraints async • Synthesize information to refine problem • Name start date in writing • Share relevant existing data or artifacts • Confirm primary point of contact • Answer key questions and confirm refinement | 1-2 weeks |
Phase 2: Solution Prototyping (3-6 weeks)
Release initial implementations and/or quick wins to assess impact
Own | Own / Deliverable | Average Timing |
Advisor | • Share template roadmap of key steps, based on the materials • Share reading materials and templates based on top need • Respond to client questions and make needed refinements | 1-2 weeks |
Client | • Modify roadmap of key steps based on needs and constraints • Draft materials and quick wins with target market • Provide feedback on engagement via survey | 2-4 weeks |
Phase 3: Solution Iteration (3-6 weeks)
Improve solutions and next steps based on feedback and insights
Own | Own / Deliverable | Average Timing |
Both | • Provide feedback on client's progress and implementations based • Provide feedback on a roadmap of next steps given new learnings • Respond to client questions and requests for help • Optional: Draft/publish a blog/social post | 1-2 weeks |
Client | • Refine deliverables and roadmap based on feedback • Provide feedback on engagement via survey • Discuss and share decision to continue past the “trial period” in writing | 2-4 weeks |
Innovation Advisor to Strategic Social Impact Executives
I look forward to my discussions with Dan more than any other. After each call, I come away with tangible work products that we can immediately apply.
Dan Wu is incredible. His CEO coaching has been transformative for me. He adeptly, patiently, and carefully facilitates conversations so that we both come away with new insights, to which he immediately follows up with strategies and practical steps. While we started work on product managing, Dan uncovered that my priorities shifted to go-to-market, sales, fundraising, and operations, and was able to step in all these other domains to provide support.
I look forward to my calls with Dan more than any other. After each call, I come away with tangible work products that we can immediately apply. His questions, content, and templates elegantly clarify problems, break them down into smaller pieces, and generate new experiments to test. Our work together has resulted in faster learning and growth across these critical and diverse domains. Maybe most importantly, our work has instilled a new sense of progress, hope, and energy that is so valuable in the ups and downs of being a startup CEO. His capacity to distill challenges, unlock creative solutions, and his keen ability to make individuals feel heard and valued has been a major reason for our productive sessions.
He’s a light, helping me see with more clarity where to spend my energy and how to move us forward. I highly recommend Dan to others seeking coaching for their startup, in GTM, product, sales, or all of the above!
- CEO, Brightlines (women-own/led) & former Partner, Truman National Security Project
Dan showed me the power of an excellent coach, introducing me to fresh models, novel approaches, and assuming the roles of both thought partner and accountability advocate.
I've always approached coaching with a certain skepticism, believing that the value lies in someone who has outperformed me by tenfold. My work with Dan as a CEO coach has dramatically altered this perspective. Dan showed me the power of an excellent coach, introducing me to fresh models, novel approaches, and assuming the roles of both thought partner and accountability advocate. His guidance has been pivotal in driving me towards strategic objectives that often slip down the priority list, but with his insights, are now achieved more swiftly and thoughtfully.
For instance, Dan’s coaching has been invaluable in accelerating our fundraising and recruiting process. His proactive approach in identifying our most pressing priorities, prioritizing our top jobs-to-be-done, and linking them to our success criteria to our hiring process has already made a significant impact. With his assistance, we not only pinpointed an exceptional candidate but also nimbly steered away from potential pitfalls.
Furthermore, what sets Dan apart as an CEO coach compared to others I’ve worked with is his ability to translate blockers and priorities into action in real time. The artifacts we craft together in our sessions build upon prior work, setting us up for immediate impact and continuous progress and learning. I highly recommend him and am grateful for his expertise. I’m excited to refer him to my portfolio companies.
- Managing Partner & Co-founder at Third Sphere VC (formerly Urban Us)
Strategic Vision: Innovation Advisor Field Notes
How to create a high-impact strategic vision so you can drive community impact
Gallery view
Messaging and Positioning Template: Learning From Data
Messaging and Positioning Template: Testing
Messaging and Positioning Template: Ideal Client Profile
Messaging and Positioning Template: Overcoming Objections
Messaging and Positioning Template: Marketplace Category
Messaging and Positioning Template: Differentiated Solution
Messaging and Positioning Template: Core Unmet Needs
Messaging and Positioning Template for Social Impact Leaders
Quick Micro Feedback with a Well-Crafted Voice of Customer Survey
Tech-Enabled Services Versus SaaS Business Model: Key Metrics
Founder-Market Fit: Essential CEO Skills
Founder Market Fit: Intellectual Curiosity and Unmet Customer Needs
Founder Market Fit: The Overlooked Path to Your Ideal Client Profile
Donor Retention: Impact Stories for Nonprofit Effectiveness
Build Storytelling Skills for Emotional Impact and Donor Retention
Effective Donor Retention: Impact Stories in the Donor Journey
Successful Donor Retention with Compelling Impact Stories
Ideal Client Profile: Why You Need Strategic Learning
Three Prompts to Uncover Your Founder-Market Fit in Your Innovation Strategy
5 Great Questions for Nonprofit Storytelling and Donor Retention
City of the Future: Co-cities to Empower Communities (Fordham)
City of the Future: Empower Communities (Fast Company)
Responsible Tech: Empowering Communities Through Data Trust (Bloomberg)
The Future of Technology is in Highly Regulated Industries (Techcrunch)
Housing Innovation: Ideas to Empower Communities (Techcrunch)