I’m Katy Dolan, and I'm a startup consultant. I have over eight years of experience in tech, venture capital, non-profits, and politics. I leverage all of that varied experience as a high-impact, generalist member of growing teams.

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I got my start in startups* when I founded a non-profit organization in high school. I was immediately fascinated by developing a brand and expressing it across multiple marketing channels, learning more about the needs of our target population, and crunching numbers on our performance and potential (all while project-managing many new programs). 

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I later went to Harvard and formally added research and data analysis to my toolbox after falling in love with the discipline of research through Harvard's sociology department. I graduated from Harvard with Highest Honors in Sociology after writing a summa cum laude honors thesis.

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Since then, I’ve worked with many startups* finding their voice, from Series B tech companies to two-person consultancies and youth-led advocacy organizations. I've built startup marketing departments from the ground up, made structural improvements to a company's ongoing user research process, created a large suite of dashboards to demonstrate performance to venture capital investors, and much more. I excel at defining the growth challenge, strategizing a solution, and executing with skills ranging from design to research and analytics. 

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I launched my own consultancy in 2019 to make a more direct impact on a wide variety of organizations. I recently moved to Portland, OR, but am on the road often as a digital nomad. Outside of work, you can find me attempting to travel to every major city in the US (eventually the world!) with my fiancé, and plotting how to adopt a sphynx cat.

I often build ongoing relationships with my clients because they recognize the value of adding a sharp, impact-focused generalist to their team. I consult in the way that I’d want to be consulted for: I’m communicative and responsive, collaborative with existing team members and efforts, and quick to intuit the dynamics of a new market, brand, or team dynamic.

I work with clients that share my core values:

• Growth-minded: I’m ambitious, tenacious, and forward-looking, and I get along best with clients who are too. Let’s scale impressive organizations together. 
   

• Empathetic: Empathy is at the core of my user research services, and all of my clients agree on the importance of operating with a keen understanding of where the user or stakeholder is coming from. 
   

• Obsessed with the best: I’ve been Type A since I organized my Halloween candy by type and color in elementary school; these days, I connect with clients who also love a great spreadsheet and won’t settle for anything less than deep understanding of their space. 

see yourself here?

previous experience