Every founder knows the startup journey is a rollercoaster, filled with intense highs and lows. In the midst of scaling a company, many founders face challenges that can feel isolating—navigating team dynamics, maintaining clarity of vision, and staying resilient through setbacks.
In this interview, we’re excited to introduce Adam Lurie—a former founder, seasoned investor, and dedicated coach who brings a wealth of experience to the world of early-stage startups. Adam's journey is one of transformation: from co-founding and scaling Based (now Winslow), where he led multiple fundraises, managed a high-performing team, and grew revenue to seven figures, to investing in over 20 founders through his work at Next 10 Ventures and Nextwave X Partners.
With over 150 hours of specialized training, Adam now coaches founders, operators, and venture firms, equipping them with the frameworks and insights needed to lead with clarity and confidence. His approach is focused on helping founders not only build and scale successful companies but also find greater joy in the entrepreneurial journey. In this conversation, Adam shares his insights on leadership, team dynamics, and what it takes to thrive as an early-stage founder.
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My experience as a co-founder and CEO taught me the importance of growing alongside the company. As leaders and team members, we bring a default operating system to the table - our strengths, blindspots, triggers, etc. Our first job is to become aware of them so that we can do the work of expanding them both personally and within the team. That awareness and growth is foundational to external company success.
On team dynamics, I learned—often the hard way—that clear, explicit communication is non-negotiable. You need to be able to talk about everything. When hard things go unsaid, when there's not a clear purpose, or when mutual respect is lacking, it quickly erodes a team. You have a responsibility as a leader to continuously create a culture of fearless communication.
For the first several months I was white-knuckling the whole experience. I experienced regular panic attacks and imposter syndrome, so the first challenge was simply learning to regulate the fight-or-flight response and settling into the experience. I credit coaching and my cofounder for helping with that.
From there, the challenges arose around defining product-market fit in a rapidly changing environment with two distinct business units. A lot of the lessons from that time stemmed from creating a cohesive company culture and learning how to listen to myself. There’s this balance as CEO where on one hand, you’re in charge because you’re trusted to make the right decision, but if you’re doing your job well, you surround yourself with others who know more than you. Learning how to strike that balance is a skill like any other. I came to appreciate it's just as easy to fail by doing what others consider to be the “right thing,” so you might as well learn how to own your own decisions.
The short answer is selfish - nothing makes me happier.
The more nuanced answer is founders and operators make ideal clients. They’ve already opted into a high-growth, action-oriented environment. They already possess a big vision. Marginal changes in their leadership capacity can have an enormous impact on their company, employees, and customers. From a bang-for-buck perspective, I can’t think of a better way to have a positive impact on the world and enjoy myself.
There’s this “aha” moment that generally comes in the first month when a founder or a team objectively understands their genius and their blindspots, and then do something about it. Their leadership fundamentally changes. There’s an intentionality to their action that results in stronger execution and more contentment in the process. Watching that never gets old.
You have to pair the practical with the transcendent. I believe coaching is fundamentally about self-realization AND we’re doing that through this game called venture-backed businesses, which has a certain set of rules and culture. By understanding the rules, I can better guide clients to harness their potential in a means that translates practically into external success.
Clear vision and why is more important than ever. This has always been true, but especially in the world of remote teams. With more productivity tools than ever, it's easy to fall into the productivity trap where we equate more doing to more results. Execution is essential, but unless founders and their teams are engaging with the why of it all, it’s easy to burn out or execute in the wrong direction. Course correcting from that is costly. A lot of my work, especially with early-stage founders, is about how to simultaneously inspire themselves and others while executing operationally at a world-class level.
Practical advice:
Communicate 10x more than you think you need to, set and reinforce the operational cadence and professionalism now that you want two years from now, create containers for people to disagree in a safe environment, always take more money than you think you need, be a kaleidoscope going between 10k feet view and in-the-weeds execution, and develop a personal regulation practice now (working out, journaling, etc;).
Inner-personal advice:
Are you having fun? It’s a crazy concept, but it is possible to have fun AND be successful as a founder at the same time. It’s such a bumpy ride, and you get knocked down so many times, that unless you can find a way to make it bigger than yourself, you’re not going to make it. Connect with the why. Zoom out, and recognize the absurdity and opportunity of it all. If nothing else, you’re growing yourself more as a human than you ever have. There really are no bad outcomes.
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