I'm Nick Coe, founder of Trust First Strategies. I help candidates, coalitions, and mission-driven organizations earn the trust of the people they serve, and use that trust to accomplish big goals.

I have spent fifteen years inside campaigns and government. I led statewide field operations for the Minnesota DFL in 2016, managed Tim Walz's 2018 campaign for governor, and served as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Angie Craig from 2021 to 2025, leading a frontline congressional office through two of the most closely watched House races in the country. In 2025, I completed the Leaders on the Fast Track fellowship at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, where I developed the ideas behind this firm.

I am proud of that work. During those same years, I watched public trust in politics and government keep falling. From the inside, I could see part of the reason. Every campaign and every office is under constant pressure to raise money, win the news cycle, and answer the loudest voices. The people with the least time and money to take part (read: almost everybody) are the hardest to hear. I started Trust First Strategies to help candidates and leaders hear them and in doing so, become transformational leaders.

My approach starts with one question: what does it really mean to listen? It takes more than a town hall or a staffed phone line to make people feel heard. It means reaching the people who have given up, and giving them a twinge of hope that this time, things might be different. Listen first, act on what you hear, and show people that you did.

I built this firm for leaders who want that kind of trust because of what it lets them do for people. If simply holding an elected office or leadership position is the whole goal, I am probably the wrong consultant for you. If you want to build trust and use it to make people's lives better - the essence of transformational leadership - I would like to help.