Ongoing counsel for Wayfounders
An outside mind for the decisions you carry alone.
Not every business problem is only about business. Your relationships, identity, health, history, and life outside the company can all shape what happens inside it.
I work with a small number of founders as a long-term strategic counterpart. I retain the wider context, tell you directly what I see, and help you make cleaner decisions when the noise is difficult to cut through alone.
Fifteen years getting to new technology early — Bitcoin in 2013, Slack inside IRESS before it was the enterprise default, Notion from its early days.
01 · The wider system
The hardest decisions rarely fit neatly into one category.
A technology decision changes the product. A product decision changes the team. A team decision changes the culture. A difficult season at home changes how you lead. Before long, the original question is buried beneath five connected problems.
Meanwhile, everyone around you has a position. Your team wants direction. Your investors want confidence. Your cofounder has their own reading. Friends may understand you, but rarely understand the company closely enough to challenge your thinking.
This counsel gives you one person outside that system who can hold the continuity across work and life, notice the patterns repeating over time, and tell you what they think you should do. This is counsel, not a process of asking questions until you discover an answer I am unwilling to name.
02 · The relationship
The depth of a cofounder conversation, without pretending to be your cofounder.
A good cofounder knows the history, understands the people, and can challenge the story you are telling yourself. Many founders need that quality of conversation without adding another executive, director, or equity-heavy relationship.
I take the time to understand the company around you rather than responding only to whichever problem appears in the current week. I bring independent judgment, pattern recognition, and enough context to help you think through decisions properly.
You retain the authority, responsibility, and final say. I provide the informed outside perspective that is usually missing.
03 · Track record
Early to things, and on the record.
I keep turning up in new technology before it becomes the obvious choice. Other people noticed the same pattern, which is the part that matters.
2010
Tales From Nanumea, my first animation venture
Officially sponsored and featured by Adobe.
2013
Bitcoin
Working in and around Bitcoin while most people were still deciding whether it was serious.
2017–18
Slack, inside a $1.9 billion fintech company
I introduced Slack inside IRESS. It became Slack’s first enterprise customer in Asia-Pacific.
2018
Global Head of Community, Bitcoin Cash Fund
Community and adoption work for an industry fund, in a market moving fast in every direction.
2019
Launched Faiā, my first company in Singapore
Founded in Singapore, working on how organisations take on new technology.
2020
Launched Honā, second company, with investment from U.S. VC Tim Draper
Won a global pitch competition during the pandemic and took backing from Tim Draper.
2022
Global Head of Community, Bitcoin Association
Community and adoption for an international standards body in a fast-moving industry.
2023
Tuvalu National Digital Ledger
Advised on digital-nation strategy and the national digital ledger — blockchain infrastructure built for a sovereign state.
Now
AI adoption
The same question again at a larger scale: what is real, when to move, and who carries the change.
“George has been working in community for a long time, and is one of the first people I knew who saw the opportunity in web3.”
“He is a visionary, often seeing trends and opportunities before others. If you want to know what tech platforms will be big in the future, ask George — he has his finger on the pulse.”
04 · What I bring
A wider read of the terrain.
Signal reading
I help you separate a meaningful technological or market shift from something that is merely loud. We examine what has changed, what remains uncertain, and whether now is actually the time to move.
Cultural translation
A sound decision can still fail when the people around it do not understand the change. I help translate your direction into language, choices, and operating implications that your team can carry.
Community mobilization
Change survives when enough people understand it, believe in it, and make it part of their daily behavior. I look beyond the announcement to the human network that will determine whether the shift takes hold.
Independent judgment
I am outside your org chart and have no need to protect an internal position. I will ask good questions, but I will also give you a direct answer when I have one.
Continuity and context
The value compounds because I remember. I retain the decisions, relationships, tensions, and personal circumstances surrounding the company, then notice when the same pattern returns in a different form.
05 · Wayfounder
A founder guided by a wayfinder.
A Wayfinder reads the terrain and finds a way through it. A Wayfounder is a founder who works with one.
