Thriving Founders – We coach founders from seed through exit.

AI Assisted Executive Coaching for VC-Backed Startup Founders

Turning founders into exceptional leaders since 2010.

Specializing in urgent and long term support for Seed through Series A+ founders who realize that behind every winner is an exceptional coach.

URGENT FOUNDER SUPPORT

When Something Important Is At Risk and Time is of the Essence

When the pressure is real and the stakes are high, we got you!

Co-founder conflict and alignment breakdowns
Delegation and accountability failures
Leadership blind spots causing friction
Board or investor relationship strain
C-team alignment off-sites
Scaling pressure exposing management skill gaps
Remote team building and productivity programs

These are inflection-point moments. The right intervention changes can change the trajectory of the company.

Urgent Care Service

Schedule a 1 hr Discovery Session ($500, credited toward engagement)
If you need more opt for a month-to-month retainer
Start within one week (when availability allows)

Want help? Schedule a Discovery session now.

YOUR LEADERSHIP PROGRESSION

From Founder to Executive, to Serial Entrepreneur

As founder of a fast growth startup, outgrowing your leadership and management abilities is a feature, not a bug.

However, if you don’t get ahead of what the company will demand of your role, you will get layered over. I have been called in to help a founder catch up under threat of termination dozens of times.

Being a brilliant IC and good fundraiser does not prepare you to lead a company with board meetings, a leadership team of seasoned execs, and budgets. You must develop the capabilities your next stage demands before the gaps show up in missed targets, executive distrust, or board-level doubt.

Having worked with hundreds of startups, each with unique board dynamics, we can anticipate the skills you will need next and help you learn them before the gap is so wide that you can not catch up.

• From Individual Contributor to Manager
Our coaching and custom GPTs will help you build delegation discipline, accountability systems, and real team performance clarity.

• From Manager to Leader
We help you strengthen vision, trust, communication, and alignment across your organization.

• From Leader to Executive
We help you master board relationships, investor communication, organizational design, public engagement and executive presence.

Common poblems that can be avoided.

- Co-founder conflict and alignment breakdowns
- Delegation and accountability failures
- Leadership blind spots causing friction
- Board or investor relationship strain
- C-team alignment off-sites
- Scaling pressure exposing management skill gaps
- Remote team building and productivity programs

I’m serious, most of these can be avoided with a very experienced coach and effective custom AI GPT support.

Wouldn’t you rather be focusing all your energy on opportunities rather than fixing nightmares that could have been avoided?

CUSTOM AI: Coaching GPTs Built for Your Specific Needs

Most founders fail to adopt new leadership tools because learning and integrating them takes time they do not have.

You have likely read a leadership book, learned something valuable, and then watched it fade because implementation never stuck.

We solved that problem.

For every client, we build a private AI coaching GPT trained on that founder’s goals, challenges, language, and operating context. Every tool we introduce is added to their GPT along with guidance on when and how to apply it inside their company.

That means our clients do not wait months to “learn” a framework. They begin using it immediately. The GPT supports accurate execution on demand, reinforces correct application, and accelerates integration in real time.

As a result, our clients are able to adopt and integrate meaningful new leadership tools every few weeks rather than once a quarter.

FOUNDER TESTIMONIALS

Recommendations copied from Michael's LinkedIn page

"As COO of Toca Boca I am confronted with the typical challenges all fast growth startup leaders face. I shared the most sensitive issues with Michael and could trust him to coach me in an honest and objective way, challenging me to think with new perspectives and to grow as a person. I am very grateful to have worked with Michael and would highly recommend him to any executive who wants to grow as a leader."

“I began working with Michael as I was considering hiring a CEO to bring our company to the next level and scale quickly. As founding-CEO, this was no easy decision! Michael proved to be both a compassionate thought partner and effective advisor. I decided to hire a CEO, and I have continued to work with Michael to help ensure a smooth transition, effective partnership, and continue my personal growth as an executive and leader.”

"I've had the pleasure of being coached by Michael as Co-founder & CEO of a 1000 person company. Michael sees the situation from multiple perspectives and provides you with clear vision on what and how to communicate your message for optimal results. He possess a vast set of skills within management consulting that provides you with tangible tools you can use again and again."

"Michael's style is the perfect balance of empathy and being able to challenge you on your less-than-productive implicit assumptions. Being coached by Michael will not only improve effectiveness at your job, but will make you reflect in new ways on your relationships outside of work as well. He draws from his breadth of knowledge in coaching, personal development, and Eastern thought to effectively tailor the coaching experience to the individual. I would heartily recommend Michael."

"What I like about Michael's style is that he really gets into the psychological stuff with you. What I found most helpful is that he would help me look under the hood in my brain and emotions so I could understand WHY I was making the decisions I was making or why I felt the way I did. What I appreciated most is that he is an advocate for YOU, not just for your company's bottom line. He taught me to work in a much more sustainable way and I'm much happier and healthier now."

"Michael has really helped Taulia’s C-team up-level our leadership skills by teaching us improved communication and innovative collaboration practices and transforming any unhealthy personality traits. Leading a company that grows 2-3x year over year puts a lot of stress on the team. Since starting with Michael two years ago I see how much more high functioning we are as a team, despite the stress. Personally I appreciate how Michael has helped me increase my emotional intelligence and as a result I believe I may have become a better CEO."

