Portrait of Rob Laing

Building the future of work

I work on big opportunities that improve how we eat, communicate, and work together.

At iMerit, I am building a network called Scholars, which brings together a diverse group of the world's smartest minds to design and train the future of technology.

My newsletter is all about the future of work.

To scale your company,
first you must grow

Strong, successful businesses are built by leaders who grow themselves. The best way is with expert coaching from an experienced, friendly, supportive third party.

Working with a great coach is a game-changing experience for founders and executives. Executive coaching has up to a 788% ROI, via increased productivity and employee retention.

I can help you build the skills, awareness and authority to scale your business - and thrive.

Talk to me about CEO Coaching

Featured in

Selected past work

💰 I've scaled two startups from founding to acquisition.
📱 Built complex software and hardware technology.
💵 Raised millions from VCs, angels and via crowdfunding.
🇬🇧🇯🇵🇺🇸 Built happy, cross-cultural teams in the US, Japan and UK.
♳ Brokered complex sustainability deals with the world's largest brands.
❌ And I've made mistakes too.
😫 I've closed businesses and carried out layoffs.
😐 Dealt with complex investor and co-founder issues.
Now I coach leaders on how to maximize their potential,
to build happy, strong companies that improve the world.

Farm.One

Farm.One

Gengo.com

Gengo.com

The Plastics Data Platform

The Plastics Data Platform

Food Waste @ Google

Food Waste @ Google

Ditch the Dirt

Ditch the Dirt

Moonshots @ Google

Moonshots @ Google

I help you differently.

You are the sum of your experiences. Seek out difference.
I am an unusual CEO coach: I was a maker, a coder, a designer before being a leader.

My 3-part process integrates the best startup wisdom.
Plus the more important stuff no one talks about:
Empathic, cross-cultural and mindful leadership.

1

Reach your highest
personal performance

Most leaders work a lot of hours, but don't reach their peak performance. Let's get there and beyond by focusing on your mindset, balance, and communication.

2

Build a creative and
ambitious team culture

The company culture you create determines its success and your happiness. Learn mindful leadership that fosters creativity and quality for scale.

3

Scale your business
and your impact

I help you scale your business, drawing on my experience growing two difficult startups to acquisition. I coach strategy, ops, funding, board comms and more.

Hear from folks I've worked with

Jessica Roland

RWS Group

Rob's combination of strategic thinking, technical chops and a designer's attention to getting things right is inspiring!

Tina Koyama

Pieces of Japan

Rob is transparent, constructive and extremely motivating. He always helps to find a way to solve problems not by stepping in, but by helping me find my own approach. Rob makes me feel like I can make anything happen if I just try hard enough, which so far has proven to be true.

Timothy Wong

Meta

Rob is a great listener, and has been a great mentor, always providing tough but honest assessment of my performance and motivating me to become a better manager. Rob is able to view problems from a hands-on level, while at the same time keeping in mind the high-level strategy of the company.

David Gilbert

ExpressVPN

Rob is one of the most inspiring and genuine people I've worked with. He is a great mentor who has always provided succinct and timely advice which has allowed me to grow enormously in a short period of time.

Jamie Cox

BetterUp

Rob is a big professional influence for me. He is so smart, incredibly friendly, and totally engaged. His vision, open communication, and strong management are a complete embodiment of who he is as a leader: interesting, motivational, and empowering.

Advait Karande

Box

It's no surprise that those working with Rob tend to push their own limits and grow professionally. I did. Rob has an uncanny knack of focusing on the most important problems in the present without losing sight the long-term vision. And he holds people working with him to the same high standard.

Brian Bush

Sysco

I met Rob as founder of my B2B SaaS business in 2016, and he quickly identified that my sales pitch to customers wasn't landing. Rob helped with real-time coaching, pitch advice and useful guidance. Year later I look at this as a formative sales experience, and encourage anyone to go to Rob for startup coaching, given his passion and talent for thoughtful business mentorship.

Paige Carter

Noho Hospitality

Rob is an incredible leader of people and businesses. He creates a work environment that is inclusive, agile, empathetic, and goal-oriented. Rob is driven in a way that is infectious - motivating everyone around him to strive for the same.

Shelley Golan

Mercury

Rob's diverse experiences have contributed to his depth of knowledge and expertise in start-ups, business strategy, Agtech and sustainability both domestically and internationally. I would highly recommend Rob's skills as a coach.

Shoma Kimura

Uber

Rob possesses an incredibly rare combination of methodical and strategic decision-making, technical expertise and knowledge and people-oriented management skills. Rob consistently instills clear strategic direction that is both inspirational and motivational on a daily basis. He has proven himself time and again that he is a one-of-a-kind leader.

Natalia Manidis

Microsoft

Rob constantly challenged and motivated me to stretch and grow. I learned an incredible amount from him — about community management, people management, marketing, communications — and owe a big part of where I am today to him. He is one of the smartest and most creative people I know.

Mike Staffa

Zeals

Anyone would be lucky to have Rob as a coach. To me, he is the epitome of a startup founder. When he speaks he exudes passion in the topic and has a calm confidence, he has an amazing ability to connect with everyone on a very personal level.

Work with Rob

Growing companies is hard. Doing it alone is even harder.


I’ll help you achieve ambitious things.

Talk to me about CEO Coaching