That is the shape of this counsel. You keep building and deciding. I keep the read: what has changed, what is noise, and which way the ground is moving.
For now I am the only wayfinder here, and the group is capped at forty-four. In time there will be others — trained the same way, working the same way — so that being a Wayfounder is a way of working rather than one person's client list.
06 · How we start
One conversation first, then one paid session.
The first conversation costs nothing and carries no commitment. You describe what is changing and what decision is in front of you; I tell you whether I am the right person for it. No fee, no intake form, no obligation to continue.
If the fit is real, the paid step is the Clarity Session — US$500: a focused 60-minute working session. Before we meet, you complete a short intake covering the situation, the decision, and the wider context. During the session, we examine the whole system rather than treating the visible problem in isolation. Afterwards, you receive a concise decision note with the central pattern, the trade-offs, and the next moves.
If we both decide to begin ongoing counsel within 30 days, the US$500 is credited toward your first month.
07 · How it works
Month one: the 360° Read.
A 90-minute working session covering the company’s history, current strategy, key relationships, technology bets, and the decisions occupying your attention.
I review the material needed to understand the situation: strategy, product direction, team structure, relevant communications, and current technology choices.
Confidential interviews with three to five people around you: a cofounder, executive, team member, investor, advisor, or close partner. They reveal where perceptions differ and how your direction is actually being received.
A written assessment of what appears to be happening, the tensions and blind spots, delayed decisions, relevant signals, assumptions to test, and the clearest focus for the next 90 days.
08 · The ongoing rhythm
Context that compounds.
- Two 75-minute counsel sessions each month
Bring the decisions that are difficult to make alone: company direction, cofounder tension, hiring, positioning, technology choices, or organizational change.
- Bounded access between sessions
Send short messages or voice notes when a live decision cannot wait. I respond within one business day, Monday to Thursday.
- Monthly decision memo
A record of the decisions made, assumptions being tested, risks and signals we are watching, and the next moves that matter.
- Selective introductions
When I genuinely know someone useful, I will make the introduction. Introductions are offered where relevant and are never guaranteed as part of the engagement.
- A standing seat in the Lab, if you want it
The same thinking, with other people in the room. Take it up if it is useful to you. It is not the point of the engagement.
09 · What enters the room
Bring the decision beneath the visible problem.
- Is this emerging technology real enough to bet on?
- Are we moving too early, too late, or for the wrong reason?
- Why does the team agree in meetings but fail to act?
- Has the company outgrown the way we currently lead it?
- Is this a strategy problem, a people problem, or both?
- What am I seeing that I cannot yet explain clearly?
- Which decision am I avoiding because every option has consequences?
- How do I bring people with me without weakening the direction?
- Have we spent a year cutting costs and calling it progress, without actually growing?
The goal is not to manufacture certainty. It is to understand the situation well enough to make a clean decision and recognize what would cause us to revisit it.
10 · Fit
Who this is for.
- You are entering a meaningful transition.
- You carry decisions that affect the whole company.
- You need someone who can read technology, people, and culture together.
- You value direct disagreement more than automatic validation.
- You want a long-term thinking relationship rather than a one-off report.
- You are willing to let someone examine the company from several perspectives.
This is especially useful when you are the person everyone else leans on, but you have few places where you can think without performing confidence.
11 · Boundaries
Clear boundaries keep the work useful.
Counsel works on decisions.
It is not therapy or mental-health treatment.
Counsel challenges your thinking.
It is not general accountability coaching or habit tracking.
Counsel helps you decide and communicate.
It does not replace a fractional operator, chief of staff, or project team.
Counsel provides considered access.
It is not unlimited messaging or emergency availability.
Counsel may open useful relationships.
It does not guarantee fundraising, customers, or introductions.
You remain the founder. You make the decisions and carry the authority. My role is to improve the quality of thought behind them.
12 · Investment and availability
US$3,000 per month.
Engagements have a three-month minimum because the first month establishes the read and the value compounds as context develops.
I work with no more than four founders at one time. The limit allows me to understand each company properly and remain useful between scheduled sessions.
