Meet Ellen Donnelly, founder of The Ask®
Business coach for experienced coaches, consultants & founders who are masters of their craft yet missing the commercial framing to match.
I’m Ellen,
your coach, editor and fellow founder.
I’ve made a career out of finding the words for other people's talent.
Before running The Ask I spent nearly a decade across talent, recruitment and startup roles that all relied on one core strength: spotting entrepreneurial talent, and helping people to put their best foot forward in the market (whether for six figure salaried roles or attracting VC investment).
Today, I use that same skillset to help people just like me: founders who’ve bet on themselves to start a business built on their brain.
Independently funded. No marketing team on board. Just a lean operation, solving important problems for clients. Coaches and consultants whose thinking IS the product they sell. Also known as Authority.
Today I've coached 230+ independent founders, coaches and consultants and had the honour of being behind some brilliant businesses, run by some people with some serious brains.
Here’s what I know to be true: Brilliant brains need buyable messages to match.
An Authority Brand.
That’s the work we do together.
How we can work together
Become an In-Demand Authority Brand with The Ask® framework.
Begin with
the askIf it’s clarity of direction you’re after this is our first step. In just one deep dive session (part interview, part coaching) we’ll get you clear and excited about the territory you want to name and claim for your Authority Brand. Your North Star, based on your unique contribution to the world.
become
the answerWe package what you know into a format clients will want to buy before you’re even in the room. You become The Answer to their question. Here we craft your positioning statement, One Big Idea and publish a Hero Piece of content (2000+ words) that calls in aligned clients for months if not year to come.
build
the practiceGrow profitable practice of only aligned clients who want you for The Answer only you provide. This stage is about repeating what works, developing a repeatable set of IP, messaging and offers that allow you to grow in income and impact. We work on commercialising and systematising everything that works, tweaking what doesn’t.
What I’m like to work with
Sessions are direct. I'll tell you what I think, push back when something looks like fear dressed up as a preference, and stay objective in a way that the people closest to you can't. I'm not here to validate every idea but to help you find the right ones and act on them. If you bring me a strategy I think is wrong, I'll say so.
I'm not handing you a framework and leaving you to it. We sit in the muddle until the sentence comes out, and then I tell you plainly what's still not right about it. Too broad. Too much of a leap. Sounds like everyone else.
And I'm doing this alongside you too. I run a business like yours. I rebuilt my own positioning many times over — narrowing what I offer, writing the long-form pieces, working out which of my own ideas actually earn their place. Some of it I got wrong first time. That's partly why I trust the process: I'm running it on myself, in public, whilst I run it with you.
Real quotes from real clients.
"Chock-full of practicality, problem-solving and positivity. Not a platitude in sight"
No nonsense, matter-of-fact, but still empathic, creative, and out-of-the-box"
"Guided by poignant and thoughtful questions"
"Grounded in research, theory, and real-world experience"
Stats & Fun Facts about Ellen.
Founder of The Ask® — 6-figure business, built without paid ads or cold DMs
Accredited Diploma in Transformative Coaching (ICF-certified)
230+ clients coached through The Ask
Previously: 10 years in Talent & Startup Advisory and executive headhunting
Career highlights: partnering with the BBC, interviewed by the Financial Times, organising the Talent to Money summit for 1,000+ attendees
Known for being direct, firm but kind.
Eldest of four siblings
Trained long-form improv comedian
Leo, which explains more than it should, see above
Usually found cycling around town, working remotely somewhere warm, photographing buildings, or on my third coffee or first vermouth of the day
Podcasts & Press Featuring Ellen

