Leadership & Startup Coach in Amsterdam

You built this thing. Now let’s build the leader behind it.

Running your own thing is different than anyone told you. The decisions are heavier. The wins are quieter. And when the business struggles, it feels like you’re the one failing.

I’m Miguel — a leadership and startup coach in Amsterdam. I help founders and entrepreneurs break through the personal blocks that keep them playing small.

In Amsterdam or online, worldwide.

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10+

Years coaching

500+

Founders & Leaders coached

5/5 Google reviews

Coaching for Founders & Leaders in Amsterdam or Online

Deep down, you know something has to change.

Leadership coaching

Leadership Coaching. Drop the performance, and be the person people actually want to follow.

Career coaching

Know what you really want and create a clear path forward for you and your skyhigh ambitions.

Confidence coaching

Confidence Coaching — Stop hiding behind your work. Step forward as the leader you already are.

Brands I’ve been working with my startup coach programs

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Leadership Style Assessment

Discover your unique leadership approach in just 8 questions

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Here’s what nobody tells you about running your own thing:

From the outside, you look like you’ve got it together. Client meetings, team alignment, investors — you’re handling it. Maybe you even squeeze in a workout between calls.

But when the noise stops, you know the truth. You’re stretched thin. And the loneliness hits harder than anyone around you understands.

You feel like you’re improvising all the time, and it’s exhausting
You’re running on empty while everyone around you thinks you’re winning.
Other founders’ wins used to inspire you. Lately they just make you wonder why you’re falling behind.
You’re stressed, snapping at the people you love, or people-pleasing your way through every interaction. And you know this isn’t who you want to be.

I’ve been there. As a founder, as a team lead at Philips, and as someone who had to learn the hard way that you can’t push through everything alone. Let me show you what changes when you stop trying to figure it all out by yourself.

Watch how my startup coaching process works

Results that my clients achieve

Unshakeable Confidence & Presence

You’ll stop shrinking in rooms where you belong. My coaching helps you rebuild the confidence to speak your truth, own your expertise, and show up as a leader people take seriously.

Real Relationships: With Your Team, Your Board, and Yourself

Your team, your investors, your co-founders all need you to show up fully. Not the polished version, the real one. I’ll help you build the kind of relationships where trust runs deep and delegation actually works.

Navigate Conflict Without Losing Yourself

Difficult conversations don’t have to destroy you. Together we’ll work through the patterns and beliefs that make conflict feel threatening, so you can address hard things from a place of clarity, not fear.

Clear the Internal Blocks Holding You Back

The biggest thing standing between you and the next level isn’t time or strategy — it’s the stuff you haven’t looked at yet. The self-doubt. The imposter syndrome. The people pleasing or the the old patterns running the show. As your coach, I help you see it, work through it, and move forward for good.

Lead Without Burning Out Your Team

Whether you’re bringing on your first hire or leading a growing team — you’ll learn how to communicate with clarity, give feedback that actually lands, and bring people along instead of dragging them.

Get Your Life Back

You didn’t start your business to spend every day in back-to-back meetings. I help founders and leaders move from doing everything to leading with intention, so you have space for the work that matters, and for the life outside of it.

Hands typing on a tablet keyboard next to a drink. Startup Leadership Coach working.

See what other founders are saying about my Startup Coaching Services:

“Miguel has helped me to find the confidence, the right tools and the courage to improve in my managerial position in my startup. With his friendly, challenging and insightful coaching sessions, he helped me to navigate through hard moments in my life and my career, and to handle anxiety and stress related to my job. I would warmly recommend Miguel!”

Nikolas Gaio – startup coaching testimonial

Nikolas Gaio, PhD

CTO and Founder at BI/OND

Eye opening! Things I learned are: how to unravel the knots, feel confident and strong, go back to my basic values and learn tools how to fix things myself. I worked with Miguel with visual solutions and felt relieved as well as eye opening going through the coaching with him.

Jana Slechtova

Co-Founder & Scrum Master

“Through the coaching with Miguel I got to know myself better and find simple ways to move out of my comfort zone. It enabled me to show up more with my team and stakeholders and to work on my personal and professional development. I feel ready and confident to go out in the world and achieve much more. Working with Miguel was enormous fun and I can recommend him 100% as coach.”

Ivo Hristov

Team manager at Gucci

Read all testimonials

Why me? Because I’ve actually done what you’re trying to do.

I’ve built startups, sold one, and watched another fail. I’ve led teams at Philips and learned the hard way that managing people in a complex organization is a completely different game.

