Preston Junger

Founder, Founders Help Line

Twenty-five years building and scaling revenue functions, from pre-revenue through $700M. I have sat in the CEO, COO and CRO chairs, and I have been the first person on the ground in a new market more than once.

I started Founders Help Line because founders kept calling me with the same problem and nobody was answering the phone. That is still the job.

Preston Junger
What I do

Go-to-market and revenue

ICP and positioning, pipeline architecture, qualification standards, outbound, enablement and certification. The motion itself, built so it survives the person who built it.

Capital and the exit

Narrative, model and data room rebuilt to survive diligence. Running the raise. Preparing a business for a process two quarters before it starts.

People and leadership

Founder and executive coaching, board dynamics, executive hiring, and turning a group of good individual performers into a team that compounds.

Representative work

Eight engagements, Seed through Series C.

Scope and deliverables for each, with named clients where they have given permission. The fullest account is on the work page.

A second revenue line, built from zeroTeamSnap, Series C. Brand advertising sold to agencies and brands direct, in a company that had never sold media. Largest deal in company history closed. Renewed.
Which sales model, and which five hiresGOAT Fuel, Series A. Competitive and exit comparables, a three-year org roadmap, and the case for shifting weight to direct.
Is field sales real, or an expensive distraction?Series B workforce software. Playbook built, tested in a live market, rep hired and coached, business case delivered with a go or no-go call.
Close the first twenty yourself, then hire the teamGrowth-stage rewards platform. Twenty enterprise accounts carried personally, the playbook written out of those deals, three sellers hired to run it.
A US commercial function, stood up from nothingSeed-stage platform, UK into the US. Model, route to market, first partners closed personally, then a BDR team onboarded against it.
No repeatable sales function underneath the deckSeed-stage applied AI. A 75-slide deck decomposed into twelve maintained sections, a five-stage pipeline, comp tied to it, and their first full sales cycle closed.

All eight engagements

Earlier client work, through Mile Square Labs

TeamSnap · Homebase · Nift · Franki · Telegram Messenger · Major League Hacking · Sawyer · SmartBiz · GoParrot · Happy Couple

Operating career
Yelp
SVP, Brand Solutions. Employee number 82.Eight years, through the run from roughly $2M to $700M in revenue and from 80 people to 4,000. Opened the first three New York offices, stood on the NYSE floor at the IPO, and grew display revenue 2000% from a standing start, in a company that had not yet decided whether it wanted display advertising at all.
7shifts
SVP and first US hire.Opened the company's first US office and stood up its American commercial operation.
IAC
Digital advertising go-to-market across the portfolio.Evite, Citysearch, Ticketmaster, Match.com and Expedia.
Yahoo!
Launched the search advertising sales process.Built the motion for a new revenue product at scale.
Apple
Campus Rep, New England.Student ambassador for Apple across the University of Vermont while still an undergraduate. Where the habit started.
Mile Square Labs
Co-founder, 2017, with Tom Sauer.A revenue practice for late-seed through Series C technology companies. Still the bench behind Founders Help Line.
Nift
VP, Restaurant Solutions.Led the move upmarket into multi-unit restaurant groups.
Investing and advisory

Angel investor or advisor in TaskRabbit, Circle, Liquid Death and Clair.

Six-plus exits across the portfolio and the operating career, and more than $2B raised by companies I have operated inside, advised or invested in. Counted first-hand, not an industry figure.

Companies I have operated inside, advised or invested in have been backed by
Andreessen HorowitzBenchmarkAccelBessemer GVKhosla VenturesFounders FundIndex Ventures General CatalystThrive CapitalLightspeedBain Capital Ventures RedpointIVPGGVCoatueSpark Capital SoftBank Vision FundEnlightened Hospitality InvestmentsTen Coves

Each pairing is a matter of public record: Bessemer and Benchmark led Yelp's Series A and B. Andreessen Horowitz led Lime's Series A and GV its Series C. Khosla, Bain Capital Ventures and GGV led three consecutive Homebase rounds. Redpoint, Bain Capital Ventures, Thrive and Index all appear in a single Justworks round. Founders Fund and Lightspeed in TaskRabbit. Accel and General Catalyst in Circle. SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Enlightened Hospitality Investments and Ten Coves in 7shifts, where I opened the US office. Happy to walk through any of it.

Teaching and mentorship

Five Entrepreneur in Residence appointments, four of them European.

More than two hundred founders coached, and a decade of work with the programmes that send them. The European thread is deliberate: when a company that has proven itself at home needs the US, I have been the person on the ground.

