There's no playbook for being a founding CEO.
Founders are special individuals. You see a problem in the world that needs to be fixed. You have a unique vision and determination to change the status quo. And you build the product - and then a business - to do just that.
And that’s where the CEO responsibilities come in.
Many founders are first time CEOs. There is no CEO school to learn all of the things necessary to run a growing company. And we don’t recommend you scale yourself following the advice on Twitter.
We've sat in your chair.
We are former founders, multiple time CEOs of early stage, venture-backed software companies. We've seen it all.
We’ve been through multiple boom and bust cycles. We’ve scaled through hypergrowth and downsized to survive. We’ve built high performing teams and made our fair share of bad hires. We’ve bought and sold companies, and led teams both home and abroad. We have so many stories we could write a book (and still may).
Point being, we uniquely understand what you are facing.
Our approach is different and better.
Unlike executive coaches or CEO peer groups, we believe our advantage comes in three distinct ways:
Interested in learning more? Let's connect up.
Interested in learning more? Let's connect up.
Interested in learning more? Let's connect up.
We meet you where you are, take you where you need to go.
While there is no cookie cutter approach to how we can add value, the categories of engagements we have most recently worked on include:
CEO Advisory
In an ongoing engagement, we help you navigate the daily opportunities and challenges you are facing in your growing business. Think of us as a sounding board, a safe space to ask questions, a co-pilot to help work through - not just think through - big decisions.
Interim Leadership
Sometimes the biggest way we can help a CEO is to fill a gap on the leadership team or in the organization. Our engagements have included fractional, interim and project based assignments. As former operators, we can ramp up quickly and accomplish the task at hand with minimal direction and drama.
Board Director
Adding operational experience at the board level elevates and amplifies the impact of that team. We’ve served as independent directors and added a unique voice and perspective to the board room (or board Zoom).
Meet the team ready to go on this journey with you.
Our businesses have generated hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, served tens of thousands of customers, employed thousands of people and raised dozens of rounds of angel and venture capital with multiple exits. We have experience across a variety of industries including fintech, martech, security and AI. We have acquired multiple companies in both the U.S. and Europe and - more importantly - successfully integrated them from both a product and cultural perspective. We have complementary operational expertise across sales and GTM; marketing and product; and finance and strategy. We also understand the investor mindset, having been both venture capitalists and as active angel investors.
Founded
Roles
Director
Exits
Meet the team ready to go on this journey with you.
Our businesses have generated hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, served tens of thousands of customers, employed thousands of people and raised dozens of rounds of angel and venture capital with multiple exits. We have experience across a variety of industries including fintech, martech, security and AI.
We have acquired multiple companies in both the U.S. and Europe and – more importantly – successfully integrated them from both a product and cultural perspective. We have complementary operational expertise across sales and GTM; marketing and product; and finance and strategy. We also understand the investor mindset, having been both venture capitalists and as active angel investors.
Founded
Roles
Director
Exits
John Tedesco
Founding Partner
It all started for me when I was in college visiting my sister at her new job on Wall Street. I looked at the rows of cubicles where she sat and commented, “so you’re just a cog in the wheel.” I’ve been drawn to the early stage tech ecosystem ever since, founding three companies and being involved with dozens of others in a variety of roles over two decades. I thoroughly enjoy the innate mission of entrepreneurs to disrupt entrenched power interests in pursuit of improving the status quo.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of amazing founders over the years. I have enjoyed witnessing their specific zone of genius in action. And I have found it intellectually stimulating to compare their common traits as well as their unique qualities.
For years, Jonathan, Rob and I turned to each other when we needed a second set of eyes, ears – or in some cases – hands as we dealt with the multitude of decisions facing us as CEOs. Arena Partners is really the culmination of those years of informal support now directed to a broader audience of equally hungry, equally visionary set of CEOs looking to achieve their full potential.
Jonathan Niednagel
Founding Partner
My wife says that I have a recessive gene that draws me to startups. Over two decades ago I willingly chose to leave a great job, with great people and great pay to try and do it on my own. For some inexplicable reason, I still can’t stop.
Over the past two decades, I’ve founded three different venture backed businesses and run several more as a non founding CEO. I also took almost seven years to switch sides of the table as a partner at an early stage venture fund, so I’ve seen both sides.
For me, Arena Partners is a combination of all of the advisors, board members, co-founders, partners and colleagues that I’ve had the privilege of working with over the years that were far smarter than I was. The empathy and experience that made them collectively so helpful to me, I would like to pass on to the next person with that same recessive gene.
Rob Goehring
Founding Partner
Don’t take our word for it.
Here are a few of the people we’ve worked with over the years and the impact we’ve had on them and their business.
As a first-time founder, everything you touch is new: hiring a team, developing a culture, building up your go-to-market motion, investing in R&D, and the list goes on. I found it helpful to have an experienced co-pilot on board who has led through each one of these situations. I was able to learn from the mistakes of others and attempt to decrease the amount of mistakes I will naturally make.
Whenever I come to John with something I'm experiencing, he is never surprised, always has a thoughtful idea to try, and has a special skill of cutting right to the heart of whatever I'm experiencing. Of course this makes him a good sounding board but more than that, when I try the things we discuss, they are actually helpful. I'm consistently excited to spend time working with John. You should be too.
As a start-up co-founder I've had opportunities to work with many mentors, but John stands out as one of the most effective. John provides structure for working together so our work isn't just interesting chat, but productive action. John's broad experience meant that he had relevant examples of methods and processes we could use as our work progressed. John helped us navigate a successful acquisition, helping us understand the offer and industry norms for deals like ours.
It took us a while to find John. We wanted a CEO/leadership coach who has been in the hot seat, is a great listener, and can truly understand the challenges we face as early-stage founders/CEOs. John helped the leadership team focus on the things that matter (communication, impactful cross-functional KPIs, and how to become better problem-solvers, ultimately). John’s approach is firm but fair. We never felt disrespected – not once! Lastly, my only regret – I wish I met John many years ago!
When you start a company, the road is long, lonely, and without a GPS. Finding the right mentor can be the difference between floundering vs. navigating through uncharted waters. I was able to limit my floundering and effectively navigate hard problems because I had strong, trusted advisors like John Tedesco.
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