Cash counsel is the standard arrangement. For a small number of companies where I have unusually strong conviction and can contribute beyond the counsel relationship, I may propose an advisory-equity component. That is considered separately, with clear terms, and is never used as a routine substitute for the monthly fee.
13 · Why Siosi
Technology, culture, and community.
I have spent fifteen years working where emerging technology, culture, and community meet.
I helped introduce Slack inside IRESS, which became Slack’s first enterprise customer in Asia-Pacific. I later advised the Government of Tuvalu on digital-nation strategy and emerging technology. I was early to Bitcoin and among Notion’s earliest users.
Across those experiences, I kept seeing the same pattern: technology enters through one person’s conviction, but it only survives when the surrounding culture learns how to carry the change.
Today I work as a Digital Wayfinder—reading emerging technology, translating what it means for people, and helping leaders mobilize the groups responsible for making it real. I also write It Will Come, a recurring read on emerging technology and the cultural shifts forming around it.
What follows comes from the work this counsel is built on — the Slack rollout at IRESS, the Bitcoin Association, Draper Startup House. The counsel practice itself is newer, and its own testimonials will come from its first clients.
“Thanks to George’s thought leadership and drive, Slack was rolled out across IRESS in 2018. It completely transformed how we communicated in the business. George spearheaded the whole initiative and ensured he had the full support of our Exec team, which is so important when driving change and seeking adoption.”
“He has a wide knowledge of industry trends and emerging tools, and an ability to translate this into how these can be used to drive business growth.”
“What I admired most about George was his ability to do systems thinking and set up processes for automation and scalability of a company.”
14 · Common questions
Before we begin.
It overlaps with executive coaching, but I work more directly. I will ask questions when they reveal something useful, and I will also tell you what I see and what I think you should do. We may discuss your relationships, identity, health, or life circumstances when they affect the company, but the work remains strategic counsel rather than therapy or a general personal-development programme.
No. The first conversation is free and carries no commitment. It is where we both find out whether this is a fit. If it is, the paid step is the US$500 Clarity Session, or ongoing counsel at US$3,000 per month.
A community gives you access to a room. This is one person who knows your company, holds the context over time, and will tell you what they think you should do. There is no group call and no curriculum.
Yes. The US$500 Clarity Session is a focused 60-minute working session followed by a concise decision note. If we begin ongoing counsel within 30 days, the fee is credited toward your first month.
No. This work can hold honest and personal conversations, but it does not provide mental-health diagnosis or treatment.
No. The conversations can reach cofounder-level depth because I build context and stay close to important decisions. I do not hold a cofounder’s operating authority, legal responsibility, or implied ownership.
Founders and teams often experience the same company differently. Speaking with three to five people reveals where the stories diverge, what remains difficult to say directly, and how your intended direction is actually being understood. I report patterns and decision-relevant insights rather than attributing every comment.
Yes. Confidentiality is expected and can be documented before sensitive information is shared.
The regular sessions are designed for the founder. A cofounder or executive can occasionally join when a specific decision calls for it.
Short messages or voice notes about active decisions between sessions. Responses are provided within one business day, Monday to Thursday. Larger questions are held for a session so they receive the attention they deserve.
If you want it, yes — you have a standing seat in the Lab, which is where the method gets practised. It is an offer that comes with the relationship, not a separate membership you are paying for.
Sometimes. Additional sessions can be arranged when a significant decision or transition requires them, subject to availability.
Yes. The work is remote and international. I am based in Chiang Mai and arrange sessions across Asian, European, and US time zones.
Cash counsel remains the default. Advisory equity is considered only for select companies where there is strong mutual conviction and an appropriate long-term contribution. Any such arrangement is proposed separately and documented properly.
We review what has changed, whether the counsel remains useful, and what the next phase requires. The engagement can continue month to month by mutual agreement.
15 · Start
Bring me the decision you are carrying.
Tell me what is changing, what decision you are facing, and why the existing people around you cannot fully help you make it. If the fit is clear, we will begin with the 360° Read.