Guest Lecturer & Speaker

For entrepreneurship, business, and leadership programs.

Speaker Credentials

Krysta Masciale has nearly 20 years embedded in founder-led startups, first as a founder herself, then as an executive and operator. She has led across industries and specializes in the transition from founder to CEO, helping founders navigate early-stage growth without building systemic operational dysfunction. Her latest book, How Not to F*ck Up Your Startup, is a field guide for prioritizing how we build as much as what we build.

Masciale also spent time on the other side of the podium, as Assistant Director of Chapman University's MBA program early in her career. She knows what a good guest session is supposed to contribute to the overall learning environment and doesn’t waste class time getting to tangible value.

She currently facilitates two chapters of The Arena, an accelerator program built for founders who want to ignite revenue growth. This is where Masciale tests her material on founders with real revenue on the line.

What to expect

  • A framework students can use immediately. Masciale’s natural vs. manufactured chaos framework gives students language for a distinction most founders don't learn until it’s too late.

  • The doer-to-CEO transition. Participants learn what has to change in how a founder spends their time, makes decisions, and lets go of control, usually somewhere in year two to five.

  • Relevance, not outdated case studies. Teaching from current experience in the startup space across industries to provide real-time observations and solutions.

  • Facilitation and presentation experience. Running two monthly accelerator chapters requires knowing how to get a room engage. This is useful for case discussions, workshop-style sessions, or anything beyond a straight lecture.

Lecture Topics

"Founder Focus" — On founder decision-making, focus, and the cost of doing everything yourself. (Previously delivered as a keynote breakout.)

"Natural vs. Manufactured Chaos" — A working framework for telling the difference between growth-stage disorder and self-inflicted dysfunction, with a diagnostic students can apply to a real case or their own venture.

"From Doer to CEO" — What shifts — in time, identity, and decision-making — when a founder crosses from being the sole visionary to leading the people building it.

Workshop / facilitated session — A discussion-based session built around a real case, a founder decision point, or a diagnostic exercise students work through live.

Formats: 45–60 minute talk with Q&A, case-study discussion, or a shorter session built to a specific point in your syllabus. Virtual or in-person.

Next Steps

If a session like this fits your course or series, reach out at krysta@krystamasciale.com with your course or program, the date range you're working with, and which talk (or topic) you have in mind. Fees start at $5,000.