Strategic Business Advisor for Founder-First Growth

Isabella Venour works with founders at inflection points.

Moments where the business is ready to scale, pivot or redesign so it works better — commercially and personally — as priorities evolve.

The kind of decisions that can’t be solved by working harder or adding more tactics.

My role is to help founder-led businesses scale with clarity and alignment — so growth strengthens the business and the people leading it.

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Why alignment matters at scale.

After more than 15 years advising founder-led and mission-driven businesses, one pattern is consistent:

The strategies that create early momentum often stop working as the business grows. Not because they’re wrong — but because they were built for a different phase.

As teams expand, visibility increases, pressure intensifies and let’s be honest - life happens, many founders find themselves operating from external expectations rather than internal clarity. Decision-making becomes heavier. Strategy turns reactive. The business starts to demand more while giving less back.

This is where alignment becomes a strategic advantage.

Aligned businesses make clearer decisions, protect their distinctive edge, and scale in ways that feel sustainable — commercially and personally.

Misaligned businesses often look successful on paper while eroding the very energy, creativity, and judgment they rely on to grow.

My work exists to help founders avoid that trade-off.

My perspective.

I don’t believe the next phase of growth comes from ambition alone.

Ambition drives momentum — but without alignment, it often leads to dilution, burnout, or what I call the Passion Plummet Spiral™: motion without progress, success without satisfaction.

Alignment is not about slowing down or lowering standards. It’s about building strategy around what genuinely works — for the founder, the team, and the market — so growth compounds instead of costs.

I’m in the business of making success personal. Not performative success. Not borrowed definitions.

Success that feels coherent, intentional, and sustainable.

Experiences that carved my thinking.

My background spans strategic communications, business development, and leadership advisory across agency and founder-led environments.

I began my career in senior roles at London PR and marketing agencies including Ketchum, Clarion Communications, CCD Communications, and Brazil, advising household brands such as Guinness, Kenwood, Philips, VitaCoco, and Itsu, Premier Foods as well as specialising in national, start-up and small business in health and wellbeing. I led teams, developed new revenue streams, and worked closely with founders navigating growth, pressure, and change.

In 2019, I founded MindStyle to work directly with founders and leadership teams who wanted to scale without losing themselves — or the essence of what they’d built.

Since then, I’ve advised businesses across health, wellbeing, lifestyle, food & beverage, and professional services — supporting growth from early scale through to advisory board and NED-level conversations.

The insight that underpins my work is simple: Sustainable growth requires parallel founder alignment. Without it, even the strongest strategy eventually breaks.

How I work with founders

I’m not a cheerleader or a task-master. I work as a strategic thinking partner — someone who helps founders hold complexity, see clearly, and make confident decisions under pressure.

This work sits at the intersection of business strategy and applied behavioural psychology — because no strategy survives without the founder’s ability to make clear decisions.

In practice, that means I:

Challenge assumptions about what “has to be done”
Help distinguish between ambition-led pressure and alignment-led strategy
Translate values and intent into practical business architecture
Bring external perspective when founders are too close to see their own blind spots
Support leadership decisions that protect long-term value, not short-term noise

The work is rigorous, reflective, and commercially grounded. We look at the business as a system — leadership, positioning, operations, and market presence — and realign it so growth becomes coherent rather than costly.

Businesses and people I’m drawn to...

I work with founders at moments where growth demands better decisions, not more effort.

Typically, this means:

Established or fast-growing businesses navigating scale, focus, or transition
Quietly impatient people with a gut feeling that they can do and be more without shouting
Leaders who care about profitability alongside personal fulfilment and social impact
Businesses that value thoughtful challenge over generic advice

I don’t work with shortcuts, copy-paste frameworks, or hustle-first growth models.

My role is to support founders who want to meet their business' potential without relying on burnout behaviours that risk longevity, or compromising on their time and freedom.

You can always depend on me to...

Refuse the algorithm circus. I won't chase every trending tactic or tell you success requires dancing on TikTok at 6am. If it doesn't align with your strengths and your market, we're not doing it.

Lean into both the fast and the slow. Business isn't linear. Some seasons demand sprint energy; others need patient, steady work. I help you recognise which phase you're in and adjust accordingly.

Remind you that while you can't have it all, you can have all that matters to you. This sounds like a platitude until you've actually built a business around it. Then it becomes the strategic principle that changes everything.

Stay grounded while staying sharp. I maintain a professional approach that gets results while remaining down-to-earth and playful in an honest, slightly geeky kind of way. Strategy doesn't have to be stuffy.

Have honest conversations. Sometimes that's blunt. Sometimes it's gentle. Always it's in service of guiding you practically and emotionally. I often get chills on client calls when someone reaches an "aha" moment — because I know the ripple effects that insight will create in their business and life.

My friends say I "take the mundane and make it more exciting by having a different, more creative perspective.” - I'll take it.

Credentials & context

15+ years advising founder-led and mission-driven businesses
Founder & Director, Isabella Consulting (MindStyle Ltd)
Former Agency Account Director
CPD Accredited Business Strategist
ICF Accredited Coach
ANLP Accredited NLP Practitioner
Speaker & Workshop Host: FSB, Enterprise Nation, Bloom in Business, Empower Her, ItsMental
Featured in BBC, Health & Wellbeing, Hip&Healthy
5* Google reviews from a selection of clients

A note on alignment (and reality).

Alignment, isn’t about perfection — it’s about noticing sooner when something’s off and having the confidence to respond.

I still occasionally take on projects that look impressive but feel slightly off. I still catch myself defaulting to external validation under pressure and feeling surprised that all it took was a run to clear my thoughts. I'm guilty of comfort eating when stressed and sometimes force "organised fun" on those around me. (My family can confirm).

Alignment is a practice — one I actively return to, both personally and professionally. That honesty is part of the work.

Because the goal isn't to build a bigger business. It's to build one that's genuinely yours and others can positively connect with — in which success looks strong externally and feels right internally.

Behind the scenes facts & musings...

I'm a Spanish-speaking European-Londoner now living in Wales with my two kids and my university crush (who somehow still tolerates my tendency to plan spontaneous adventures).

I used to do martial arts. These days I'm wondering if the next chapter involves dance lessons — or maybe finally braving a winter sea swim like the locals.

I've recently signed up for photography and floristry courses because curiosity shouldn't have an expiration date.

I've run virtual summits, hosted a radio show, led mastermind groups, secured press coverage and speaker gigs, and supported hundreds of people in creating more fulfilling lives and positive impact through the work they love — all while growing a family and building the flexible lifestyle I actually wanted.

Client experiences...

I've had the privilege of supporting some amazing founders, leaders and brilliant businesses.

Words from clients