Loren is the founder of MindJungle, a personal performance coaching company, which focuses specifically on helping founders of technology-led companies to perform better.
Intro to MindJungle
I started MindJungle with the view that in the early stages, a company only performs as well as its founder(s). During fundraising and post-investment, there’s a lot of support for founders, in terms of funding strategy, networks, operational subject matter experts, and the like, but what’s often missing in my opinion is support for the human behind the business. So, just as we invest in R&D to develop our products and we invest in tech to automate our processes and scale our businesses, we should also invest in scaling and developing ourselves as humans so that we perform better and as a result build better companies.
Examples of how your coaching has impacted founders?
Leadership is an area where my clients have seen great results as the coaching process has helped them to really see their own potential. The ‘penny drop’ moment happens when they shift their belief to realise that they are enough, start taking actions in line with this and create habits to protect their energy and generate energy; which naturally builds confidence in how they show up in public, to their teams and with investors.
Struggles common to most founders?
Founders tend to subconsciously define or attach personal identity to how well the business is doing, the valuation they are able to attract or the rejection they receive from potential investors, and over time these things can erode confidence. The founders that tend to do well, are those that are able to observe their emotional experiences and both externalise it from themselves and rationalise the problem without letting it overwhelm them.
What surprised you most throughout your career in working with founders?
I would have to say how much your mindset can propel you. Often we don’t realise how much influence our subconscious plays in our decision-making and being able to tap into that can become a secret weapon.
Another surprise was seeing how many senior leaders, who appeared to be handling the pressure on the surface, suffer from impostor syndrome and worry that they aren’t good enough or that they are going to be “found out”.
The Mind Jungle coaching process?
My coaching programme is broken down into four components; vision, mindset, energy audit and game plan:
- Vision: the aim is to get clients from A to B more quickly and effectively than they otherwise would on their own. This starts with helping my clients clarify what they want to achieve (milestone “B”) and thus reconnect to their purpose. We then look at their reality and what is available to them to get to milestone “B.”
- Mindset: Perhaps the most critical component – getting your head in the game. We identify and clear the beliefs that are holding the client back from getting to point “B” and implement repeatable tools to create awareness at an emotional level. Where needed, we reprogram beliefs that will serve the client with positive results.
- Energy audit: focuses on improving time management and creating individual habits that promote sustained levels of energy. We map out what the founder prioritises as high value time as well as understanding the things that have an energizing or draining effect on them.
- Game plan: sets out the actions and behaviour the founder should take during and after the programme as a result of their vision, mindset and energy being aligned. This often involves communication, consistency, key metrics to measure and influence. This is when founders will truly perform at an optimal level for them.
