Eric Grafstrom

Fractional CxO

CxO with deep expertise starting, growing and running technology companies.

We worked with Eric as a pre-PMF startup struggling to get our next MVP shipped. It was like night and day once Eric was on board.

Madeline Ngyuen, co-founder and CEO Talentdrop

Eric and I worked together to build an operational plan for Kiddom. If you are looking for operational and strategic guidance for a high-growth business, Eric can help in a wide variety of roles and projects

Ahsan Rizvi, Founder & CEO Kiddom

Eric quickly dove into the details of the business and helped support investors while helping me redirect the business (and team) in a new direction.

Gary Calyton, CEO Owl Camera

If you are a founder or exec of an early stage company, Eric is “the guy.” Do yourself a favor, call Eric.

David Gunn, COO GeoH

Eric has deep experience in the startup environment and has been a valuable advisor

Peter Yewell, Co-founder CEO Outpatient

I needed advice about fundraising and had to move quickly. Eric provided great advice, super helpful to have someone like him to talk it through.

Maxine Manafy, Founder and CEO (Stealth)

How I Can Help

Founders / investors /executive teams

1:1 Coaching

Coaching on a wide variety of topics, including fundraising, operations, building teams and more

Fractional Executive

Part time C-level support with decades of experience working with early stage companies

Problem Solving

Help navigating complex issues, problems with legal and financial implications.

Media Guest & Speaking

Engaging guest for conferences, business events, podcasts. A unique blend of insights and humor

Startups are hard and mistakes are part of it

Hiring at an early stage startup is different

About Me

I was one of the first to sell webcasting at broadcast.com and then moved from Dallas to London after Yahoo! acquisition working across Europe.

Landed with Yahoo! in Silicon Valley where I ran business development for a $600M business unit and jumped back into startups working with dozens of startups backed by some of the biggest names in venture capital. I am the founder at ExitGuide, a startup that is democratizing M&A for small business.

Eric Grafstrom

FAQs

How do you work with founders or early stage startups?

Coaching sessions are regular meetings with a set agenda. Frequency depends on how much progress can be made in between sessions. I typically send an agenda before we meet and strongly recommend the agenda be collaborative so we focus on what you need. I also send a post meeting follow up in bullet point format.

How do you charge?

I charge an hourly rate - most clients book me 1 - 3 hours per week and we have a set agenda for each session. I also can join Slack and address questions in between our sessions.

Is there minimum commitment?

No, if a single session helps you, that’s great. I’m a founder too - I get it and we can work together for weeks or months or on an as needed basis. Time is money, both of us are busy so let’s meet when it is helpful to you

What don’t you do?

Anything design related. I can provide an opinion on something but that’s it. While I have a broad range of verticals, I have no experience in Web3 so probably won’t help you there. I am not an engineer either.

Do you take equity for payment?

Nope

What makes you different from other startup coaches?

There are some great resources out there but there are also a lot of “coaches” that have not worked in a startup or been a founder. I use my decades of experience to provide pointed feedback and guidance to help you focus and hopefully avoid common mistakes. If I think an idea or approach is bad, I’ll tell you. What you do with my advice is up to you.

I am interested, what’s next?

Book a 15-minute call and we can discuss if I can be of help

All queries are replied within 24hrs.