Next Level Leadership

What Next Level Leadership does

Next Level Leadership is a private, founder-owned executive coaching firm headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, founded in 2019 by Christy Brandt and Dave Story. The firm delivers one-on-one executive coaching to startup founders and C-suite leaders (CEOs, CTOs, CPOs, COOs) at companies that have achieved product-market fit and are scaling, typically Series A and later. The core offering is a $4,000/month retainer requiring a six-month initial commitment ($24,000), renewed quarterly thereafter, and includes weekly or fortnightly coaching sessions, unlimited asynchronous document review, quarterly Rolling 360 stakeholder feedback, game tape review, and pair coaching. Both principals are Master Certified Coaches (a credential held by fewer than 2,000 practitioners worldwide) with prior operating leadership at Tableau, Adobe, Lucasfilm, Intuit, and Orbital Insight. The firm reserves 20% of its capacity for women in leadership and maintains an average client engagement length of 2.5 years, with some clients exceeding five years.

The firm's go-to-market is sales-led and channel-driven, relying heavily on referral partnerships with at least nine top-tier venture capital firms (NEA, Sequoia, SignalFire, Emergence Capital, Bessemer, B Capital, Flourish, Village Global, and DNX Ventures) that direct portfolio company leaders to the practice. Distribution is direct-to-client via 1:1 sessions conducted over Zoom or phone with occasional in-person meetings in the San Francisco Bay Area. The firm employs proprietary methodologies including the Clean Commitments accountability framework, Rolling 360 feedback system, and Game Tape Review process, and offers complementary services (leadership team facilitation, workshops, organizational design) at separate fixed pricing. Named clients include Lyric, Nauto, Swing Education, Whisper.ai, Stride, Assembled, Federato, Glossier, NoRedInk, and Wheelhouse across EdTech, AI, InsurTech, Consumer, and Workforce verticals. The company is bootstrapped, holds no external institutional investment, and operates with a 1-10 person headcount.

Name

Next Level Leadership

Legal name

Next Level Leadership

Website

https://nextlevelleadership.consulting

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Next Level Leadership is a private, founder-owned executive coaching firm founded in 2019 that provides one-on-one coaching to startup founders and C-suite leaders at Series A and later stage companies, leveraging a $4,000/month retainer model and VC referral channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Executive Coaching Services

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

C-Suite & Senior Executive Coaching (EDABANAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Founder/Entrepreneur & Family Business Executive Coaching (EDABANAM), Team & Group Executive Coaching (Leadership Teams) (EDABANAF), Corporate & Leadership Development (BPACANAA)

Keywords

• Executive coaching services
• Leadership development consulting
• Founder coaching
• Executive team facilitation
• CEO advisory services

Headquarters

HQ city

Menlo Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Executive Coaching Retainer: Monthly retainer model at $4,000/month with initial 6-month commitment ($24K), then renewed quarterly. Includes 1:1 coaching, unlimited async document review, quarterly Rolling 360 feedback, and access to both Christy and Dave for pair coaching sessions.
2. Additional Consulting Services: Leadership team facilitation, workshops, org design, and deeper consulting work priced separately with fixed pricing before engagement start. This supplements the core coaching retainer.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Next Level Leadership provides one-on-one executive coaching to startup founders and C-suite executives (CEOs, CTOs, CPOs, COOs, CTPOs) at companies that have achieved product-market fit and are scaling. The offering is delivered by two Master Certified Coaches, Christy Brandt and Dave Story, as a $4,000/month retainer with a six-month initial commitment, supplemented by separately priced services including leadership team facilitation, workshops, and organizational design.

Product overview

Next Level Leadership offers a unified executive coaching service for startup founders and CxOs, featuring 1:1 coaching with either Christy Brandt or Dave Story as the core offering. The service is supplemented by pair coaching sessions (2-on-2 with both coaches), Rolling 360 assessments, and Christy-and-Dave joint consulting calls. Clients receive access to the Clean Commitments Framework methodology, game tape review of recorded meetings, and unlimited async document review. Additional services like leadership team facilitation and organizational design are available at extra cost. Pricing is structured as a $4,000/month retainer with a six-month initial commitment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Executive Coaching Retainer
• Leadership Team Facilitation and Consulting

Quantifiable outcome

• Dramatic leadership growth documented through 360 feedback — gaps identified in first 360 listed as strengths in subsequent 360 reviews
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Reboot.io (Jerry Colonna): Founder-focused executive coaching firm led by Jerry Colonna. Most comparable in mission and clientele (tech founders and executives), with a similar coach-led, system-aware methodology. Differs in single-headliner model vs. Next Level's dual-coach structure.
• Conscious Leadership Group: Leadership coaching collective serving executives and founders with emphasis on authenticity and conscious leadership. Overlaps in methodology (transformative coaching for tech executives) and clientele, though typically less operator-pedigreed than Next Level.
• The Boda Group: Boutique executive coaching firm specializing in tech and venture-backed company leaders. Comparable in target market (tech executives) and boutique delivery model, though broader in scope than Next Level's founder-CxO narrowing.
• Marshall Goldsmith Coaching: Marshall Goldsmith is one of the most recognized executive coaches globally, serving CEOs and senior leaders. Comparable as a premium, individual-led executive coaching practice with a published methodology (Stakeholder Centered Coaching), though serving a broader Fortune 500 audience than Next Level's startup-CxO focus.
• Polaris Leadership Consultants: Boutique executive coaching and leadership development firm with a focus on technology leaders and founders. Comparable in delivering 1:1 coaching for tech executives with deep operator backgrounds, serving a similar Bay Area clientele.
• Velocity Group: Executive coaching and leadership development firm with strong footprint in Silicon Valley tech executives. Comparable as a boutique, premium-priced coaching practice serving VC-backed leadership teams.

Emerging players

• Sounding Board: Technology-enabled executive coaching platform that pairs enterprises with executive coaches. Comparable as an executive coaching provider, differing in scale, platform distribution, and broader enterprise vs. Next Level's startup-only, VC-referred acquisition model.
• Torch (acquired by IMPACT): Tech-enabled executive coaching platform for leaders and teams, with measurable outcomes dashboards. Comparable in serving executives and leadership teams, though more platform-driven and less operator-pedigreed than Next Level's two-master-coach model.

Broad incumbents

• BetterUp: Large-scale leadership coaching and development platform with broad enterprise reach. Comparable as an executive coaching provider to senior leaders, but operates with scaled platform model vs. Next Level's boutique, dual-coach operator-led offering.
• Korn Ferry Leadership Consulting: Global leadership advisory firm offering executive coaching as part of a broader portfolio of talent and organizational consulting. Adjacent/overlapping in service (executive coaching) but operates at enterprise scale with broader offerings; cited here as a broad incumbent serving C-suite across industries.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Next Level Leadership