About Chris Davis & Juniper

Juniper is an intentionally small advisory practice for mission-driven EdTech founders.

Growing past where you are is fundamentally different from growing the business into existence, and it requires its own discipline.

Growth is recognizing what's already producing and resisting the reflex to add when the move is to deepen.

It's nearly impossible to read the label on the jar you're sitting in.

The answers are already in your business. What's missing is the right questions, asked from outside.

what shaped this

Chris D.

principal

I started Juniper because I've been stuck—sometimes for years—and I know what that costs. You can skip that part.

Most of what I know about this work, I learned from having to see it in myself first.

Leadership requires honest self-reflection: without it, advice is just opinion — including mine. With it, the real problem is something we can see. That's what I mean when I mention clarity. Once you see it, you can't unsee.
Foundation has to come first: some of what got you here won't get you where you want to go next. The work is knowing what to keep and what to leave behind — or having the humility to tear it down and build it the way it should have been.
Aimlessness and anxiety are linked: when everything looks like a priority, nothing moves. The way through is the one thing most in your way, and nothing else.

What this is

one thing

done exceptionally well

Juniper does one thing, and does it well.

I see your business from the outside — clearly enough to find what's in the way, without adding to it.

What's in the way is more often than not a question the business hasn't answered: who it's really for, and who it isn't.

I do this through a model of discussions — sometimes one, sometimes a sequence over months.

You'll leave knowing who you've been serving, who you meant to serve, and what the gap between them has cost you.

Who we
Work with

Are we a good fit?

I say no more often than I say yes. Here's who this is for...and who it isn't.

Buyer

You're a founder, CEO, or principal who can make the call — and live with it. The person who can change the company's direction is the person in the room. This won't be for you if the decision has to go back to people who weren't part of the conversation.

Challenges

Something isn't working and you can feel it. You're adding features that don't land. The revenue isn't matching the effort it takes to market to everyone you're trying to reach. You suspect the problem runs deeper than any one of these, even if you can't name it yet.

What you want

You want to see the problem clearly and make the call yourself. The decision you reach is one you'll act on, because it's yours. This won't be for you if you'd rather an expert solve your problem for you and hand back the answer — there are plenty of good ones who do exactly that.

Mindset

You're open to having your assumptions challenged, though likely testing each piece rather than accepting it blindly. You're prepared to be engaged from the beginning, listening and reading with intense focus, and ready to implement with conviction — and a little bit of terror. Ultimately, the change is yours to make, and it costs something. This won't be for you if you want that part to be someone else's to carry.