Speaking
Talks that change what the room decides on Monday.
Keynotes and workshops on decision debt for leadership teams, founders and operators. 60+ stages since 2021.
Check a date
Talks
Three talks, each one adapted to the room.
Decision debt: the tax nobody budgets for
Keynote · 45 minutes
Why growing companies slow down long before they run out of money or people, and the four kinds of decision debt behind it.
- The four kinds of decision debt, and how to spot them in your own company
- A test anyone can run on their next leadership meeting
- The one-page decision record
The meeting that decides nothing
Workshop · 90 minutes
A working session for leadership teams: count your decisions, rebuild your agenda, leave with next Monday’s meeting already planned.
- Your own decision count from the last month
- A three-part agenda, adapted to your team
- Who owns what, written down
From founder to operator
Fireside · 30 to 45 minutes
A conversation about the year a founder stops being the answer to everything, with stories from Harbourline and the companies since.
- What to hand over first
- What never to hand over
- How to know you have waited too long
Highlights
“The only session people were still quoting at the closing dinner.”
Joana FerreiraProgramme chair, Tidewater Operators Summit
Where I’ve spoken
60+ stages since 2021.
Stages
- 2026Tidewater Operators SummitLisbonStage
- 2026Midscale ForumAmsterdamStage
- 2025Northgate Leadership DaysLondonStage
- 2025Build NorthTorontoStage
- 2025Foundry FridaysBerlinStage
- 2024Scale HarbourManchesterStage
- 2024Ribeira DaysPortoStage
- 2024Second Act ForumDublinStage
Podcasts
- 2026Decisions at ScaleEpisode 214Podcast
- 2026The Midweek OperatorEpisode 88Podcast
- 2025Quiet FoundersEpisode 41Podcast
- 2025Ledger & LanternEpisode 130Podcast
Speaker kit
Everything an organiser needs.
Short bio, 50 words
Ines Castell is an operations advisor to founder-led companies and the author of Decided Once. A former COO who helped grow Harbourline from 40 to 310 people, she has since worked with 47 companies on one problem: decision debt. She lives in Lisbon.
Medium bio, 100 words
Ines Castell helps founder-led companies of 50 to 300 people stop making the same decisions twice. She spent ten years at Harbourline, a logistics-software company, joining as employee 40 and leaving as COO when it had 310 people. Since 2021 she has advised 47 companies in nine countries, from clinic software to food brands. Her book, Decided Once: How growing companies stop paying decision debt, was published in 2025. Her newsletter, Decided, is read by more than 11,000 operators and founders. She lives in Lisbon, where she swims in the sea most mornings.
Long bio, 200 words
Ines Castell helps founder-led companies of 50 to 300 people stop making the same decisions twice. She spent ten years at Harbourline, a logistics-software company, joining as employee 40 and leaving as COO when it had 310 people. Since 2021 she has advised 47 companies in nine countries, from clinic software to food brands. Her book, Decided Once: How growing companies stop paying decision debt, was published in 2025. Her newsletter, Decided, is read by more than 11,000 operators and founders. She lives in Lisbon, where she swims in the sea most mornings. Ines’s work starts from a simple observation. Growing companies rarely slow down for lack of people, money or strategy. They slow down because decisions are made twice, by the wrong person, too late, or never written down. She calls this decision debt, and her four-part model of it is now used by leadership teams across Europe and North America. Before Harbourline, Ines worked in operations at Atlântico Logistics and studied operations management at Nova SBE in Lisbon. She speaks at conferences and leadership offsites about decision debt, meetings that decide, and the year a founder stops being the answer to everything. She is known for workshops that end with the next Monday’s meeting already planned.
How to introduce me
Ines Castell was the COO who helped Harbourline grow from 40 to 310 people. Today she helps founders stop making the same decision twice.
Technical needs
A lapel or headset microphone; a confidence monitor; slides from my laptop (HDMI) or yours; a clicker. Workshops: a room with movable chairs and one wall I can stick paper to.
Speaking enquiry
Check a date.
Tell me about the event. I reply within two working days, with a yes, a no, or a question.
Questions
Speaking, asked often.
What is your speaking fee?
Keynotes start at €8,000 plus travel; workshops at €6,500. I hold a few reduced-fee slots each year for non-profits and first-time conferences.
Can you tailor the talk to our audience?
Always. I ask for a 30-minute call with the organiser and, if possible, two people from the audience.