Welcome back to the EUVC Podcast and today, a special Venture Beyond edition.
Joining Mike Reiner of 432 Legacy and Andreas Munk Holm is Dave Bailey - one of Europe’s most in-demand founder coaches, the brain behind FounderCoach.com, and a voice shaping how CEOs grow into their role.
Dave’s journey has been anything but linear: from co-founding startups like Delivery Hero to a stint in venture capital to now coaching Europe’s most ambitious CEOs. Along the way, he’s built a results-driven coaching methodology that balances competence, curiosity, and conviction.
If you’re a founder, VC, or operator wrestling with scaling leadership, navigating founder psychology, or turning board meetings into actual strategic levers - this episode is for you.
Here’s what’s covered:
01:10 | From Delivery Hero to VC to founder coach: Dave’s unorthodox path
05:00 | Why competence always comes before confidence
09:15 | The five pillars of Dave’s coaching methodology
13:40 | Founder Mode: planning and executing with quarterly rhythm
18:25 | Why visual clarity often beats verbal reflection
22:10 | The hidden link between trauma, ego, and founder drive
27:45 | Product launches as a culture-shaping mechanism
32:30 | How to transform board meetings into true strategic accelerators
38:50 | The founder’s mindset: obsessive curiosity + conviction
🎧 Now available on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
✍️ Show Notes
The Five Pillars of Dave’s Coaching Framework
1. To get what you want, you need to know what you want.
Dave places a huge emphasis on planning. Every quarter, he works with CEOs to develop their CEO agenda, building a clear roadmap of the results they need to achieve.
2. Competence comes before confidence.
He believes confidence comes after mastery, not before it. Dave invests heavily in training, helping clients build new skills faster. He sees great training as one of the most underrated activities in business and has spent much of his career perfecting this craft.
3. Teaching is the best way to learn.
Dave gives his clients opportunities to help each other, encouraging peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. He knows that when you teach others, you deepen your own insight and confidence.
4. Action precedes clarity.
He believes you don’t think your way into success—you act your way into it. Since first attempts rarely work, Dave pushes for agency and consistent action every week, ensuring clients integrate learning into their businesses.
5. Scale is a marathon not a sprint.
Dave emphasises that building a robust organisation takes time. While revenue may scale quickly, organisational strength requires long-term partnership and deliberate practice. The average CEO works with him for around two years, often longer.
Action Precedes Clarity
Too many coaching practices stop at reflection. Dave insists on tangible commitments and measurable outcomes. Results > rhetoric.
Visual Models as Leverage
Oral insights fade; visual models stick. They depersonalize feedback, clarify priorities, and scale across teams. Dave has codified 500+ frameworks that founders use with their exec teams.
Launch Cadence as Strategy
Great companies don’t just launch once. They launch regularly. Each launch = focus, external validation, and culture in motion.
Boards as Buyers of Insight
Founders too often show up to board meetings as “sellers.” Dave flips the script: the CEO is the buyer of insight and advice, the board is the supplier. With that mindset, boards become accelerators, not interrogators.
Who Should Listen
Founders/CEOs scaling from Series A to C.
Operators building cross-functional clarity and cadence.
VCs who want to move beyond “be helpful” and actually support founder growth.
Links
Dave Bailey — FounderCoach.com
Dave’s frameworks & workshops — Dave-Bailey.com
🤗 Join the EUVC Community
Looking for niche, high-quality experiences that prioritize depth over breadth? Consider joining our community focused on delivering content tailored to the experienced VC. Here’s what you can look forward to as a member:
Exclusive Access & Discounts: Priority access to masterclasses with leading GPs & LPs, available on a first-come, first-served basis.
On-Demand Content: A platform with sessions you can access anytime, anywhere, complete with presentations, templates, and other resources.
Interactive AMAs: Engage directly with top GPs and LPs in exclusive small group sessions — entirely free for community members.
