About Vijay Solanki
A career spent inside the minds, and organisations, that start things
Biography
Vijay Solanki is an author, strategist and executive coach with more than three decades of experience across marketing, innovation, media and technology. He has held senior roles with organisations including Unilever, Castrol, Philips, BlackBerry and Shazam, and has worked with hundreds of founders and senior leaders.
Perspective
His work sits at the intersection of human psychology, commercial strategy and entrepreneurial action. He is particularly interested in what allows some people and teams to move through uncertainty, make courageous choices and create momentum when others remain stuck.
The Founding Courage story
It began as a book and is becoming a broader platform
Keynotes, leadership workshops, assessments and practical tools that help people and organisations rediscover their capacity to start things.
Values
Curiosity
Emotional connection
Creativity
Growth
Leadership in service of others
Purpose, vision and strategy
Why Founding Courage exists
Purpose
To help people and organisations rediscover their capacity to start things.
Vision
Leadership teams that decide and act before all the evidence arrives, and are better for it.
Strategy
A book that starts the conversation, keynotes that carry it into the room, and workshops that turn it into a 90-day plan.
Draft copy, for approval
Who we are
A joint venture between Vijay Solanki and Meliora
Vijay Solanki
Author, strategist and executive coach. Three decades across marketing, innovation, media and technology, and 500 founder coaching conversations.
Meliora
The Intelligent Experience Company. Partner in the venture, bringing the design, delivery and organisational craft behind the programmes.
Founding Courage is a training company, not a consultancy. We do not write your strategy. We build the courage and the habits your leaders need to execute the one they already have.
Advocates
People who vouch for the work
Names to be supplied
Vijay coached me through the decision I had delayed for a year
The company we have now exists because of that conversation.
Founder and chief executive, B2B software scale-up, draft copy
He asks the question the room has been circling
Then he makes it safe enough for someone to answer it honestly.
Chief marketing officer, retail group, draft copy
The most useful book on entrepreneurship I have read in a decade
Because it is about behaviour and judgement, not tactics.
Author and podcast host, draft copy
Start with a conversation
Tell us about the audience, team or challenge and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.
Where Founding Courage operates
Draft copy, for approval
Two questions: where in the world, and where in the business
Geographies
London and the UK, in the room
Europe, for offsites and conferences
Remote, for programmes that run over months
Contexts
Medium and large enterprises
Scale-ups and their leadership teams
Founder communities and accelerators