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Startup - Driven

At Startup-Driven we work with early-stage startups as a Consultant, Advisor, and Investor to help companies avoid making costly and time-consuming mistakes as they operationalize their business and scale towards achieving their goals.

MORE ABOUT US

Offering specialized solutions to enable your Startup's success

At Startup-Driven, we are passionate about Driving businesses towards excellence through tailored solutions that best fit your startup's needs. With a proven track record, myself and team of seasoned experts brings diverse industry insights to the table, ensuring transformative results for our clients.

Strategic Insights & Planning

Operational & Organizational Efficiency Assessments

Advisor, Mentor, and Leadership Development Coach

Consulting Services or Fractional COO/CTO/VP roles

OUR SERVICES

High Quality Services

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Strategic Planning

A well-defined strategy and comprehensive planning are paramount to achieving startup success. At Startup-Driven, we specialize in crafting strategic roadmaps that guide your business towards your intended goals, while our detailed planning ensures every step can be executed with precision. We work closely with you to understand your business idea, USP's, intended goals, and fit to market. We analyze market trends, benchmark competitors, create financial cost projections and GTM (go-to-market) strategies to create a customized business plan tailored to your startup needs.

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Operation & Organization Assessments

Efficient and optimized processes form the backbone of successful businesses. Our Process Development Services at Startup-Driven are designed to empower your organization with streamlined workflows, increased productivity, and enhanced quality control.

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Advising, Mentoring, and Leadership Development

Offering guidance and support through either an Advisory role or a Mentoring relationship to help you navigate complex technical challenges and make informed decisions. Providing coaching in Leadership Development to aid an individual's ability to lead others effectively.

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Areas of Expertise

Automotive OEM & Aftermarket, Full Lifecycle Product Design & Development (Design, Development, Testing, Validation, Homologation/Regulatory Compliance, Service), Startup Scaleup, In-sourcing & Capability Development, Software as a Service (SAAS)

Professional Team

John Spruill - Founder

With nearly 3 decades of career experience in the Automotive Industry and having created and led large engineering organizations to launch hundreds of new vehicle models, I’ve been at the genesis of 5 startups at various stages during my career.

Startups are part of my DNA. I enjoy embracing the unknown and working through the challenges of how to scale a start-up business to deliver the intended results by building thriving teams, operationalizing each business unit, and solving complex technical challenges.

I created Startup-Driven as a platform for me to work with startups as a Consultant, Advisor, and Investor to help companies avoid making costly and time-consuming mistakes as they smart scale towards the prize.

From my past, having served in an executive capacity at several Automotive companies, as well as founding my own consultancy, being active in philanthropic endeavors, participation in boards, as well as an investor/advisor in new endeavors, I am energized by the complexities of startup culture.

My lightning in a bottle experience at Tesla, having joined in 2009 as a founding member of test and validation when there were only 400 employees in total, exemplified the success of my startup philosophies and strategies in practical terms during the explosive growth of Tesla. Over the decade, I scaled my business unit’s exponentially as the company grew to more than 55,000 employees globally. Having worked directly with Elon and other executives at Tesla, I grew my organization from scratch to become the largest team within the engineering organization and launched all of Tesla’s products ranging from Roadster 2.0 to the development of the Model Y, all while meeting Elon’s demanding and often impossible timing expectations.

After leaving Tesla, I founded my own consultancy in 2019 and worked to launch another new startup EV company, Canoo, into the market, while also working with an automotive software company to mature their product for market introduction. In 2023 I became an investor & COO of Clientown to launch a new SAAS CRM product in the Real Estate Sector. And in 2024 I founded Startup-Driven to share my skills and experiences with other startups to empower their success.

I do my best work by applying my talents and proven track record of scaling startups for rapid growth while cultivating a healthy team centric culture. Reach out and let me know how I can help.

Get In Touch

11 Ewall St, Mt Pleasant, SC 29464, USA