He spent a decade building tech companies in Silicon Valley. Now he builds the people who run them - one founder, one hard conversation, at a time.
Most mornings, Dane Holewinski is on a video call with a CEO who has a problem no spreadsheet can solve. A co-founder split. A board that has lost the plot. A team that is scaling faster than its leader. He runs Decode Coaching out of San Francisco, and his clients are the founders and chief executives of venture-backed startups - Tonal, Zendrive, RealBlocks and others - the kind of people everyone else turns to for answers.
His pitch is unusual for its honesty. He describes the job as supporting clients "in the darkest valleys, challenging them to peaks they thought unreachable, and holding them accountable so they grow faster than their companies." Note the order. Valley first. The peak is the reward, not the promise.
He knows the terrain because he walked it. Before coaching, Dane was a venture-backed founder and operator with more than ten years building technology companies - successful exits and failures both. He co-founded the mobile deep-linking startup Yozio. He ran marketing and operations at Greystripe through its acquisition. He cut his teeth advising Fortune 100 executives as a strategy consultant. The credential that matters most to his clients is not a certificate. It is that he has sat in the chair.
These days he also wears a second hat as CEO & Founding Team Coach at Seen Health, a culturally focused senior-care company that raised a $22M Series A in late 2024. Same instinct, new room: help the people at the top become the people the mission needs.
Holding them accountable so they grow faster than their companies.- Dane Holewinski, on the coach's job
Strategy consultant advising C-level executives at Fortune 100 companies. Learned how the biggest companies think - and where they get stuck.
Ran the company through to its acquisition by Asplundh. First time in the top seat.
Head of Marketing, Business Development & Media Operations at the mobile ad firm, through its acquisition by Conversant.
Helped build the mobile deep-linking startup, serving as founder and operator. The venture chapter - exits and lessons both.
Turns a decade of operating into a practice for founders and CEOs navigating rapid growth.
Joins as CEO & Founding Team Coach at the culturally focused senior-care company. $22M Series A follows in 2024.
His own shop. One-on-one coaching for startup CEOs and founders, grounded in scientific research, best practices, and the scars of having done it himself.
CEO & Founding Team Coach at a culturally focused senior-care venture built on the PACE model. Backed by a $22M Series A in late 2024.
The mobile deep-linking startup he co-founded - the chapter that gives his coaching its credibility. He has been the one staring at the runway.
A company can only outrun its leader for so long. The work is to make the founder grow faster than the org chart.
Hard-won experience is the most valuable thing in startups and the hardest to access. Coaching lends his, and his other clients', so founders skip the avoidable pitfalls.
Meditation, exercise and breathwork sit alongside the strategy. He treats a leader's nervous system as part of the cap table.