Northstar Strategy Sessions

Guiding non-technical founders through critical strategic decisions

Northstar strategy sessions help non-technical founders make confident, high-impact decisions. I provide actionable guidance across business, product, technology, talent, and AI, helping you focus on what matters most and build a roadmap that actually gets results.

What This Is

Northstar is a comprehensive strategy service for non-technical founders. It gives you the clarity and guidance to make confident decisions across product, technology, business, and team development. Each pillar is designed to turn complexity into actionable insight and set a clear path forward.

Business Strategy

• Identify the 2–3 key growth levers that will move your business forward fastest
• Map key opportunities and risks in your market
• Produce a decision framework to focus resources on what matters most

Automation & AI Strategy

• Identify internal processes that can be automated to save time and reduce errors
• Pinpoint AI and automation opportunities that save time, reduce errors, or unlock new value for your users
• Deliver a practical AI plan with clear steps for integration

Product Strategy

• Turn customer feedback and market research into clear product priorities and feature decisions
• Define features that drive differentiation and adoption
• Deliver a product roadmap with actionable next steps for iterations and launches

Technical Strategy

• Assess your current or planned architecture for bottlenecks or inefficiencies
• Recommend scalable, maintainable approaches to support your product roadmap and future growth
• Deliver a technical roadmap that aligns with business and product goals

Talent Strategy

• Identify key roles and skill gaps for your team
• Create systems for evaluating candidates and retaining top contributors
• Assess and recommend candidates, contractors, or vendors to strengthen your team and reduce hiring risk
• Provide a hiring and team development plan to reduce costly mistakes

Typical Outcomes

Typical outcomes include:

• Clear understanding of your key growth levers and strategic priorities
• Aligned product, technical, and talent plans to support your goals
• Identification of high-value opportunities for AI and automation
• Reduced risk and uncertainty in critical decisions
• A clear, step-by-step roadmap to prioritize initiatives, track progress, and iterate confidently
• Confidence that every action is tied to measurable outcomes
• Practical guidance on where and how AI or automation can accelerate your business and product outcomes

How It Works

Northstar strategy sessions are designed to turn uncertainty into actionable clarity. Engagements can be as broad or as deep as necessary to meet your goals. We can take a high-level look across your business to ensure all areas are working together and find opportunities for better alignment; we can dig deep in a single area to address specific concerns and adjust your trajectory; or anything in between.

Each engagement is collaborative, iterative, and tailored to your stage and goals.

1. Kickoff & Alignment

   • Clarify your vision, objectives, constraints, and success metrics
   • Identify the most urgent strategic questions to address
   • Set expectations and define how we’ll measure progress

2. Discovery & Assessment

   • Analyze your business, product, technical environment, and/or team
   • Map key opportunities, gaps, and risks
   • Gather insights to inform actionable recommendations

3. Strategic Planning

   • Prioritize initiatives and trade-offs based on impact and feasibility
   • Develop detailed roadmaps and step-by-step execution plans
   • Ensure plans are actionable, iterative, and aligned with your goals

4. Iterate & Refine

   • Review initial recommendations and adapt based on feedback
   • Integrate learnings from early experiments, user insights, or team input
   • Refine recommendations based on real-world feedback so every action is practical and impactful

5. Implementation Guidance

   • Provide advice and mentorship as you execute your strategy
   • Support critical decisions and adjustments along the way
   • Ensure your team and resources are aligned for maximum impact

What You Get

Tangible outputs and guidance make your strategy actionable:

• Written strategic plans and roadmaps for business, product, technical, talent, and AI initiatives
• Prioritized action items with clear trade-offs and rationale
• Recommendations for immediate and iterative next steps
• Frameworks for making ongoing decisions without needing technical expertise
• Direct mentorship and guidance on critical strategic choices
• Insights and tools to help your team execute efficiently and confidently

Engagement Model

Northstar strategy sessions are designed to fit your needs, stage, and comfort level with technical and strategic complexity. The engagement is collaborative, iterative, and founder-friendly.

• Flexible and adaptive: Works for founders at any stage, from early concepts to pre-seed or seed funding.
• Iterative process: Strategy is refined over multiple sessions, ensuring recommendations evolve as you gather insights or face new challenges.
• Hands-on guidance: You get practical advice and mentorship for decision-making without needing technical expertise.
• Risk reduction: We clarify priorities, trade-offs, and opportunities, so your time and resources are focused on what truly matters.
• Confidence and clarity: You leave each engagement with actionable next steps, a clear roadmap, and the knowledge to make informed decisions.
• Optional AI and automation guidance: Identify opportunities to streamline operations, improve customer experience, or add new features without unnecessary complexity

Next Steps

If you’re ready to make confident strategic decisions and take control of your next steps, reach out to schedule a short discovery call. This is an opportunity to discuss your goals and see how Northstar strategy sessions can provide a clear, actionable roadmap for your business, product, team, and technology.