“When searching for a coach, it was important to me that I found someone who had experienced what it was like to be a startup founder, as opposed to a traditional executive coach or a therapist-turned-coach, because of the unique dynamics at play that must be lived to be learned. I have been working with Michael for over a year now and continue to find his insights valuable and supportive, especially as navigating the rapidly changing world and markets we currently face. The fact that he has lived through the ups and downs of the founders’ journey makes a big difference, and I continue to get great value out of our sessions together.”

Jamie Knowlton

Co-Founder & CFO | Better Place Forests

LinkedIn Crunchbase

“Michael's experience as a startup founder enabled him to truly understand the challenges I faced. His personal and professional dedication to my success really came through in his actions. Last-minute changes or requests for meetings were never a problem, and Michael was always very good at adapting our coaching sessions to whatever challenge was top of mind for me. Throughout our time working together, Michael was a reliable sounding board and an insightful thought partner - I would definitely recommend other startup founders to work with him!”

Brian Chen

Co-Founder & CEO | Room

LinkedIn Crunchbase

"Developing leadership skills is difficult and takes practice. It requires learning how to deal with myriad personalities and understanding the best techniques to use at each turn. Michael can quickly get at the core of issues and has an extensive set of actionable recommendations. Working with him has amplified my strengths and lessened my weaknesses. Michael is an incredible mentor that I recommend for anyone looking to hone their leadership skills."

Andrew Hoag

Founder & CEO | Teampay

LinkedIn Crunchbase

WHY WE ARE EXCEPTIONAL

Real Founder Experience. Real Operational Insight. Boutique Firm. Bespoke Coaching.

When choosing a coach these things are critical.

1. Years of coaching experience
2. Years of startup operational experience
3. Lots of founder references
4. A personality you like working with

With your reputation, burn, hopes and dreams at stake, you want a coach who has been there, done that. You want a coach who gets you – someone that you look forward to speaking with every single time.

Hi, I’m Michael Rivers Costuros, and I’m that coach. I created Thriving Founders to provide founders with the support I wish I had when I was a investor backed fast growth startup founder.

What I want you to know about me.

- Serial entrepreneur, I have never been employed at a company I did not create.
- Founded my first .com in 1997
  Former Co-founder of an investor-backed SaaS company with 60 employees and 1.5m ARR. Acquired in 2013.
- I’ve clocked over 15,000 coaching hours with venture-backed founders, VC partners, and VIP thought leaders since 2010
- I created a gold standard method for psychedelic-assisted executive coaching
- I am pioneering the creation of AI coaching bots for founders
- I integrate both inner game psychological work and outer game execution best practices into every session.
- I work with less than 10 clients at a time to ensure I provide the relational depth and attention each client needs.
- I have facilitated annual CEO mastermind group programs since 2012.

Despite my experience there are skills my clients sometimes need that go beyond my personal expertise.
Over the years, I have built a trusted network of colleagues to expand what we can offer. From embedded team coaching to trauma-informed therapy, my extended team ensures you have the right support at the right time.
Whatever it takes to win your game, we have you covered.

HOW TO WORK WITH US

If you are investing in a coach while watching burn you don’t want to be bound by a contract.

We work with a month to month retainer, if we aren’t exceeding your expectations, you can terminate with 30 days notice.

Simple, Direct Process

Book a $500 Discovery Session, move forward with a month to month retainer
Solve your most urgent issues first
Diagnose your next leadership and organizational inflection point
Design a customized professional development plan with clear KPIs
Develop your custom AI GPT for use between sessions
Execute with focused, ongoing coaching and AI support

We work with a small number of committed founders at a time ensuring each client gets the unique form of support they need.

LET’S TALK

Behind every founder and athlete is a brilliant coach.

Schedule a Discovery session now.
Send me an email now.
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The Thriving Founders Mission

We believe that emotionally, spiritually, and operationally mature founders are in privileged position to influence our world for the better.

We prioritize working with leaders who want to maximize the positive impact they have on the lives and ecosystems they touch.

We are proud to donate 1% of our net annual revenue to Amazon rainforest protection and indigenous tribal support through the PachaMama Alliance. We donate another 1% to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society who are protecting our oceans from destruction.

Working together we will do our small part in creating a global culture that is thriving, sustainable, and just for all.

AI Supported How To Articles

Starting in February 2026 all of my how to articles will be accompanied by a GPT that I have trained to support you in implementing the skill that article teaches.

AI Supported Articles

Article Link: How to Address Your Co-founder’s Under Performance
- GPT Bot Link
- Article Description
  “Co-founder conflicts are one of the top reasons investor-backed startups fail. Y Combinator (YC) has extensively discussed the impact of co-founder conflict on startup failures, emphasizing its significance as a common cause. In Noam Wasserman of Harvard Business School’s book The Founder’s Dilemma, 65% of high-potential startups fail due to issues within the startup team, particularly co-founder disputes.”

Older “How to” articles without AI support

- All my articles on LinkedIn
  The linkedIn page that contains all my articles.

A New Decision-Making Process for Founders
“These days the founders I work with are navigating unprecedented uncertainty. As I coach them through decisions, I have found that the tried and true decision making processes just aren’t designed to address the levels of external uncertainty and internal emotional stress my founders are dealing with. Here’s a new decision making process that works.”
Founders, wanna stop micromanaging? Try this simple hack.
“So you think delegation is an execution problem? Most of my clients ask me to help them stop micromanaging. They expect me to provide them with an improved delegation process, but I don’t. After 15 years coaching venture-backed founders, I can tell you this: Delegation does not fail at the process level. It fails at the psychological level. Micromanagement is not a systems issue. It’s an anxiety response.”