About
Dr. Silja Litvin
Clinical psychologist. PhD. Former venture-backed CEO. Executive advisor.
Dr. Litvin brings a rare intersection of clinical depth and operational credibility to her work with senior leaders. She understands the cognitive weight of structural accountability — not from textbooks, but from a decade of lived experience at the helm of a venture-backed company.
Biography
A Practice Built on Lived Authority
Dr. Silja Litvin is a clinical psychologist with a PhD and over a decade of experience as a venture-backed CEO. Her work sits at the intersection of clinical science and executive reality - a rare combination that gives her a precise, unflinching understanding of what it means to lead under real pressure.
Her clinical work has been validated through multiple trials and has reached more than 500,000 users globally. She has partnered with institutions including the NHS, Unilever, Bosch, Mental Health America, LMU Munich, UCL London, Dalhousie University, and the Resilience Research Centre. Her company was backed by Techstars, one of the world's leading startup accelerators.
As a founder and CEO, Dr. Litvin navigated capital raises, investor relations, board governance, creditor management, and the relentless operational demands of building and leading a venture-backed enterprise. She understands the loneliness of visible leadership, the cognitive weight of decisions that affect many, and the discipline required to maintain composure when everything is at stake.
Having lived across multiple continents, Dr. Litvin is a third-culture adult who has built her life and career across different countries and cultural environments. Now an expatriate in Portugal, she understands firsthand the distinctive personal and professional challenges of living and working abroad - from cultural adaptation and shifting identities to rebuilding networks, navigating unfamiliar systems, and leading across cultures.
She now advises executives - CEOs, founders, board directors, and senior leaders - during periods of heightened complexity. Her work strengthens emotional regulation, sharpens conflict navigation, refines executive presence, and supports the kind of disciplined composure that distinguishes exceptional leaders from the rest.
Why Leaders Choose Her
Because She Has Been Where You Are
She Understands the Weight
Not abstractly, but viscerally. The sleepless nights before a board meeting. The isolation of final authority. The toll of sustained visibility.
She Sees What Others Miss
Trained clinically to read beneath the surface — patterns, blind spots, emotional undercurrents that shape leadership behaviour under pressure.
She Operates at Your Level
No translation needed. She speaks the language of capital, governance, stakeholder management, and institutional complexity fluently.
Approach
Philosophy
Dr. Litvin's approach is built on a single conviction: that the leaders who carry the most responsibility deserve support that matches the complexity of their reality.
Her work is not motivational. It is not soft. It is discreet, rigorous, psychologically informed, and commercially relevant. She works with leaders as they actually are — under pressure, carrying complexity, making consequential decisions in conditions of uncertainty.
She draws on clinical psychology, neuroscience, and her own experience of venture-backed leadership to help executives develop the emotional infrastructure required to lead with sustained authority, clarity, and composure.
Short Bio
For Media, Speaking & Profile Use
Dr. Silja Litvin is a clinical psychologist (PhD) and former venture-backed CEO who advises C-suite executives during periods of heightened complexity. Her clinically validated work has reached more than 500,000 users globally through partnerships with institutions including the NHS, Unilever, Bosch, and UCL. Backed by Techstars, she brings over a decade of founder-level experience to her advisory practice, working with CEOs, founders, and board-level leaders on emotional regulation, executive presence, and resilience under institutional pressure.
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