Unlocking founder potential: A new leadership development program for growth-stage CEOs

The journey from early-stage founder to growth CEO brings a unique set of challenges.

Our recent surveys and ongoing conversations with founders consistently highlight how the skills and mindset that drive early-stage success often need to evolve as companies grow. The result is a clear need for targeted leadership development that bridges this transition, ensuring founders remain effective as leaders while scaling their organisations.

That’s why we are excited to introduce a bespoke leadership development program for growth-stage CEOs, Leading Through Scale, created in partnership with Better Faster Further, a leading U.S.-based leadership consulting firm. This program is part of our ongoing commitment to founder wellbeing and performance, built upon the insights and needs that we uncovered in our second annual Founder Wellbeing and Performance survey.

The challenge: Scaling leadership in rapidly scaling companies

Our research shows that the growth-stage challenges facing founders and CEOs are diverse and often deeply personal. While early-stage success often stems from quick decision-making, deep operational involvement, and high energy, these traits alone do not suffice as companies scale. The need to effectively delegate, maintain culture across multiple offices, and develop new processes and systems becomes paramount.

A key insight from our most recent survey is the impact that these growing pressures have on leaders. Nearly a quarter (23%) of founders surveyed reported finding it challenging to adapt their leadership style as their company scales. Moreover, Series B+ founders were twice as likely to struggle with finding the right external expertise and advisors to support their evolving businesses​. These statistics point to a broader truth: the leadership journey does not end with early-stage success—it transforms, and it requires new skills to match the complexity of a scaling organisation. 

A bespoke leadership program designed for CEOs

In response to these findings, we designed our new leadership program to focus on three key areas: leading self, leading teams, and leading the organisation. This approach acknowledges that effective leadership begins with self-awareness and resilience, extends to inspiring and developing teams, and ultimately culminates in shaping a cohesive organisational vision and culture.

What sets this program apart is its personalisation. We begin with in-depth interviews to understand each CEO’s unique challenges and development needs. This input, along with feedback from Balderton Partners, guides the tailored content delivered throughout the program. With a six-month duration, the program includes an in-person kick-off in London this month and monthly virtual sessions with smaller cohorts of CEOs, grouped by common challenges.

A community of peers: Expanding the CEO network

Leadership development doesn’t happen in isolation. As founders navigate scaling their businesses, connecting with others facing similar challenges can be a powerful resource. This program offers CEOs the opportunity to join a community of growth-stage leaders who can offer advice, share experiences, and build lasting relationships.

In our recent survey, founders reported relying heavily on their personal support networks—often to the point of strain. Only 33% of founders regularly turn to their investors for professional support​. By bringing together CEOs facing similar growth-stage hurdles, we aim to expand these support networks, fostering a culture of collaboration and shared learning.

The path forward

This new leadership program is an extension of our broader Wellbeing & Performance Platform, which has already supported more than 100 founders through exec coaching, health and fitness initiatives, and CEO forums. At its core, our Wellbeing & Performance Platform is driven by the belief that high performing founders build high performing companies. By providing structured leadership development opportunities, we’re investing in the long-term resilience and performance of our growth-stage leaders.

As investors, our role is not just to identify the next game-changing company but to support the individuals who drive them throughout the entire journey. This leadership program is one of many steps we are taking to proactively help founders scale themselves as they scale their organisations.

We look forward to learning alongside our first cohort of founders and continuing to refine our approach as we move forward.