Energy Leadership Coach | Leadership Trainer | R&D Expert

Can't shut off? Always on edge?

If you're highly sensitive, HSP, ADHD, or neurodiverse - your nervous system operates differently. 

You naturally pick up more. Process deeper. Feel misalignment faster.

When you override your wiring? Your body shuts you down.

I help sensitive and neurodiverse founders regulate their nervous systems so they can build businesses that work WITH their wiring, not against it.

Take the Free Founder Regulation Assessment → founder-regulation-assessment.lovable.app

My Story

Three years ago, I moved from Holland to the Portuguese mountains to escape burnout.

It didn't work.

Working 8am-10pm. Phone at dinner. Snapping at my kids - I remained stuck in survival mode.

My chest was tight. Mind racing. I'd lost the ability to feel what my body was saying.

That wake-up call changed everything.

I stopped trying to push through my dysregulation and instead started treating through somatic work and regulation.

Now I help other sensitive and neurodiverse founders do the same.

So if this is you...

- Can't shut off - mind races, body won't rest
- Always on edge - chest tight, revenue dips spiral you
- Body refuses to fake it 
- You feel everything 3x harder
- Decide from panic, not strategy
- Rest feels dangerous
- Irritable with people you love

Better boundaries alone won;t solve your problme. You need nervous system regulation.

How I Work
→ Map your nervous system patterns
→ Rebuild regulation capacity
→ Create rhythms that honour your wiring
→ Lead from presence, not performance

What makes this different is that most business coaching ignores the body. Most nervous system work doesn't understand business. 

Almost nothing addresses how sensitive and neurodiverse systems work differently.

I bridge all three.

I bring nervous system science (Polyvagal Theory) and body-based practices (Somatic Experiencing) into entrepreneurship for founders whose systems operate differently.

Your system picks up everything. Processes everything. Feels everything.
You dysregulate faster - and pay a higher price.

The popular "push through" advice? breaks you.

When you work WITH your wiring? Everything changes.

Start Here

Free 5-min assessment: Take it here → founder-regulation-assessment.lovable.app
1:1 Coaching: Book call here → https://cal.com/daniel-philips-coaching/clarity-call

The real breakthrough was learning to feel what was happening inside - and lead from there.

Daniel Philip Wilcock

Philip Smith 🎓

I work with startup founders on one thing that matters more than ideas: execution.

I speak weekly with founders, CEOs, and investors about what it really takes to build, fund, and scale early-stage companies, from MVP to first revenue.

No theory.
No recycled X threads.
Just real lessons from people in the trenches.

I think and operate like a GTM engineer - designing repeatable systems across product, sales, and growth.

I’m currently:
• BDM @ Perfutil Technologies (AI app development)
• CMO & GTM Engineer @ Teemie
• Host of the Founders & Funding podcast (1,900+ subscribers)

Inside my content, I share:
• How founders actually raised their first round
• What didn’t work (and nearly killed the company)
• Practical GTM, MVP, and growth lessons
• Honest investor perspectives

If you’re a founder building pre-seed → Series A, you’ll find this useful.

👉 Subscribe to “Founders & Funding” via my profile

Founder & CEO

Performance commission based marketing agency for universities and colleges.

Work with the top 1% of education marketers affordably.

Philip Smith 🚀 🎓

Raising isn’t hard because investors don’t exist.

It’s hard because clarity is rare.

They struggle to explain clearly where they’re going.

In this week’s Founders & Funding newsletter (1900+ subscribers) , I share key insights from my conversation with Kieran Greene, Founder & CEO of Shinka.

Kieran shared his journey from a bootstrapped MVP to closing a seed round in one of the most competitive corners of ad tech.

We unpack the real difference between pre-seed belief and seed proof, what it means to raise as a solo founder, how to build technical infrastructure without a traditional co-founder, and why storytelling starts long before you officially open a round.

The biggest takeaway for me was simple.

Funding follows clarity.

If you’re building, fundraising, or thinking about when to raise, this edition is worth a read.

You can read it below 👇

Philip Smith

I Speak with 1 Founder or Investor Every Week | Host @ Founders & Funding Podcast | BDM @ Perfutil | GTM Engineer

In this edition of the Founders & Funding newsletter, I spoke with Kieran Greene, Founder & CEO of Shinka. Shinka is an advertising technology platfor

Open article: From Bootstrapped MVP to Seed Round: Building Shinka with Vision and Discipline, With Kieran Greene by Philip Smith • 4 min read

From Bootstrapped MVP to Seed Round: Building Shinka with Vision and Discipline, With Kieran Greene

I joined LinkedIn in February 2014.

4,415 days later…

I hit 20,000 followers.

Hopefully it doesn’t take another 12 years to hit 40,000 😅

A great example of an 'overnight success'.

Boost Drinks Ltd started with a small loan and no outside investors.

Over the next 20 years, Simon Gray built it into a national energy drink brand before selling the business to AG Barr Group in 2022.

Recently, I sat down with Simon and picked his brain.

What stood out in the conversation wasn’t just the scale of the business.

It was how simple the foundations were:
• Focus on cash flow
• Build a product people actually want
• Don’t raise money unless you need it

Simon put it perfectly:
“You can sell anything to anybody once. To get them coming back… it’s got to 
deliver.”

Great conversation and lots of practical lessons for founders.

Full newsletter below 👇

Sponsored by Perfutil Technologies & Leyton.

In this edition of the Founders & Funding newsletter, I spoke with Simon Gray, Founder and former CEO of Boost Drinks. Boost started in 2001 with a si

Open article: The Boost Drinks Story: From Wholesale Trading to a National Brand, with Simon Gray by Philip Smith • 4 min read

The Boost Drinks Story: From Wholesale Trading to a National Brand, with Simon Gray

Episode 14 of the Founders & Funding Podcast is now live! Sponsored by Perfutil Technologies & Leyton

I sat down with Alan Costello, Partner at Resolve Ventures and Director of Resolve Partners, to talk about how founders can actually build traction and raise funding in the early stages of their startup journey.

Alan has spent nearly 20 years working with startups across Ireland, Europe and the Middle East. As part of the team behind Resolve Partners and previously the NDRC investment team, he’s worked with hundreds of founders on product-market fit, growth strategy and early-stage fundraising.

We covered:
• Why customer revenue should be the starting point for every startup
• Why most successful businesses never raise VC, and that’s okay
• The importance of customer discovery and staying close to the problem
• How founders can identify and approach the right angel investors
• Why your first investors should bring knowledge, networks and credibility
• How customer interviews can completely reshape your growth strategy

Alan also shared insights from working with startups in areas like climate tech, energy systems and sustainable food production, including companies building solutions in EV infrastructure, aquaculture and industrial energy recovery.

If you’re building a startup and thinking about funding, this conversation covers a lot of the startup landscape and is a reminder that great businesses start with customers, not capital.

🎧 Link to listen is in the comments 👇

We hit 2,000 subscribers!!

Two thousand people have pressed the subscribe button to the Founders & Funding Newsletter. 

We're still early, but that's crazy when you think about it.

I started this newsletter on Dec 5th, 2025 to share the stories of founders and investors we don’t usually get to hear.

Excited to see where this can grow to by the end of 2026 and beyond.

There are a lot more great stories to tell and insights to share.

Huge thanks to our sponsors Perfutil Technologies & Leyton for supporting it.

taplio

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Daniel Philip Wilcock

Philip Smith 🚀 🎓

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The Battle

Daniel Philip Wilcock

Philip Smith 🚀 🎓

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Philip Smith 🚀 🎓's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScorePhilip Smith 🚀 🎓's LinkedIn Performance