ABOUT USWatch this before we talk.
MetaHelm is a methodology company for business design and execution. We help B2B founders with new tech structure their business for sustainable growth, and make it one they also love running. Founded in Seattle in 2016.
Film by Myriam C., L'Échappée Belle Production.
WHY WE EXISTA good product does not make a good business.
Founders with new tech solve the hard problem first. The science works. The product works. Then the business around it falls behind. Who buys, and why? At what price? With what team? At what cost to the founder's own life?
MetaHelm exists to build that business. Most advice chases one outcome: the round, the revenue, the exit. We work on the business and the founder together. A company lasts when it makes money and when its founder still wants to run it. We call that Profit & Love.
HOW WE WORKOne method, drawn live, every week.
We work with the MetaHelm® Method, a business design and execution method built from ten years of client work.
We think on paper. We run most sessions live, with sketches the whole team can see, question, and change. A drawing gets people to say what they really think. It also helps them remember what they decided.
ABOUT GUILLAUME WIATRI learned this from the inside.
I am Guillaume Wiatr, founder of MetaHelm. I am French and American, and I live in Seattle. I came to the US with a pair of work gloves and a willingness to begin.
I started in consulting in 1993, as a student, at a student-led consulting firm. In 1998, I joined A.T. Kearney, then Peoplefirm (acquired by EY), then Point B. The firms taught me the craft. They also taught me how to survive as a round peg in a square hole. I brought in what I knew from drawing, improvisation, visual design, and psychology.
In 2001, I joined a multi-million-euro project at a French energy major. Two large consulting firms had tried to fix it and failed. Everyone saw a technical problem. I asked the steering committee to draw the project. On paper, they saw a leadership problem. The project worked. I have been drawing with clients ever since.
Along the way, I co-founded three ventures: OGC, Content Europe, and Taelis. Our products worked and had real impact, and we ran for years. The business side was always harder. I learned how much a company depends on its leader, and how much trust to give, and to whom.
In 2016, I started MetaHelm, my fourth venture. It is by far my most successful. Once you are an entrepreneur, you stay one.
My mother's family ran a button factory in Valdampierre, in the Oise, from 1879 until it closed, around 1999. No business lasts forever. That is why I care about how a business is built, and about the people who run it.
For years, I did not call myself an artist. At Ignite Seattle, I told the story of the day I finally did. Building a business is a craft too, and I treat it like one.
I wrote the book Strategic Narrative (2022). I teach entrepreneurs at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. I also speak at entrepreneurship conferences, Vistage groups, and startup incubators. Since 2009, I have mentored and judged founders at the UW Dempsey Startup Competition. I have advised C-suite leaders at Air France, Alaska Airlines, the Gates Foundation, Google, TotalEnergies, AIG, GAP, Microsoft, L'Oréal, and the French and US Goverments.
WORK WITH USToday, you work with me.
MetaHelm is founder-led. On every engagement, you work with me directly. When your business needs more, I bring in specialists I trust in leadership coaching, marketing, finance, operations, or communication. You will always know who is in the room, and why.
We meet every week. In deeper engagements, you can also reach me by direct, private messaging between sessions. I work in English and in French. I work online with clients in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, and travel to them when the work needs it.
I also take generous time off every year. Rest is a requirement, not a reward. That goes for founders too.
Want to know if we are a fit? → Read our About You page.
NEXT STEPLet's talk about your business.
Start with a short conversation about where you are and where you want to go. If MetaHelm is not the right fit, we will tell you.
Not ready yet?
Take the Growth Readiness Index™ to see where your business stands first.