// SPEAKING — keynotes · firesides · workshops

Talks that make people rethink how work actually works.

Direct, useful keynotes for conferences, leadership offsites, founder dinners and operator summits. Short on slides. Heavy on the things people say to each other in the hallway afterward.

[01] Formats pick a shape
01

Keynote

A sharp, opinionated 30–45 minute talk. Real examples, real ideas your audience will quote back to you in Slack the next day.

30–45 MIN · 100–2,000 PPL
02

Fireside / Q&A

Moderated conversation with your host or audience. Especially useful for founder dinners, off-the-record leadership rooms, podcast tapings.

45–60 MIN · ANY SIZE
03

Workshop

Working session for leaders. I run a structured diagnostic of your operating mess and we leave with something concrete. 8–50 people. Half-day or full-day.

90 MIN – 1 DAY · 8–50 PPL
[02] Topics 9 active · custom available

Some talks I've been giving lately.

TALK / 01 Business coaching for people who hate business coaching A field report on why traditional coaching keeps failing the operators it claims to serve — and what to install instead. KEYNOTE
30–45 MIN
TALK / 02 Stop Scaling Chaos The single biggest mistake fast-growing teams make: scaling broken systems instead of fixing them first. With practical first moves. KEYNOTE
30 MIN
TALK / 03 Why Smart Teams Make Stupid Decisions The structural reasons high-trust teams produce low-quality decisions — and how to redesign decision rights without bureaucracy. FIRESIDE
45 MIN
TALK / 04 Bad Management Ruins Good Work Why your best people are quietly producing their worst work, and what management is supposed to be doing about it. KEYNOTE
30 MIN
TALK / 05 No More Corporate Theater Performative leadership is eating the calendar of every senior person in your company. A war on theater. KEYNOTE
30 MIN
TALK / 06 The Founder Bottleneck Founders: how to leave the room and have the company keep moving. A workshop on delegating without losing the standards that made it good. WORKSHOP
90 MIN
TALK / 07 Ownership Is Not a Vibe A practical talk on decision rights, accountability, and why "everyone owns it" means "no one owns it" in every company that's ever said it. KEYNOTE
30 MIN
TALK / 08 Operating Rhythm for Founders The weekly/monthly/quarterly cadence that separates teams that ship from teams that meet. A working session, not a lecture. WORKSHOP
2 HRS
TALK / 09 Custom topic for your event Tell me your audience and the result you want. I'll write a talk for it. Doesn't cost extra. BESPOKE
DM
[03] Field notes
"Trevor gave the only talk all week our team is still arguing about. The good kind of arguing." — OFFSITE HOST · SERIES C SAAS
"Refreshing. No keynote bingo. Half the room rewrote their next quarter on the flight home." — FOUNDER SUMMIT · 2025
"Best workshop we've ever booked. Practical, sharp, no filler. The team installed three of his ideas the next Monday." — CHIEF OF STAFF · FINTECH 200
"Made me delete 11 recurring meetings the day I got back. Eleven." — VP OF PRODUCT · SEED STAGE
[04] Recent stages selected
2026 / Q1

Operator Summit

SAN FRANCISCO · KEYNOTE
2026 / Q1

Founders Friday

REMOTE · FIRESIDE
2025 / Q4

The Run-It-Back Conf

AUSTIN · WORKSHOP
2025 / Q4

Chief of Staff Assoc.

NYC · KEYNOTE
2025 / Q3

Studio Operators

LONDON · KEYNOTE
2025 / Q3

Creators & Operators

REMOTE · WORKSHOP
2025 / Q2

Series A Founders Circle

DENVER · FIRESIDE
2025 / Q1

Operating Systems '25

REMOTE · KEYNOTE
[05] Booking logistics / specs

If your event is good, I'll travel.

Honoraria are flexible — they scale with audience size, format and whether the event is in service of operators who need this most. Smaller founder gatherings, scrappy in-house events and good causes: ask, even if budget is light.

// AVAILABILITY
~8 events / year
// BASED IN
Switzerland · International
// TRAVEL
Worldwide
// LEAD TIME
8+ weeks ideal
// TECH RIDER (LITE)

No special needs.

  • MICLavalier or handheld, no podium
  • SLIDESI bring my own clicker
  • STAGEOpen stage, room to pace
  • VIDEORecording rights pre-agreed
  • DIETARYNone. Coffee, ideally.