// COACHING · BOARDS · ADVISORY · DILIGENCE

The main quest is hard.
You don’t have to run it alone.

Side Quest Strategies is operator-grade counsel for hard-tech startup founders. Coaching, boards, advisory, and diligence — from a founder who spent more than a decade in the CEO seat building a global industrial-technology company.

Book an Intro CallIs This For You?

10+ yrs

in the founder-CEO seat

3

international acquisitions

A → C

series A through C

Endeavor

entrepreneur

// WHO I WORK WITH

Built for hard-tech founders

I work best with venture-backed companies where the technology is real and the founder is still in the building. If that's you, keep reading.

Energy & Climate Tech
Robotics & Drones
AI & Data
Industrial Automation

You're in the right place if…

  • You're a founder or CEO somewhere between Series A and Series C
  • You're building hard technology for a hard market — not a consumer app
  • You're forming your first real board, or fixing one that isn't helping
  • A raise, a big enterprise deal, or an expansion is on the horizon
  • There's a term sheet or acquisition on the table and the clock is running
  • You're carrying the weight of the seat and want a sparring partner who's sat in it

// SERVICES

Four ways to work together

Distinct practices, one common thread: everything is grounded in operating experience, not frameworks.

01For the person carrying the company

Executive Coaching

One-on-one coaching for founders, CEOs, and senior executives. This is a working relationship with someone who has made the same decisions with the same stakes. The focus: how you lead, decide, and endure.

Best when: you've become the bottleneck and you know it.

Start a coaching conversation →

What this looks like

  • A recurring cadence: deep sessions plus on-call counsel between them
  • Board and investor dynamics — managing up without losing yourself
  • Decision quality under uncertainty, pressure, and incomplete data
  • Executive-team design: hiring, leveling, and the hard conversations
  • The personal side of the seat — energy, isolation, and staying whole
02Boards that help instead of drain

Startup Boards

Board service and board-building for venture-backed companies. I join as an independent director or observer. I also help founders stand up their first real board and make every meeting worth what it costs.

Best when: your first institutional board is forming — or your current one returns less than it costs.

Talk about your board →

What this looks like

  • Independent director or board observer seats
  • First-board formation after an institutional round
  • Board-pack and meeting overhaul: less theater, more decisions
  • Founder-investor alignment before it becomes a problem
  • Preparing management teams to run the room, not survive it
03An operator in your corner

Strategic Advisory

Ongoing or sprint-based advisory for companies approaching an inflection point: a raise, a market entry, an enterprise motion. I work the problem with you — not from the sidelines.

Best when: the next twelve months matter more than the last three years.

Scope an advisory engagement →

What this looks like

  • Fundraise narrative, materials, and investor process
  • Go-to-market and enterprise sales motion for industrial buyers
  • International expansion: market entry, team design, operating rhythm
  • Organizational design through step-changes in scale
  • Monthly retainer or focused 2–6 week sprints
04An operator's read on the deal

Diligence Services

Technical and commercial diligence for investors and acquirers evaluating hard-tech companies. I also prepare companies for the other side of that table.

Best when: there's a term sheet on the table and weeks to get it right.

Discuss a diligence engagement →

What this looks like

  • Buy-side diligence: team, technology, market, and operating reality
  • Commercial diligence on industrial and energy-sector deals
  • The questions a spreadsheet won't surface — asked founder-to-founder
  • Sell-side readiness: positioning, data room, and process preparation
  • Clear written findings, delivered on deal timelines

// HOW IT WORKS

The engagement path

No mystery and no lock-in. Every engagement starts small. Here’s the route a typical client takes.

  1. 0130 minutes · free

    Intro Call

    Bring your hardest problem. You’ll leave with at least one useful idea — whether or not we end up working together.

  2. 021–2 weeks

    Diagnostic

    A focused deep-dive on the sticking point. Materials review, a few conversations, and a clear written read on the problem.

  3. 03shaped to fit

    Engagement

    We pick the format that matches the problem — a focused sprint, a monthly advisory retainer, board participation, or a coaching cadence.

  4. 04long term

    Compounding

    Most clients keep me around as a standing advisor: someone who already knows the company when the next inflection point shows up.

Every practice starts with the same free intro call.

// INVESTMENT

What working together costs

No rate-card theater. Here's the shape of each engagement so you know what you're walking into.

Intro Call

Free. Always.

Thirty minutes on your hardest problem. Useful whether or not we go further.

Executive Coaching

Monthly cadence

A flat monthly rate for a standing cadence plus on-call counsel between sessions. Pause anytime.

Startup Boards

Annual commitment

Equity, cash, or a blend — structured to match your stage and what your cap table can carry.

Strategic Advisory

Retainer or sprint

A monthly retainer for ongoing work, or a fixed price for a scoped 2–6 week sprint.

Diligence Services

Fixed fee per deal

Scoped to the deal and quoted up front — priced for decision speed, not billable hours.

Exact numbers depend on stage and scope. You'll have them after the intro call — in writing, no surprises.

// FIELD GUIDES

Free tools, no email wall

Working documents from real engagements, cleaned up and given away. Print them and mark them up.

For CEOs with a board

The Board Meeting Overhaul

A one-page checklist for turning board meetings from performance theater into your most useful three hours of the quarter.

Open the guide →

For founders 6–12 months from a raise

The Fundraise Readiness Diagnostic

Twenty questions to answer before you open a round — the same ones investors will ask, minus the pressure.

Open the guide →

// ABOUT

The operator behind the strategy

I'm Danny Ellis — a founder-turned-advisor with more than a decade of operating experience across energy, robotics, and industrial software.

I don't advise from a textbook. Every service on this site is something I've done myself: raised the rounds, run the board meetings, opened the international offices, and negotiated the acquisitions.

Today I work with founders, boards, and investors at growth inflection points. Hands-on, not a slide-deck vendor.

Track record

  • Co-founded SkySpecs and led it as CEO for more than a decade
  • Built it into a global leader in wind-energy asset management
  • Scaled teams and operations across North America and Europe
  • Closed and integrated three international acquisitions
  • Aerospace engineer by training — University of Michigan

Recognition

  • Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year (2023)
  • EY Entrepreneur of the Year, regional winner (2023)
  • Crain's Detroit 40 Under 40 (2021)
  • Forbes 30 Under 30 — Industry & Manufacturing (2016)

"I've sat in your chair. That's the difference between advice that sounds good and advice that works."

// START THE CONVERSATION

Ready when you are.

The intro call is thirty minutes and free. Bring your hardest problem. If I can’t help, I’ll say so.

Book an Intro CallConnect on LinkedIn

danny@sidequeststrategies.com