How Wes Kao coaches founders to influence, lead, and get what they want | Wes Kao (Executive coach, co-founder of Maven)

Wes Kao is an executive coach, advisor, and instructor, best known for her newsletter on high-impact communication, and for co-founding course platform Maven and the AltMBA with Seth Godin. Across her career, Wes has helped leaders communicate with clarity and conviction, whether it’s rallying a team, pitching investors, or influencing stakeholders.

In this episode, Wes and Brett unpack how founders can be more persuasive, why playing to your strengths is critical, and how everyone can raise their own standards.

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In today’s episode, we discuss:

Wes’ “personality-message fit” framework
Why charisma is misunderstood
How anyone can improve their communication
What being told you need to “be more strategic” actually means
and much more…

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Referenced:

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Where to find Wes:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weskao

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Where to find Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson

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Where to find First Round Capital:

Website: https://firstround.com/
First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

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Timestamps:

(1:54) Charisma is misunderstood

(4:44) What underpins authenticity?

(13:53) Clarity in communication

(16:02) Start with your ideal outcome

(22:05) The role of power dynamics

(26:39) Should you work on weaknesses?

(29:02) Effective self-reflection

(32:13) Role-strength fit

(37:39) What do you resent?

(39:17) “Be more strategic”

(45:20) Stack ranking

(51:45) How AltMBA started

(60:04) Defining your craft

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