Deborah Lindsay is an operations professional who started her career in the entertainment industry putting on large-scale musical events, such as the San Jose Jazz Festival and the Robert Mondavi Winery Musical Series, to the Co-Founder and COO of a digital media company, to her most recent SaaS/ PaaS tech ventures as COO of pre A round startups. Deborah has made it her business to bring a deep knowledge of strategy to build the structures to support and leverage solid process principles while keeping the team on target and customers happy.
She holds an MBA in Sustainability Management from Presidio Graduate School and more than a decade of experience in tech startup operations in Silicon Valley. She also holds a Certificate in Social Enterprise Management and Impact Investing (Frontier Market Scouts Fellowship) from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, a Human Resources Management Certificate from the University of California Santa Cruz, and a Sustainable Capitalism & ESG certificate from Berkeley Law Executive Education.
My Why
To build long-term success for mission-driven businesses to “move the needle” and make the world a better place.
I am a futurist; meaning I think about the future (a lot) and I believe it’s possible to build the future we want to see. However, this requires more than just good ideas and well-conceived strategic plans, but real actionable methods to achieve the results we seek. I bring this kind of practical application to startups, scaleups, nonprofits, and small businesses so success is possible.
I am also an activator. I bring people together to do good work. People are excited to work with me, they thrive and are inspired, as I am with them. I love supporting individual and team growth. It energizes me and creates a positive feedback loop. Together, we can do what needs to be done.
A thriving bottom line is positively linked to your structure, process, culture, and care of your people. I take it upon myself to work with companies to develop the best version of themselves using all the time-tested tools for success now and into the future.
With my experience with Exec Team Building, Strategy & Annual Planning, Cross Functional Operational Building, Defining and Implementing Culture, Financial Control, Legal, HR, ESG, Customer Service, Board management, Cap table management, team development, app design and development, DEI, HR, P & L management, consumer and affiliate sales, customer service, data management, investor relations, and culture creation, you are in excellent hands.
My Approach
Deborah's words:
It’s essential to begin with an overall analysis of your company, from the strategic plan to a deep dive into your financials, mapping supply chains, and partnerships, and assessing your marketing funnels, sales channels, and the health of your customer service department. Additionally, the ability to future-proof your business depends on how well we can mitigate the legal and financial risks associated with your company's operations.
I draw from several schools of thought to do this, both traditional business practices to holistic counseling to sustainability / circular economy methods.
Businesses work best when using strong EQ (Emotional Quotient) practices. We are all connected and need to collaborate on the most critical societal and environmental issues while building our companies. We thrive better, together.
What Clients Are Saying
Deborah brings in a fresh new way of thinking for Clean Oceans International
“Deborah brings in a fresh new way of thinking for Clean Oceans International (COI). She offers a refined business strategy and compelling suggestions on how we might want to move forward with our goals. She has also shown us a new workplace management software that will help us streamline communication. Thank you, Deborah, for taking the time to study COI and help us make progress toward our mission!”
Dave Schwartz
We feel very fortunate to have her expertise working for us.
“At Clean Oceans International we made progress everywhere except our business structure. Deborah’s guidance is relevant and understandable and every session moves us closer to our goals. We feel very fortunate to have her expertise working for us and the oceans.”
Captain Jim “Homer” Holm
She is everything I need in a sustainable business coach!
“Deborah is business savvy and highly educated in green business practices. She understands which areas of my business need a little push, and where to hold back so I continue to thrive as a mom with two young children. Working with her helps me see the path forward and then stay on it. I highly recommend her to anyone managing a sustainable business.”
Rebecca Kimber
An Inspirational & Charismatic Force
“I have the honor of watching Deborah motivate and inspire the founders and entrepreneurs that come to my accelerator program. She is a strong and informed presenter and a charismatic force in the training room. It’s common to hear participants in her training sessions say that Deborah is one of their favorite presenters and one of the highlights of our program.”
Dianthe Skurko
A Straightforward Plan
“Working with Deborah was immensely helpful to take a step out of working in my business and begin working on it from a more strategic point of view. She was able to help me fine tune my goals then create a straightforward plan with benchmarks and milestones for reaching those goals. Her genuine curiosity to learn about my business combined with the knowledge she brought to the table about circular economy illuminated ideas I would not have been able to come up with on my own.”
Christina Johnson
Invaluable
“Deborah’s guidance has been invaluable, helping me to focus my efforts and energy, thus shaving valuable hours off of the essential tasks of strategic planning and organization.”