Investor pitches and fundraising
Simulate the sharp questions from institutional investors before you are in the room.
Strategy Sparring
The CEO's edge in high-stakes conversations.
Intensive, one-to-one preparation for the moments that matter most.
Every session is built around one specific, high-stakes meeting or presentation: the board, the investor, the enterprise customer, the stage.
Most CEOs walk into the room cold.
You have had the meeting in your diary for six weeks. You have refined the deck, discussed the narrative, and talked through the numbers.
But have you been in the room? Have you felt the pressure of the question you did not expect? Have you had someone push back hard on your core assumptions, and practised how you respond?
Most leaders prepare their content, but not themselves. That gap, between the content you prepare and the room you present in, is where high-stakes conversations are won and lost.
You do not get in the ring without sparring. Elite athletes drill their moves, study their opponents, and simulate match conditions before they perform under real pressure. The best coaches get in the ring with you.
How a Strategy Sparring session works
Three parts, one meeting in focus.
- The Brief30 minutes
We align on your objective, the audience, and what winning looks like. I need to understand the room before I can simulate it.
- The Spar60 to 90 minutes
I step into the role of your toughest audience member. I push back, probe gaps, and stress-test your thinking in real time. You respond, adapt, and sharpen.
- The Debrief30 minutes
We step out of the ring. Robust and direct feedback: what landed, what did not, and exactly what to work on before the real meeting.
The rooms it prepares you for
Board presentations
Often your toughest audience. You need the board to approve your strategy and decisions. Prepare for the NEDs who will probe every assumption.
Executive team alignment
You need the hearts and minds of your exec to execute your vision. Like the board, the team is made up of different humans with different perspectives. Get ahead of the resistance before the meeting.
Major customer pitches
Enterprise deals, renewal conversations, unhappy customers. Too important to leave to chance.
Conferences and keynotes
When you represent the business on stage, and every word matters.
A sparring partner, not just a coach
Most coaches have not led from the front line. Most former executives are not trained coaches. Strategy Sparring brings real operating experience and real coaching capability together.
Investor and board experience
CEO credibility
Having run enterprise businesses and been accountable for the P&L, your sparring partner knows what investors and board members actually want, and what makes them deeply uncomfortable.
Pressure, with a purpose
Simulation
Other coaches cheer you on. Your sparring partner is paid to find the gaps in your argument before the room does. The discomfort in the session is intentional.
On the win
Focused
Every session is anchored to one question: what does winning this specific meeting look like? Every challenge is oriented around a clear outcome.
Over more than two decades as a senior business leader, David Francis led complex organisations, managed significant commercial relationships, and sat in the rooms that Strategy Sparring prepares you for. He has faced the board with difficult numbers, managed the enterprise customer threatening to leave, and led in both public and private equity backed environments. He then built a coaching and advisory practice grounded in that experience.
Got a meeting that matters?
Book a 30-minute conversation with David Francis to plan your first session.
Book a conversation with David