Entrepreneur in Residence
TechstarsGerman AcceleratorNUMA Nordic Innovation HouseEllis Accelerator

Advisory and mentorship

  • Advisor, Tech Council of Denmark
  • Mentor, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA), New York
  • Advisory board, Baanx
  • Founders and companies out of Y Combinator, Techstars and WeWork Labs
  • Invited speaker, Stevens Institute of Technology School of Business

Community and industry

  • Co-founder, New Jersey Hospitality Alliance, formed in 2019 and grown through the pandemic to support restaurant operators
  • Founder of the Founders Help Line community, free to join and open by application
  • Chairman, University of Vermont NYC Alumni Committee
  • Founder, Catamount Country, Vermont's first independent sports media platform
Writing and speaking
Founders Help LineA Startup Builder's Guide to Being the Best Founder You Can Be. The five rules, and the frameworks the practice runs on.
Kid ConfidenceOn raising children who back themselves, written from the sidelines of a lot of youth sport.

Selected interviews

Data DelicaciesBalancing Technology, AI, and Customer Engagement · Incentivio · 2024
Marketing Bites: Restaurant Growth UnwrappedEpisode 1, Navigating the Hospitality Landscape · Nift · 2024
Failing to SuccessWith Chad Kaleky · 2024
Give an OvationAligning Your Restaurant Team · Ovation · 2021
Restaurant Growth PodcastEpisode 1, the opening episode of the series · 7shifts · 2021
NetWorkWise: Conversations with ConnorsA Restaurant Legacy

Selected writing

The Fractional GTM MirageFive steps to differentiating yourself from the unproven consultant · 2025
Engineering and Sales in Early-Stage StartupsA dual engine for growth · 2025
Yelp's GTM StrategiesA community-driven success · 2024
Loving and Leaving YelpOn eight years, and knowing when to go · 2016
Going From Expert To Advisor2016
The State of New York Restaurants in 20202020

Twenty-plus pieces at prestonjunger.medium.com. Quoted on restaurant technology and operator economics in Hospitality Technology, PR Newswire and the trade press.

What people say

Fifteen recommendations, going back to 2007.

All of these are public on LinkedIn, named and dated, from clients, people who reported to me, and people I reported to. A selection.

Preston played a huge role in getting Slate off the ground. He helped us make sense of our GTM strategy and was a great sounding board when the inevitable strategy question came up. Fantastic thought partner on partnerships and early fundraising. Simply put, Preston made that key early stage hard stuff feel a lot easier.
Will BrookeClient · 2025
Preston brought a level of strategic clarity that was invaluable to Franki as we honed our go-to-market approach. His deep industry knowledge not only refined our sales and marketing strategy but also provided the broader team with a clearer understanding of the market landscape. More than just a strategist, he acted as a mentor, challenging our thinking, sharing valuable perspectives, and helping us sharpen our focus.
Eugene VarricchioCEO, Franki · 2025
I had the distinct pleasure of having Preston as a lead mentor during our participation in the Ellis Accelerator Program NYC. Preston is a great mentor and you can feel that he has a lot of experience with building partnerships and creating revenue activities. Preston helped me get a better understanding of the B2B landscape in the US and he helped me set up our sales funnel. He also helped with a lot of great introductions.
Anders Cederholm NielsenCEO, Arturel · Ellis Accelerator NYC · 2019
Preston is a world-class GTM leader with deep experience across multiple domains, specifically sales process, GTM, field sales, and sales leadership. He's a great collaborator and executive, and I'd highly recommend that anyone considering working with Preston jump at the opportunity!
Matthew LattanzioFractional CRO/CMO · 2025
It was inspiring to watch Preston close huge deals himself and lead his team to win, while having at least one hand tied behind his back. Display Advertising on Yelp was competing with so many major players like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, and Preston's team kept winning through sheer grit and tenacity, and creativity.
Nate EvansYelp · 2018
Preston was a big reason I joined Yelp, a year after he started. He's been a mentor and sounding board ever since. When it comes to strategic sales and operations, both with large companies and start-ups, he is a go-to person. Regardless of the situation I'd seek his advice, as he's probably experienced it and can always be relied upon.
Drew CanniffVice President, Yelp · reported to Preston · 2016
Preston is a fantastic advisor and advocate for me personally and for Localvore. He assisted us in a variety of aspects of the company and has the right kind of optimism that matches with critical thinking around strategy based on real experience.
Dan WhiteLocalvore · 2018
Preston Junger was one of our Apple Campus reps in New England, and was our primary student ambassador during his years at the University of Vermont. He was creative, responsive, and focused during the time that I managed this relationship for Apple.
Joe HazardApple · 2008

All fifteen are on LinkedIn, where you can see who wrote them and when.

Education
University of VermontBA, English and Business (Advertising)
Barça Innovation Hub · UniversitasProfessional Diploma in Digital Marketing, Sponsorship and Communication in Sports
Barça Innovation Hub · UniversitasCertificate in Sports Marketing and Sponsorship

Tell me what's going on.

Every note comes to me. I come back to you personally, and I will tell you if it is not a fit.