What Dare to Lead does

Dare to Lead is a privately held Canadian leadership development and professional services firm headquartered in Ottawa, founded circa 2015–2016 by partners Richard and Joël. The firm delivers four integrated service lines: Strategic Advice (consulting on culture, HR, and organizational challenges), Training & Facilitation (interactive workshops and retreats), Public Speaking (keynote talks on leadership, change, and service excellence), and Coaching (one-on-one leader development). The company is not a technology business; it operates as a boutique consultancy with no proprietary software, APIs, AI/ML components, or digital product surface beyond a Squarespace-hosted marketing website.

The firm serves both public- and private-sector organizational clients, with named engagements including the House of Commons Canada and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Its go-to-market is consultative and direct: prospective clients reach out via a "Get in Touch" form, followed by discovery conversations that scope tailored facilitation, training, or coaching engagements; pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Marketing is minimal, relying on the website, founder-led public speaking as a lead-generation channel, and a recently introduced email newsletter for prospect nurturing.

The business model is professional services revenue, with engagement-level billing across workshops, retreats, advisory, and coaching. Operations are constrained by the personal delivery capacity of the founders, with a stated headcount band of 1–10 employees and no disclosed external funding, parent company, or M&A activity. Dare to Lead is bootstrapped and founder-owned, with its primary assets being the founders' reputations, facilitation expertise, and reference relationships with Canadian federal institutions.

Name

Dare to Lead

Legal name

Dare to Lead

Website

https://daretolead.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Dare to Lead is a privately held Canadian boutique consultancy, founded circa 2015–2016 and based in Ottawa, that delivers leadership development, facilitation, coaching, and public-speaking services to public- and private-sector organizational clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Leadership Development Services

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Coaching, Mentoring & Facilitation Services (BPACANAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Executive Leadership & C-Suite Development (EDABAAAA), Strategy, Decision-Making & Business Acumen Coaching (EDABANAH), Thought Leadership & Executive Visibility (BPAFADAG)

Keywords

• Leadership development services
• Executive coaching
• Training facilitation
• Organizational consulting
• Team workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

Ottawa

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Leadership Training & Workshops: Interactive workshops and retreats delivered to organizational teams, providing engaging learning experiences on leadership, change management, and service excellence.
2. Coaching Services: Personalized one-on-one coaching support to help leaders thrive in their roles, likely structured as hourly or package engagements.
3. Strategic Advisory: Consulting engagements providing practical guidance on culture, HR, and organizational challenges.
4. Public Speaking: Keynote and inspiring talks on leadership, change, and service excellence delivered to organizational audiences.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Dare to Lead is a Canadian boutique leadership development consultancy that sells four integrated professional services to organizations: Strategic Advice (consulting on culture, HR, and organizational challenges), Training & Facilitation (interactive workshops and retreats that energize and connect teams), Public Speaking (keynote talks on leadership, change, and service excellence), and Coaching (personalized one-on-one support for leaders). Engagements are custom, quote-based, and delivered directly by the firm's founders to public and private sector clients across Canada.

Product overview

Dare to Lead is a leadership development services company offering four integrated service lines: Strategic Advice (practical guidance for culture, HR, and organizational challenges), Training & Facilitation (interactive workshops and retreats), Public Speaking (talks on leadership and service excellence), and Coaching (personalized support for leaders). The services are designed to be complementary, working with organizations in the public and private sectors to create engaging learning experiences that spark growth and lasting impact.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Advice Practical consulting guidance to help public and private sector organizations tackle culture, HR, and organizational challenges, delivered through direct advisory engagements with leadership teams.
• Training & Facilitation Interactive workshops and retreats designed to energize and connect teams, focused on leadership, change management, and service excellence learning experiences for public and private sector organizations.
• Public Speaking Keynote and inspiring talks delivered on leadership, change, and service excellence to organizational audiences across the public and private sectors.
• Coaching Personalized one-on-one coaching support to help individual leaders thrive in their roles, likely structured as hourly or package engagements within public and private sector organizations.

Named customers2 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

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Mandel Communications: Boutique training firm specializing in communication, presentation, and leadership development workshops for corporate and government audiences. Comparable to Dare to Lead as a workshop-and-facilitation-led boutique with public sector customers, though anchored in communications rather than general leadership.
• The Ken Blanchard Companies: Leadership training and development firm offering workshops, coaching, and organizational consulting built around the Situational Leadership methodology. Most directly comparable peer in terms of boutique-to-mid scale leadership training and facilitation service lines, including public sector and enterprise customers.
• Charge Coaching & Consulting: Canadian leadership coaching and consulting firm offering executive coaching, team facilitation, and organizational development to public and private sector clients. Closely comparable to Dare to Lead in geography (Canadian), scale (boutique), service mix (coaching, facilitation, advisory), and customer base.
• Bregman + Co: Boutique leadership and coaching consultancy working with executives and teams on communication, influence, and leadership development. Comparable to Dare to Lead as a founder-led boutique practice delivering facilitation, coaching, and keynotes to a mix of public and private sector clients.

Broad incumbents

• Korn Ferry: Global organizational consulting firm with deep executive coaching, leadership development, and talent management practices. Comparable to Dare to Lead across its coaching and strategic advisory lines, but operating at much larger scale with a much broader service portfolio.
• FranklinCovey: Public leadership and organizational performance company offering training, workshops, and coaching around the '7 Habits' framework and adjacent content. Comparable to Dare to Lead in delivering facilitation-based leadership training to enterprise clients, but with productized curricula and global delivery infrastructure.
• Center for Creative Leadership (CCL): Global nonprofit leadership development provider offering executive coaching, workshops, and custom programs to public and private sector organizations. Comparable to Dare to Lead in core service lines (coaching, facilitation, training) but at vastly greater scale, broader geographic reach, and deeper institutional research base.
• Deloitte (Human Capital / Public Sector): Big Four advisory firm with major human capital and public sector practices that bundle leadership development, change management, and organizational transformation. Comparable to Dare to Lead across strategic advisory and leadership development, but operating as a multi-service incumbent with substantial public-sector procurement share in Canada.

Emerging players

• LeaderFactor: Leadership development firm offering assessments, coaching, and training programs based on evidence-based leadership frameworks. Comparable to Dare to Lead in service mix (training, facilitation, coaching) but with more structured IP and assessment-led delivery.
• BetterUp: Digital coaching platform pairing employees with coaches via AI-matched mobile experience. Comparable to Dare to Lead's coaching line as a coaching provider to enterprise, but competes via scalable platform economics rather than bespoke in-person facilitation.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dare-to-lead-canada

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Dare to Lead