I'm Dan—a leader turned coach who empowers people hungry for change.
How do you work with people?
- I support founders and leaders as an executive coach 🚀
- I mentor software engineers and managers as a career coach and mentor 🤓
- I partner with yogis and meditators as a contemplative guide 🧘
- I work with anyone seeking wider change as a life coach 😌
Who do you work with?
People are often people are drawn to work with me because we’ve gone through similar experiences, such as:
- working in Tech or being a founder
- struggling with burnout or work/life balance
- navigating career transitions or new roles
- reeling from difficult life events: divorce, separation and loss
- being a writer and trying to tame the creative process
- an engagement with meditation and awakening
That said, I enjoy working with anyone drawn to change, so please get in contact even if we’ve walked in different worlds.
What does it look like?
- First, we have a discovery call where I get to understand what you’re bringing. I’ll also introduce myself and share more on how I work. Some people come to coaching with a clear goal in mind. Others just have a gnawing sense of something being off or wanting more. Either way is a great way to start.
- Each coaching session is 1 hour long, and they can happen weekly or fortnightly. At each session, we’ll check in to see where things are at, what questions you’re bringing today and what would be most useful in the time we have. Some sessions are very exploratory, while others might be more strategic. This variation is normal and depends on where you are right now.
- All of this usually happens over Zoom, but if you’re in Bristol, UK we can work in person and even do some thinking outside! 🌳⛰️
About me
Career
I’ve spent the last 10 years building teams and companies and have been building things for nearly 20 years. Here are some highlights:
- Co-founder and Head of Engineering at Almanac (now Blaze). I built the initial product, contributed to our roadmap and vision, created our hiring pipeline and brought on 15 engineers. Together, we raised a $9m seed round followed by a $34 million Series A. I also provided technical leadership on our version control and real-time, multi-user editing features. Day-to-day, I worked as Head of Engineering, leading our small engineering team to build a platform that competed with Google Docs and Notion.
- Founder of OpenSit, an online meditation community where people could share public meditation journals. Starting as a solo passion project, OpenSit was acquired in 2017 and I went on to work with the new team as CTO. We developed a mindfulness app to assist people struggling with chronic pain in the US.
- CTO of SchoolGuide.co.uk. I was responsible for new feature development, product roadmap, managing engineers, data quality, and delivery of 30,000 UK schools worth of data. Technical point of contact for both Rightmove and Mumsnet, two of the UK’s biggest property and parent sites.
- Engineering Manager at GoCardless. Managing two high-performing engineering teams whilst deputising as Product Manager, working closely with high-level stakeholders in company-level objectives & contributing to strategy around Open Banking and reconciliation.
- Wrote a Perl script at the ripe old age of 14 that was featured in a Linux magazine.
Personal
- I am a lifelong learner and read vociferously on anything from ancient philosophy to modern psychology. I’m always happy to recommend books.
- I love being outside, hiking and wild camping.
- I share a newsletter every Friday on Substack. If you’re a geek, yogi, creative or builder you’ll probably like it.
- I’ve been engaged with meditation and the process of awakening since my early 20s, starting in the Insight Meditation (Vipassana) tradition before exploring self-inquiry, heart work, somatic work and Western wisdom traditions. I have come to appreciate the importance of a balanced ecology of practices.
- I’ve struggled with anxiety & panic attacks, depression and burnout at various points in my life and written candidly about what it was like. These were difficult times but there were deep gifts on the other side of them.
- I’ve run 7 ultramarathons. In 2018, I ran 100km in a day and raised money for the mental health charity, Mind.
- I have a cockapoo called Reuben. You will likely meet him if we work together.
- I live in Bristol, UK. Known for Banksy, trip-hop, throwing statues in rivers and alternative feel-good vibes.
I’ve spent my life navigating these different spaces and as a result feel equally at home in the personal, professional or philosophical.
Why I coach
- I came to coaching through crisis. After going through divorce and burnout simultaneously, I left my job and realised that I needed to be doing something different. I started sharing my story and it resonated with lots of people. Those conversations rekindled my passion for helping people flourish and convinced me that I wanted to be a coach.
- Working as a coach has taken my existing mentoring and leadership experience to a more personal and transformative level, and I love working with people in this way. I’m amazed at the depths that can open up in a single question and the impact of giving someone your undivided, rapt attention.
- I did a 9-month training as a Transformative Coach with Animas. Their Accredited Diploma is built on the foundations of psychology, change-theory and humanistic practice and allows accreditation with all the major coaching bodies.
Testimonials
“Dan was an incredibly supportive and empathetic coach during my life and career transition. He guided me in reframing my thinking, helping me identify fallacies and reshape my mental models to align more closely with who I am today rather than who I was. I highly recommend working with Dan to anyone navigating change or seeking clarity.”
—Anon, transitioning to a side hustle
“You invited me to be still and think and listen to my intuition. You allowed me to think for myself… I started to believe my intuitions”
—Rosie Riley
“Just to say thanks Dan, for your wisdom and input while I was struggling with some anxiety over this winter - really helpful and grateful for your guidance and hard-learned knowledge. I have an improved understanding and technique, plus some handy background reading. Really useful! Your guidance has helped already.”
—Andrew Gifford, Tech Recruiter
The essence of coaching
Are you looking to stretch into your aspirations, unpack difficult situations or find clarity in the daily fog of life?
Coaching is one name for the rare, transformative conversations that open doors, create momentum and accelerate change. The coaching relationship and the dialogue that springs from it can help you identify obstacles, cultivate resilience and forge a clear path ahead. I hold a non-judgemental space and pilot our inquiry in a way that gives you the freedom to think big, small and anything in between.
We are often held back from our aspirations by the areas we fear to look at. Transformative coaching can foster awareness of inner critics, limiting beliefs and shadow sides. An intimacy with this inner ecology transforms our actions.
Coaching is unique in that it operates in a sphere of equality. Coaching is not giving advice. I am not the expert and you’re not the patient—we are partners in this exploration. Coaching is led by you, wildly optimistic about human potential and inherently future-focused.
Most importantly, it is pragmatic and delivers results. Profound change in long-standing challenges can unfold in just a few sessions.
FAQS
People are often unsure what coaching involves, so here are some short FAQs that might help. If you’re still unsure, book a free discovery call and I can help explain the details.