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01. OPERATOR-BUILT ADVISORY · SCALING-STAGE FOUNDERS & LEADERS

I WORK WITH FOUNDERS AND TEAMS AT THE SCALING CHASM.

Most leaders hit an inflection point where instinct and heroic effort stop working — the team that built the prototype can’t scale the product, and the culture that formed organically starts cracking under growth. That’s the scaling chasm, and many don’t make it across — not for lack of talent or ambition, but for lack of a model for the crossing. I work with founders and teams at exactly that point.

IF YOU’RE AT THE SCALING CHASM—
MESSAGE ME.

WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER
FIG. A - KEITH V. LUCAS
02. WHO THIS IS FOR (AND WHO IT ISN'T)

WHO I WORK WITH.

Scaling-stage founders, CEOs, and leadership teams at the inflection point — where the team that built the prototype can’t scale the product and the culture starts cracking under growth — plus the VCs and boards watching them hit it. This isn’t a fractional-exec seat. It’s an operator alongside you, scaling the team and working the real decisions.
03. MY APPROACH

WHAT I DO.

GET IN. HELP OUT. GET OUT OF THE WAY.

I work alongside your leadership team on real problems and real decisions, in real time — not from the outside with a deck. I get in fast, help you cut to what actually matters, and build the team and the system that let you keep moving without me. The point isn’t to make you dependent on an advisor. It’s the opposite: success is your team carrying the work farther on their own.
04. THE FOUNDATION

THE IMPACT OPERATING SYSTEM

The work clusters around three questions that every leader asks on the way from scrappy to scale. Underneath these is the impact operating system — the model I’ve developed from over thirty years building teams in tech, including a decade at Roblox from employee #7 to CPO and CTO. The product, engineering, and operational experience comes with me. But what I’m building with you is the team and the system that lets your company outgrow whatever stage it’s stuck in.
FIG. B - THE QUESTIONS
QUESTION 01

ARE WE BUILDING THE RIGHT TEAM, IN THE RIGHT WAY?

Teams often hire fast and figure out the rest later; by the time the cracks show, fixing them is expensive. I help you define what success looks like on your team, hire mission athletes, develop the people you already have, and have the hard conversations when they’re needed. The goal isn’t a bigger team — it’s a higher-performing one.
PEOPLE
QUESTION 02

IS OUR CULTURE ACTUALLY SCALING, OR JUST STRETCHING?

Culture isn’t your values poster — it’s who you hire, who you promote, who you tolerate, and who you coach out. Every one of those decisions signals louder than any all-hands. I work with leadership teams to close the gap between the values they’ve codified and the values they’re actually living, before it becomes culture debt you can’t pay down.
CULTURE
QUESTION 03

CAN WE MOVE FAST WITHOUT FLYING APART?

Speed and structure aren’t opposites. Aligned autonomy — distributed ownership pointed at the same mission — is how high-performing teams move fast without losing focus. I help leaders build the cascade that makes it work: vision to mission to strategy to goals to metrics, all the way down to individual pods.
ALIGNED AUTONOMY
FIG. C - THE IMPACT OPERATING SYSTEM
Get the system right. Fill it with the right people.
The result is an engine of innovation that scales.
GET THE FULL MODEL IN IMPACT
06. ADVISING WORKFLOW

HOW IT WORKS

It starts with a call — a chance to get acquainted and see whether the pieces are there: that I can actually help, that we have a productive conversation, and that what you're building resonates with me, so I can bring my best.
If those line up and you need me regularly, we explore a formal advising relationship. I'll spend time with you, a key advisor or two, and the product — working together for a bit to prove the fit before either of us commits. A commitment takes the form of a cash retainer, equity, or, occasionally, an angel investment as part of how I back the company.
At other times, I might be needed only once in a while — or not quite yet. Then founders just reach out when it'd help to talk, no commitment either way.
MESSAGE ME
FIG. C - ENGAGEMENT MODELS
IMPLEMENTATION PATHS

WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER

01
REGULAR CHECK-INS AND AD HOC MEETINGS. SPANS THE ENTIRE RANGE OF TOPICS FACING STARTUPS. RESPONSIVE TO THE MOMENT.
02
FOCUSED COACHING FOR SPECIFIC GOALS, SUCH AS REFINING VISION AND DEFINING PRODUCT STRATEGY.
03
AN EXECUTIVE-LED OFFSITE WITH TARGETED SESSIONS — LEADERSHIP, INNOVATION, TEAM DYNAMICS, ALIGNED AUTONOMY.
04
I WORK PRO BONO WITH NON-PROFITS AND SCHOOLS WHEN THE IDEAS AND EXPERIENCE TRANSLATE.
07. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
TESTIMONIAL 01
"Keith is a world-class executive. If you're lucky, you can hire someone like this to work directly in your company (I got lucky and hired Keith). Learning to be an executive is something that people train on for years, but as a young entrepreneur, my business couldn't wait years. Keith's coaching accelerated my own development, changing the way I think about leadership, team culture, strategy, and execution. In the early years, I asked him what to do. Later on, I knew what he would do."

ANNA SHEDLETSKY

FOUNDER & CEO, INSTRUMENTAL
TESTIMONIAL 02
"Working alongside Keith for the past decade — at Roblox and across multiple startups — has been a masterclass in principled leadership. Keith brings a rare combination of strategic clarity and operational grit. He's earnest to a fault, unafraid to speak hard truths even when they're unpopular, and always the first to roll up his sleeves."

CHRIS CARVALHO

ROBLOX BOARD MEMBER, FMR. COO OF KABAM
TESTIMONIAL 03
"I've seen dozens of advisors in action across our portfolio companies. Keith is the rare Swiss army knife who can help not just across product, tech, and go-to-market, but also people, culture, and adaptive leadership. His views are always delivered from a place of service and humility."

SCOTT RUPP

FOUNDING GENERAL PARTNER, BITKRAFT VENTURES
CONNECT

IF YOU'RE AT THE CHASM—MESSAGE ME.

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CONTACT
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OPERATOR-BUILT ADVISORY · EST. 2018
© 2026 KEITH V LUCAS · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED