The honest version
Build thecompany.Keep your mind.
For founders with real businesses, real pressure, and decisions that are too important to make alone.
3 exits / MIT Sloan / 750+ founders mentored
The part nobody says out loud
Revenue.
But is it a business?
A team.
But it all depends on you.
Momentum.
But too many decisions alone.
The problem with advice
You don’t need more advice. You need better judgment.
The expensive way
Advice earnedthe expensive way.
Charlie Lass. Twenty years of building.
- Exits
- 0
- Exits
- Teaching
- MIT Sloan
- Six years teaching entrepreneurship
- Founders mentored
- 0+
- Founders mentored
The wins changed my life. The failures nearly ended it.
Twenty years of building. Three exits. Six years teaching entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan. I work directly with founders on the decisions they can’t make alone.
Book a callWork with Charlie
When thedecision matters.
Fractional founder advice. You work with me, not a team of juniors.
Five founders at a time. Maximum. Direct access, month to month, for the decisions in front of you.
01Pressure-test the business.
02Find the real bottleneck.
03Make the next decision.
04Protect the founder.
Start with a conversation. Bring the problem.
One paid 90-minute session on your actual problem. If a seat is free and the fit is right, it becomes part of month one.
What they say after
Charlie is a legend. Different league altogether. Sharp. Straight-talker. No fluff. No fake energy.
Not ready to book?
Find the real bottleneck.
Not ready to book?
Find the real bottleneck.
Bring what feels wrong. Get a candid first read on where the real problem is, and three moves for the next 30 days.
An AI first read shaped by Charlie’s thinking. Not a substitute for a session.
The book · Out October 23, 2026
You suck.And your ideas are terrible.
Part therapy session.
Part entrepreneur survival guide.
Entirely earned.
The startup world sells the polished version. This is the version after the polish comes off. Funnier than the title suggests. Marginally.
Part therapy session.
Part entrepreneur survival guide.
Entirely earned.
Speaking · Keynote topics
Book Charlieto speak.
For conferences, accelerators, universities and leadership teams who want the honest version of building a company.
- 01Burnout, brilliance and bullshit.The reality of startups, from someone who knows what it’s really like.
- 02Founder mental health.The cost nobody understands going in, and how to survive a career with no safety net and no roadmap.
- 03Thinking like a startup.For leaders who want to move fast again and take ideas to market in 30 days.
The Humble Edge · Every Sunday
Better thinking.Before the crisis.
A Sunday note from me on building a business without losing yourself in it.
Join The Humble Edge
Before you reach out
A few thingsworth knowing.
Founders with real customers, real pressure and a business that still runs through them. If you want an honest outside view rather than reassurance, it’s for you.
One paid session: 90 minutes on your actual problem. You leave with something useful whether or not you go further. If a mentoring seat is free and the fit is right, that fee becomes part of month one.
Direct, ongoing access to Charlie for the decisions that matter. Not an agency, not a programme, not a team of juniors. Charlie works with five founders at a time, maximum.
That’s common, and it’s usually the point. Bring what feels wrong. Finding the real bottleneck is the first part of the work.
One-on-one mentoring, month to month, built around the decisions in front of you. Seats are limited to five and don’t turn over often.
Bring the thing you’ve been circling.
Let’s talk it through.