Coaching & mentoring
A coach who has been on the journey.
Most coaching is built on frameworks. Vikas's is built on having sat in the chair: twenty-five years as a founder and chief executive, businesses built and sold, a family business bought and grown, and the personal cost of all of it, which he has spoken about publicly. A coach who has made the decisions you are facing asks different questions, and hears what is not being said.
Pattern recognition, not theory
He has raised capital, hired and lost key people, restructured, bought and sold companies, and led through crises. Whatever the decision, he has usually faced a version of it.
Candour in a confidential room
Founders and chief executives rarely have somewhere to think out loud without consequence. Sessions are private, direct and unhurried.
The personal alongside the commercial
Pressure, isolation and mental health are part of leading, not separate from it. Vikas has been open about his own experience and brings that honesty to the work.
Who it is for
Leaders who need somewhere to think.
Vikas takes on a small number of coaching clients at a time, so that each gets real attention.
- 01
Founders and chief executives of growth businesses
Carrying the decisions, the people and the pressure, often without anyone to talk to who has been there.
- 02
Next-generation leaders taking on a family business
Stepping into a business built by a parent, with everything that means for the family and the firm.
- 03
Founders preparing for, going through or recovering from an exit
The commercial choices before a sale, the strain during it, and the question of what comes after.
Mentoring
More than a hundred founders, so far.
Alongside his commercial work, Vikas has mentored more than 100 start-ups and scale-ups through TiE and the University of Manchester Innovation Factory, supporting founders across technology and research-led ventures.
Conversations he draws on, through Thought Economics
Sir Richard Branson · Daniel Kahneman · Sir James Dyson · Steve Ballmer · Mark Cuban · Arianna Huffingtonand 600 more.
How it works
How it works.
It starts with a conversation, to understand where you are and whether the fit is right. From there, the rhythm, focus and terms are agreed between you. Everything discussed stays in the room.
- 01
A first conversation
About you, the business and what you want to be different.
- 02
An agreed rhythm
Regular one-to-one sessions, in person in Manchester or London, or remotely, with the focus set by you.
- 03
Confidential by default
Nothing leaves the room, and there is no agenda beyond your own.