Peter Sorgenfrei

Live a happier and healthier life. I'll get you there in 3 months or less.

I work privately with founders when something has started to repeat or quietly erode, even though nothing has visibly broken yet.

By the time people reach out, conversations escalate more easily, conflicts don't fully resolve, authority thins, or work begins to spill into personal life in ways that are hard to contain. What used to feel manageable starts depending on effort.

I know how that feels from the inside. I ran my own company with 70 people across 5 countries and hit the wall myself in 2019. Not the dramatic kind. The slow kind, where you keep performing but stop recognizing yourself. Six companies, fifteen years of building, and the thing that finally broke wasn't the business. It was everything around it. I rebuilt from there.

That experience is what shapes how I work now. 
This is not coaching for growth, optimization, or personal development. It's not therapy. The work focuses on stabilizing these patterns before continuing as-is costs more than it should, professionally, personally, or both. Engagements are private, time-bounded, and deliberately contained. We reassess once things begin to resolve cleanly again.

If you're looking for ongoing support, performance work, or stress relief, this is probably not a fit. If continuing as you are no longer feels neutral, this is usually the right moment to reach out.

The starting point is a single 90-minute diagnostic session. You walk in with what's been building. You leave with a scored snapshot of how you're operating across work, body, mind, and relationships, plus a 30-day action plan. No commitment beyond that. DM me "baseline" if you want the details.

I also write occasional notes on pressure, responsibility, and decision-making in my newsletter Intentional Leadership (see featured section).

Executive and Board Advisory

I work with Investors, Boards, and Leadership teams to develop people and grow companies

Being a startup founder explained in 12 seconds.

You start at the top.

You've got a plan. 

A strategy. 

A direction.

Then you spin around completely, and suddenly you're going downhill, facing the wrong way.

You can't see where you're going. 
You definitely can't see the finish line. 

Your investors are watching from the sidelines, trying to make sense of what just happened.

But you're still moving.

Still somehow staying on your feet.

And against all logic, you cross the finish line. 

Backwards. 
Confused. 
But you crossed it.

Six companies. 
Fifteen years. 
I've finished backwards more times than I'd like to admit.

The founders I coach? Same thing. 

The ones who make it aren't the ones who never spin out.

They're the ones who keep skiing when they can't see where they're going.

What's your "finished backwards" moment?

You may not like me after reading this.

But someone needs to say it.

I've spent hours advising people who aren't clients.

They ask a question. I answer.
They ask another. I answer again.
They ask a third. I answer once more.

Then they come back next week with more questions.

At some point, I see they're not building anything.

They're just collecting answers.

The people who win?

They follow a different path:

• They ask one or two good questions
• They say thank you and leave
• They go do what they learned
• They come back weeks later with real results
• They ask new questions based on what happened

Not theory.
Not what-ifs.
Not trying to plan every step ahead.

They return with: "I tried what you said. Here's what happened."

That's the difference.

Winners collect just enough info to take action.

Then they let doing it teach them what they really need to know.

They know talking isn't one-way taking.
It's not about owing someone something.

It's about knowing when you've gotten value and need to create some yourself.

Stop asking questions you already know the answer to.

Start doing the work that scares you.

The answers you want are in the doing, not in one more talk.

And if you still have questions?
Try this: https://bit.ly/askpetergpt

I coach founder-CEOs who built the company but lost themselves along the way | 6x founder/CEO | Burned out managing 70 people across 5 countries. Rebuilt from there.

Justin McNaughton

Partner @ CAS | 🗡️ Lawyer for Emerging Tech Companies | Photographer / Mountain Biker / Dad

𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝘄𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲:

•	They focus on growth, no time for details
•	They believe legal services create headaches, not growth
•	They DIY with ChatGPT
•	They think they will have time “later”

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲: 

•	Their contracts become sloppy
•	Their operating documents leave massive gaps
•	Investors reject them because “it’s not buttoned up”
•	Their businesses lose momentum

𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀.


Consider the large tech companies you’re disrupting. 

They have a c-suite lawyer who:

• Protects company assets 
• Advises on legal obstacles
• Identifies and reduces risks
• Oversees compliance issues
• Oversees the company's specialist lawyers
• Acts as the company's legal representative
• Acts as a key negotiator in strategic transactions

They 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 have Intellectual property lawyers who:

• Register patents, trademarks, and copyrights
• Safeguard intellectual property
• Enforce against infringers

These companies have $100M legal budgets.

Emerging companies can’t afford all of this, so what do you do?

𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: a combined outside general counsel and intellectual property counsel.


𝗠𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱:

Over the last 17 years, I’ve worked with all kinds of tech & creative companies:

⇨ I handled trademarks for two leading private timeshare companies
⇨ I negotiate technology agreements across multiple industries
⇨ I’m keen on intellectual property protection and licensing 
⇨ I advised one of the first cell-cultivated meat startups 
⇨ I protected Pitbull's signature "eeeeyoooo" sound 
⇨ I manage m&a for buyers and sellers 
⇨ I negotiate fundraising for startups 

If you plan to exit your tech company or sign a million-dollar contract, send me a dm. 

We’ll set up a call.

Photographs © 2023-2025 Justin McNaughton unless otherwise indicated. 
All rights reserved.
_________________

THIS ACCOUNT IS AN ADVERTISEMENT

Partner

I graded a founder's company today. 

On this fact pattern: 

The company paid contractors $60,000 to build an MVP. 

No contracts. 
No paperwork. 
Just a handshake. 

I also offered ideas in the video to improve the grade.

Video below. 

PS - Please let me know if you like this format.

——
Follow for tips like this: 🗡️ @justin 

#startups #entrepreneurship #businessowners

Partner @ CAS | 🗡️ Lawyer for fast-growing tech companies / Photographer / Biking enthusiast / Dad

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