Hi, I'm Belinda Ju. I'm an executive coach.
WHO I WORK WITH
I specialize in founders scaling into CEO's.
Are you a founder who's trying to scale into a CEO? Your unique superpowers have enabled you to build a product, business, and company. But what got you here can't seem to get you through this next stretch of growth — in fact, your very strengths that got you so far now seem to be blowing up in your face. You're trying so hard, but you just seem to be digging a deeper hole. You're stuck and you know it, but you can't figure out how to fix it.
I will crawl into that hole with you and together, we will walk out into the light. You don't have to do it alone. You won't emerge a different person with a total CEO makeover. Instead, you will emerge more of your best and truest self. The darkness is yourself — to walk in that darkness is to know it, to know yourself — and the light is too.
I also specialize in early-stage founders.
I love partnering with founders who are in the belly of the beast: trying to get to product-market fit, selling to early customers, fundraising for seed or series A, making critical early hires, and learning how to work with their cofounders.
You're doing 5000 things at the same time but it's all for the first time and you know you're letting slip the important stuff but you're too busy! What's the most important decision you'll make this week, month, year? What are the costs of getting it wrong? Let's make sure it's the right one.
For the past five years, I have honed my craft as an executive coach for CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs at companies from 5 people to 200+. I also work as a workshop facilitator, partnering with executive and leadership teams to strengthen team health and performance.
I started my career as an investor at multiple venture capital firms providing early-stage funding. I was one of three members of the investment team at Techstars New York, and advised strategy and growth for portfolio companies. At an impact investing firm in Developing Asia, I built financial models, conducted due diligence, and advised founders and portfolio companies.
I have worked as an operator at multiple companies that have scaled from 30 to 200+ people, as well as at smaller companies. I was a product manager who was the classic "CEO of a product" à la Marty Cagan. I have also worked as an executive advisor on the Executive Team creating high-leverage company-wide artifacts and supporting strategic planning.
My education was at Stanford with two degrees in human biology (BA) and management science and engineering (MS). I created and taught a course on Women & Entrepreneurship to 18 Stanford students, TA'ed for organizational behavior Bob Sutton (known for Weird Ideas That Work and The No Asshole Rule), studied from psychologist Carol Dweck of growth mindset fame, and conducted grad-level ethnographic research. I've also had some stints in hard science building circuits for a scanning tunneling microscope and shooting lasers through supersaturated solutions. But if there's one tagline for my six years in higher ed, it was ‘trying to save the world through startups.’
That all said, I attribute my primary professional development as an executive coach to my meditation practice. I have sat a cumulative 10 months on silent, intensive meditation retreat. Additionally, I am the founder and facilitator of a meditation community that's over 6 years old.
Grounding in my contemplative practice, I serve as a guide for my clients to meet their demons, awaken to clarity and insight, and embody courageous leadership that both honors and transcends their ego and personality.
Additional modalities that I bring in include storytelling as a writer of creative nonfiction and somatic and embodied intelligence as a choreographer, professional dancer, and dance teacher. I am also informed by my life experience of growing up bilingual and having lived on four continents.
I have been a speaker at Adobe Creative Jams at IBM, Columbia University, Fordham University, and Launch X (teaching fundraising to female startup CEOs). I am a featured case study in the bestselling book, Designing Your Life.
You can check out my LinkedIn for more.
WHO I AM
TESTIMONIALS
“Without fail, I have come out of every session learning something new.”
“Any startup founder worth their weight will attest to the gamut of emotions that building a company will throw at you. Belinda's toolkit as an executive coach has an unbelievable complexity to it: compassion to provide support through rock bottom (like almost quitting your company); savvyness to understand your team dynamics and how to create high performing teams; and, emotional intelligence to strengthen your relationship with your co-founder. It takes a very skilled coach to consistently take whatever nonsense you're rambling, navigate you through your own line of thinking, and help hone that energy into clear actionable strategies. I wholeheartedly recommend Belinda to any startup founders. Without fail, I have come out of every session learning something new.”
- Kevin Wu and Andy Lee, cofounders of Basis Board (YC)
“would've been completely lost and meandering without her expertise and guidance”
“Belinda has been critical to our company's success. Working with her helped us clarify our company’s vision and direction in general. Even as a repeat founder with a previously successful exit, I believe that Midgame would’ve been completely lost and meandering without her expertise and guidance. She helped us gain the strongest possible base to stand on to take our company to the next level.”
- Wayne Gerard, CTO/Cofounder, Techstars founder with two exits
“transformational for the company, and for me as CEO”
"Elucd's work with Belinda was transformational for the company, and for me as CEO. She was a real catalyst for our company and my capabilities as CEO, and I would jump at the chance to work with her again in a similar context."
- Michael Simon, CEO/founder of Elucd (YC)
“create significant value for customers”
“Belinda approaches organizations, teams, and products with the utmost thoughtfulness, care, and rigor. She is able to analyze new situations, and provide a strategic roadmap & vision to create significant value for customers. She also is able to step back and analyze the company's product process with a sharpened look at 'how might we' do things in a more refined way as it matures its internal processes for scaling. It was an absolute joy to partner with Belinda.”
- David Gelbard, CEO of Parachute Health
“Belinda is a world class product thinker and coach.”
“Belinda is a world class product thinker and coach. In my experience, there are many 'checkbox' product coaches you want to avoid – ones who provide the same framework for prioritizing features, managing teams, and best practices for measuring success. Belinda is a coach who avoids boiler-plate thinking like the plague. The best coaches do not tell you answers and the best way of doing things, but rather guide you to define a unique style that works for you. Belinda's coaching sessions are a masterclass on uncovering your own reasoning, developing your own frameworks, and leveling up your critical thinking as a product leader. Each discussion evolves into a lesson carefully crafted for your situation – yet they are nuanced enough that you'll find yourself referring back to them as a foundation to answer any question.”
- Kevin Wu and Andy Lee, cofounders of Basis Board (YC)
“Every early-stage founder should have someone like her in their corner.”
“Every early-stage founder should have someone like her in their corner.”
- Jason Shen, CEO/Cofounder, YC and Techstars founder with two exits