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Clarity

Marcy Swenson

San Francisco, California

As an executive coach for startup CEOs/CTOs, I support growth-stage entrepreneurs in becoming happy & successful leaders, now that they've survived the chaos of the earlier stages. I'm a seasoned co-founder with several successful exits, and built the tech team that led to CPTH's IPO.

Some favorite topics are: building & leading an exec team, finding your voice as a leader, delivering effective feedback, having difficult conversations, transparency, making challenging decisions, feeling overwhelmed, creating accountability, setting & tracking goals, and creating habits that reinforce company values.

$10.00/min

Marcy donates to Planned Parenthood ($1,800.16)

20

20 Calls

33

33 Reviews

about 1 hour
Avg. call

Entrepreneurship Start-ups Executive Coaching Leadership Team Building Strategic Planning Technology Management Leadership Development Culture Building

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Startups, Leadership, Executive Coaching

Successful entrepreneur w/multiple exits; built the tech team that led to CPTH IPO. Executive coach for startup founders; love to help with leadership, planning, strategy, productivity, challenges of holding up under pressure, overwhelm.

Answers 1
Reviews 33

Answers

Marcy Swenson answered

What are the top 5 books on leadership that have influenced you the most?

Good to Great (Collins)
Getting Naked (Lencioni)
Managing Humans (Lopp)
One Minute Manager (Blanchard)
Crucial Conversations (Patterson)

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Leadership

Leadership Development

Team Leadership

Reviews

Marcy reminds me of my favorite teachers: kind, humble and really want you to succeed.

Success of any technology venture is a high risk dynamic. Learning from people like Marcy helps stack the odds in your favor.

Consider yourself lucky to get a call with her!

Omar Baig Source: Clarity

Marcy has become a really valuable mentor at a crucial time of our company's growth. I appreciated how quickly she got me on our first call, and look forward to continuing to connect with her to discuss high level choices and how to grow as a leader.

Jason Lankow Source: Clarity

Marcy is amazing!

Dan Martell Source: Clarity

I asked Marcy to help me stick to my plan of writing a book on schedule. That, of course, means much more than scheduling, it means analyzing my work life, and helping me prioritize goals, so that I can make the time to write the book. Marcy has been invaluable in helping me understand the larger context in which I'm working and in creating innovative approaches that help me get (most) everything I'd like to do done. In other words, I've kept the book is roughly on schedule, gotten the rest of my work done, and not killed myself in the process. And I have to thank Marcy for that.

Mike Kuniavsky Source: LinkedIn

I worked for Marcy several years ago, but for the past few months she has been helping me get a new startup up and running in a sort of coaching/advisory role. We've met a half-dozen times or so and she's been indispensable in keeping the project moving, keeping me sane and providing detailed domain-specific advice on everything from determining purpose and mission down to details like how best to set up vesting schedules. She's got a real breadth and depth of experience and is fantastic at communicating that expertise in a helpful and focused way. I can't recommend her highly enough.

Dan Ancona Source: LinkedIn

Marcy is incredibly gifted at working on the biggest challenges in technology - the technologists themselves. I watched Marcy navigate the most turbulent times of the dot com boom and bust with a selfless grace that is almost beyond description. In the face of technical, business, and personal turmoil (the highs and the lows) she never once shied away from a challenge and she always remained positive, supportive, and nurturing - qualities which are rare even in the best of times.
As a manager, a facilitator, and a trusted confidante to many she is fantastic, perhaps even totally awesome! I can use these superlatives with confidence as I know countless others who have worked with her and share my experience and respect.
I cherish the time I had to work with Marcy and I feel fortunate to call her a friend. I welcome the opportunity to speak with anyone who is interested in working with Marcy.

Dave Champine Source: LinkedIn

Marcy is a clear-headed, intelligent, motivating, and wickedly competent technology team leader. And that's understating things quite a bit.

As a pioneer in SaaS offerings, Critical Path had great technology, an amazing team, and exciting new ideas, but more than any of that, it was Marcy's presence and and quality as a manager that most inspired my confidence. That never changed through my entire tenure at Critical Path.

Lang Zerner Source: LinkedIn

Marcy possesses the unusual combination of vast experience and uncompromising passion for excellence, which made working with her a delight. Marcy is an incredibly bright, creative, and supportive person. While at CP, Marcy created an environment that encouraged people to stay focused, find purpose in their work, and maintain a work-life-balance. Marcy was always available and encouraging while maintaining the highest level of integrity. During the most challenging times at CP, Marcy remained calm, optimistic and gained the respect of her team and those of us in other departments. I would highly recommend Marcy to anyone looking for coach or a mentor.

Stephanie Dunlea Source: LinkedIn

Marcy was an excellent manager; i learned a great deal about how to motivate people from her. she was extremely supportive without actually holding my hand; i learned how to evaluate problems and choose solutions without simply being told what to do. i recommend Marcy highly.

private private Source: LinkedIn

Marcy hired me at CP when it was a tiny tech startup. Over the next few years, as the company grew by orders of magnitude, even though Marcy was separated from the engineers by multiple tiers of management, she remained down-to-earth and approachable, working at the same bare-bones desk in the same huge open area as the rest of us. During CP's growing pains and upper-management turmoil, she fairly radiated calm, competence, and integrity. She inspired, and continues to inspire, the fierce loyalty of her reports, and the admiration and confidence of her peers and superiors. If I were forming a startup tomorrow, Marcy would be the first one I'd contact for advice.

John Sweet Source: LinkedIn

Marcy is fantastic at leading technical teams into a zone where they can be highly productive, in great spirits, and pushing their own envelopes. She's a great motivator, backing up her challenges to her reports with words of confidence in their ability to meet them. She can translate the business requirements into technical direction in a way that empowers her reports to play a role in defining that bridge, rather than mandating from above. When interacting with her as an advisory board member, I found she had a command of the technical details, and the importance of the tradeoff decisions made, that is rare for senior management of even a startup. The personal interactions I've had with her since have only reinforced my sense that these skills come from a deep well of empathy and understanding matched by her knowlege, energy, and passion for doing what's right.

Brian Behlendorf Source: LinkedIn

Member since March 2012