Lisa Smith, founder of Schain Consulting, brings lived experience as a founder, communicator, and strategist. She’s raised capital, bootstrapped across industries, and built from the ground up. Schain Consulting was created for those building bold ideas without a blueprint, especially entrepreneurs navigating challenges outside traditional networks and access.
With Schain Consulting, you don’t just get advice.
You get clarity, confidence, and results.
Lisa Smith is a founder, strategist, and startup advisor with years of experience building businesses and guiding others through pivotal moments of change.
A decade after founding and leading a post-production captioning company, which continues to operate today, she launched Schain Consulting to support early-stage founders and small business owners in clarifying their vision, refining their strategy, and growing with purpose.
Lisa brings deep expertise in lean operations, team management, company culture, product pivots, and productivity systems. Her approach is grounded in both operational efficiency and human-centered leadership, helping clients navigate complex challenges like launch planning, growth strategy, internal restructuring, and cultural shifts. Whether advising startups through investor readiness or supporting established businesses through periods of transition, she is known for delivering practical, actionable guidance that connects strategy to results.
As a lead advisor for a female founder accelerator at Columbia University, Lisa has worked closely with dozens of startup entrepreneurs on pitch development, team building, brand positioning, product market fit and go-to-market strategy. She brings a rare mix of business strategy and narrative craft, developed through years of writing and producing content, which allows her to help founders and leadership teams align their messaging with their mission—internally and externally.
Lisa holds an MBA in Management and Strategy from Western Governors University and a bachelor's degree in Political Science and English Literature from Columbia University. She has also earned certifications in Digital Marketing from NYU, Venture Capital from Wharton, and No-Code AI and Machine Learning from MIT.