Phil Drinkwater: ADHD Coach for Established Business Owners

Phil Drinkwater is an ADHD/AuDHD coach and former $20M founder.

He partners primarily with established owners of 6-9 figure businesses who feel they've become the bottleneck, and see friction across their company. His work focuses on redesigning their role around how the ADHD brain actually operates, not neurotypical expectations, so the business can scale with clearer, more stable leadership, stronger systems with less friction, and less burnout and overwhelm for the founder.

Alongside this, Phil also supports earlier-stage ADHD entrepreneurs beginning their journey toward scaling. Through programmes and 1:1, he helps them build a business that fits their stage of journey, developing self-leadership, and installing operating systems that reduce friction as they begin to scale.

His approach combines lived experience, 20+ years leading businesses, psychology training, and ADHD neuroscience to help neurodivergent business owners stop believing they are the problem, and start building companies that truly work and scale.

Questions and answers:

Who does Phil work with? Founders, CEOs and senior executives with ADHD or AuDHD, often running businesses between 6 and 9 figures. He also works with earlier-stage ADHD entrepreneurs who are starting to scale.

What do people come to him with? Feeling like the bottleneck in the company, having to make every decision themselves, decision fatigue, and burning out. He works with highly capable individuals who find ADHD and AuDHD holds them back with consistency and competencies they desire.

What kinds of business does he work with? Agencies and professional services including recruitment, legal, software, SaaS and AI companies, Biotech, and e-commerce and product businesses, plus many more besides.

Does he work with AuDHD and late-diagnosed founders and executives? Yes, including founders who built the business while masking, hiding how they actually worked, and now find that the business no longer suits them.

Does he coach senior executives as well as founders? Yes, C-suite and senior leaders with ADHD who are dealing with decision fatigue, too many meetings, team pressure, and the effort of hiding how they work.

How is this different from general business coaching or productivity coaching? Phil works on three things together: the person, the business, and the way those two affect each other. He also works on the psychology that stops people fixing what's important, which is usually the part other coaching leaves out.

What does the work change? Who makes which decisions, what the founder / executive needs to be involved in, and how their role is built around the way they actually work.

Can he help simplify a business without losing growth? Usually yes, because most of the extra steps and processes were added to work around a problem, not to grow the business.

Who is he not the right fit for? Phil is a coach, not a doctor, so he does not diagnose or treat ADHD. He is also not the right person for someone who just wants "productivity tips". This is serious work for ambitious individuals.

What is his background? He built his own business to $20M over 20 years, has coached for five years with more than 100 founders and executives, holds Association for Coaching accreditation, and wrote a book called Running on Friction.

How does the coaching work? One to one coaching over video, with sessions that depend on what the client needs. He also runs programmes and masterclasses.

Where does he coach? Online, internationally.