All of that experience lives in how I coach. Combined with professional certifications (PCC, CPCC), training in co-active coaching, somatic work, and neuroscience, I bring both the strategy and the personal depth that most coaches offer separately.

Based in Amsterdam. Working with founders and leaders in person or worldwide via Zoom.

Certified executive coach (PCC & CPCC) with 10+ years of experience coaching over 500 founders, entrepreneurs, and leaders in Amsterdam and worldwide.

ICF PCC Professional Certified Coach credential – Miguel Baumann

University of St. Gallen – leadership coaching client

CPCC Certified Professional Co-Active Coach – Miguel Baumann

More about me

Startup Coaching FAQ’s

What does an executive coach do?

An executive coach helps you step back from the chaos and get honest about what’s really going on, in your business and in yourself. I combine structured coaching frameworks with deeper personal work, so you don’t just set goals, you actually reach them.

Most of my clients come in wanting to move fast. That instinct is exactly what got them here. But real growth starts when we slow down enough to understand what’s driving the urgency, and what’s getting in the way.

Why should a CEO have an executive coach?

When you’re the one making the big calls, there’s no one above you to gut-check your thinking. No one who’ll tell you the truth without an agenda.

That’s what a coach does. I’m your impartial sparring partner — someone who asks the hard questions and helps you think clearly when the pressure is highest. Not to give you answers, but to help you find the ones you actually trust.

How does executive coaching help executives?

Executives don’t need coaching, they want coaching. Coaching is always something that comes on top of great career skills. Coaching with me allows executives to have tough conversations from a place of compassion instead of confrontation. We will analyze situations from multiple angles and open up possibilities instead of only binary options. These are the things that separate the good from the great.

What makes a great leader and executive that an executive coach can polish?

Modern leaders excel when they embody authenticity in character and communication. They embrace honesty about their own strengths and weaknesses and they don’t try to keep up an illusion of perfection. Instead, these leaders actively listen to feedback and praise the best ideas from others. And the best executives refuse to tolerate egos that hinder progress.

What are the different leadership styles?

The classic list includes authoritative, democratic, coaching, visionary, servant, and transformational leadership. In practice, no one fits cleanly into one.

Most founders borrow from several, and usually default to whichever style their survival patterns pulled them into, not the one that actually serves their team. My coaching helps you notice which style is running the show, and build the flexibility to lead differently when the moment calls for it.

What leadership skills matter most for founders?

Everyone talks about communication, delegation, and decision-making. Those matter. But they’re symptoms, not causes.

The deeper skills are self-awareness (knowing what you’re doing and why), emotional regulation (not flying off the handle under pressure), and the ability to hold discomfort long enough to make good calls. The founders who lead well aren’t the ones with the most frameworks. They’re the ones who’ve done the inner work.

What is transformational leadership?

Transformational leadership is when you inspire people to commit to a bigger purpose rather than just comply with tasks. It’s less about directives and more about presence, trust, and vision.

Most founders I work with want to be transformational leaders. They just haven’t built the internal stability to actually do it. That’s where coaching comes in.

What’s the difference between leadership and management?

Management is about getting things done through systems, processes, and accountability. Leadership is about why anyone follows you in the first place.

Most founders are accidentally managing when they mean to be leading, because management is easier to measure. Coaching with me helps you build both muscles, and know when to use each.

How do you build adaptive performance in a team?

Adaptive performance is your team’s ability to adjust to new challenges, new people, new strategies, without falling apart. It starts with psychological safety and clarity of purpose.

But here’s what most leadership content misses. Your team’s adaptability caps at yours. If you can’t handle change internally, your team won’t either. We work on both ends.

executive coach speaking in front of a group

Startup Coaching Blogs

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No-brainer Leadership Resources
Published On: 2 September 2025By Miguel
Many of my clients approach me and ask: Where should I start with this "leadership thing"? There is a lot out there, ChatGPT has probably some answers as well. But here is a short overview of the most helpful links and articles to get you started (links listed so …
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Breaking Free from “Toxic Fuel” Mindsets
Published On: 14 June 2025By Miguel
In a world that constantly pushes us toward quick fixes and external validation, many of us find ourselves trapped in cycles of unhappiness, addiction, and purposelessness. We chase after solutions—more money, better looks, higher status—only to discover that these pursuits often leave us feeling emptier than before. As Harvard-trained psychiatrist …
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Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: Why Understanding Feelings Drives Extraordinary Results
Published On: 4 June 2025By Miguel
Let me ask you something slightly uncomfortable: How much time did you spend thinking about emotions in your workplace today? If you're like most leaders I coach, your answer might be "not much" or even "I try to keep emotions out of business decisions." And therein lies one of …
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