What drives a Founder to launch?
WHAT DRIVES FOUNDERS TO LAUNCH?
Well… a lot. After years of coaching and facilitating founders to grow themselves and their ventures, a few core themes show up time and time again:
1. They’ve lived the problem. It’s personal—either something they’ve struggled with directly, or seen someone close to them wrestle with. It bugs them so much, they have to do something about it.
2. It’s a natural evolution of a passion project, side hustle or deep-dive research area. The kind of thing they could talk about for hours.
3. They’ve worked for someone else’s dream long enough to know they could do it differently—better, more ethically, more creatively, or just more them.
4. They’ve invested in a business-in-a-box or franchise—wanting the freedom to be their own boss, with a blueprint to follow.
Founders need more playful approaches >>>
Founders need more playful approaches when tackling creative thinking challenges in their teams and businesses
Yesterday I had the pleasure of playing out in my local area, The Bread Streets L8 Liverpool. It was so much fun making with materials I'd not have thought to use to make prints out of... simple white tac sticky putty
With friends who get how vital giving it a go with new ways of making is not just for the mind, but body and soul too...
Hands down the most fun with white tac, drain coverings and other 'printable' surfaces ive had, will probably since a kid...
The experiences of playing around with new materials in unusual places and spaces got my brain firing off so many other ideas 💡 for more walking and making sessions
COACHING FOUNDERS CHANGES LIVES + BOOSTS SUCCESS >>>
COACHING CHANGES LIVES + BOOSTS FOUNDER’S AND THEIR TEAMS SUCCESS >>>
Coaching unpins the huge variety of internal and external successes for Founders - key among them from my experiences;
growth mindset
greater connection to values, mission and motivation
deeper more meaningful team and partner relationships
pride in the results of the business venture so far, including the highs and lows
great sense of personal authority to lead, and lean into change
Read the Sifted article by Sarah Drumm on the power of coaching in Edtech start and scale ups for driver success and ROI https://sifted.eu/articles/coaching-founders-brnd
What is the Everyday Creativity podcast…
EVERYDAY CREATIVITY PODCAST aims to inspire creativity and help nurture listener’s talents, regardless of how they show up in the world. Anna's motto is "You don't have to be an artist to be creative". Edtech, arts, humanities, travel, health, maths, engineering, gardening, sports – anything goes… so bring your full creative self to the conversation. Guests so far have come from creative writing, foodie, social enterprise, sustainable education, social justice, graphic design, academic, music and community development backgrounds. Many identify as Founders, but some don’t. Anna is curious about this aspect of life so bring this into the conversation if this is you, or your support Founders in any way/s. Anna is very mindful of talking with humans from all walks of life, from all backgrounds so seek out conversations which respect difference and platform humans who don’t always get the mic and the limelight. The aim of the podcast is to showcase different voices in the world and champion the infinite variety of ways human’s creative, connect and power collective change.
What is an ‘expert business coach in residence’?
What is an ‘expert business coach in residence’?
There are artists in residence, writers in residence and composers in residence… so why not a business coach in residence?
Being a business coach in residence is like being part of a human library of business skills that can be accessed through a ‘triage’ system allowing for the signposted coachee to book in set timed sessions over a key time frame…
Unlike a final show and tell of art made during the residency the outcomes are measured in the progress made by the Founder being coached using an assessment framework alongside the personal and business goals of the Founder.
Imperial Enterprise Lab - Imperial College London are among a few innovation driven, forward thinking entrepreneurial institutions investing in embedding industry experts into the enterprise ecosystems.
It’s a commitment to ‘green housing’ their students, graduates and academic partners with seasoned professional business advice and guidance to grow new ideas, products and services that seek to change our world.
What makes Founders flourish?
Being a Founder, you maybe be familiar with the sometimes long hours, high stakes, and the constant balancing act between vision and execution…
Sometimes we question why we even started as Founders, forgetting the big dreams and collective change we wanted to achieve when starting out.
To better understand the state of play for Founders I have created a short survey
💡 It takes just 7 + minutes.
And if you drop your email at the end, you’ll get a free, in-depth Founder’s Self-Audit PDF to dig even deeper.
🔗 Take the quick survey here: https://bit.ly/FoundersInFocusSurvey
Your next level isn’t just about working harder—it’s about working with more alignment, care and quality of energy.
How can we harness teen’s individual creativity at such a vulnerable, key time ?
WHAT DID YOU 'SEE' in Adolescence?
There are so many layers to this groundbreaking series...
Some of my take on it comes from reflecting on how are we still not focusing enough on our teen's health and well-being especially, the changes in their brains at this key developmental time?
How can we harness teen’s individual creativity to help them navigate this vulnerable growth period safely?
Why is this not being invested and catered for in our communities enough?
Yes, good practice does exist, but not for all young people. This isn't just about school, but for the most part it is were so many of our teens are still being pipelined into this context.
COACHING FUTURE TECH FOUNDERS & THEIR TEAMS...
COACHING FUTURE TECH FOUNDERS & THEIR TEAMS...
Since I've coached with founders in the last 15 years + I see this time & time again...
The investment drive is into the tech, the growth and yes the team, but not from a human-centred and caring approach, more as an additional 'resource' to aid faster growth.
5 mental health first aid tips for Founders for lasting success >>>
5 mental health first aid tips for Founders for lasting success >>>
Open To Create >>> Founder Anna B. Sexton award winning coach is trained in creative leadership coaching, enterprise mentoring, mental health first aid trained and clinical solution focused psychological tools for better mental health. Her mission is to make everyday better, incremental overall health better for Founders by making conversations about mental health more normalised. The ‘hustle’ and ‘grind’ culture is damaging - i.e. what happens to something you grind? After a while it turns to dust…
Below are 5 core ways we work with our Founders, their teams or our corporate partners when crafting programmes for 1-2-1 or group work
Why choose to collaborate with Open TO Create >>>
You are looking for that ‘right’ match for your coaching needs…
Why choose to collaborate with Open To Create >>>
Our global start up coaching practice evolved out of our creative playwork, years collaborating in the education, professional development and creative arts sectors. The gap we spotted being more creative, hands-on, and impactful coaching approaches when what we saw were loads of the CEOs in big firms getting access to coaching leadership packages, but what about those on the ground leading with lived experience in grassroots communities?
![Challenges Founders can face [and how Start Up Coaching helps >>>]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57a07d3f46c3c4c4a2f21f84/1742028152257-F2T65AC99JF6JAPZA1A7/Anna_B_Sexton_Gary_Millar_LCR_Founders_closing_LJMU_UoL_.jpg)
Challenges Founders can face [and how Start Up Coaching helps >>>]
Being a Founder is challenging - what are the top challenges Founders can face?
Founder Burnout and mental fatigue
Scaling your collective change driven business whilst losing your grasp on the big dream or mission…
How to build a team, then sustain it and make it high performing…
How Founders can thrive with creative coaching approaches for wellbeing + drive >>>
Why Founders need creative leadership coaching?…
It’s vital for the health of the Founders that we coach them to benefit from the entrepreneurial mindset coaching so they have the head space to keep coming up with innovative strategies to tackle the sticky problems alongside mental health alignment. Founder burnout is no fun and leads to ventures that really could make a massive dent in our world, folding before they have a chance to shine.
By helping Founders and their teams to build their business day to day and strategic modes of operation underpinned by coaching tools and techniques Founders find ways to stay feeling better in themselves, lead with more passion and purpose without having to sacrifice their health or vision.
Ask us more…
We love good questions…
anna@opentocreate.com
+44 [0] 7484 184 292