How Startup Founders Choose Executive Coaching to Win
Startup founders are a special breed. Being a startup entrepreneur requires a clear vision, a gut-load of risk, a creative spark, and a hint of maniacal energy. Their big dreams drive innovation that transforms industries, communities, and the world at large.
But the startup world can also be highly isolating for a Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Founders often carry the full weight of every decision, and flying solo in uncharted territory can be both exhilarating and exhausting. Having the right executive coach in your corner can mean the difference between building a successful business and becoming another statistic in the long line of failed startups.
Smart founders equip themselves for the long road ahead by surrounding themselves with the right people from the start. The right executive coach can be a powerful catalyst for business success, helping you set clear goals and maximize your initial investment.
Laying the Foundation
In a startup’s early stages, every decision is of critical importance. Naming the company, establishing branding guidelines, building systems and tools, and handling basic taxation and legal considerations all take time and energy — the two things that are in finite supply for any startup founder. In addition, founders need to refine their business case, find a product-market fit, and build a minimally viable product (MVP).
An experienced business coach can help startup CEOs navigate this maze of early responsibilities. Executive coaches help founders define specific goals to lay the groundwork for success, allowing principals to move quickly and adapt to market conditions.
Assembling the Initial Executive Team
In many cases, a startup’s success relies on assembling the right team members at the right time. Many startup CEOs choose a Chief of Staff as their first hire, giving them someone who can act as a Swiss Army knife and amplify the founder’s ideas. From there, they can round out the roster with a Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Product Officer (CPO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and sales leadership team.
An executive leadership coach can help vet candidates for these roles and figure out who the company truly needs at this stage. They can help you answer questions like:
Do you need a full-time CFO immediately, or would a fractional CFO be a better investment for now?
Should you build a full in-house human resources team or should you use a third-party HR service at this stage?
Should you prioritize sales leadership and product engineers before rounding out the executive team and appointing board members?
Great startup coaches lend invaluable insights to these early staffing decisions, helping founders build agile teams that can scale with the business.
Scaling the Company
As the company grows, it begins to take on a life of its own. It will unfold in directions you never saw coming, which is part of the fun of running a startup. In other words, if you don’t like rollercoasters, don’t buy a ticket for one!
Let’s say you meet a potential strategic partner at a Y Combinator conference. Should you shift your business model to pursue that partnership, or is it too early to change course? An executive coach can be the sounding board you need to make these decisions without getting overwhelmed.
Scaling the company also means getting your exec team on the same page. Are your team members playing to their strengths and optimizing their talents? Or are they stepping on each other’s toes and interrupting each other’s workflows? Finding the right balance is crucial for an early-stage startup.
Executive coaches often specialize in functional areas like sales, marketing, finance, HR, operations, or recruiting. They can help founders address immediate needs and develop best practices for sustainable, continued business growth.
Strategic planning is crucial at this stage. A business coach can help you decide things like…
Should you hire before or after generating revenue?
Will you focus on building offshore or onshore teams?
Do you bring in outside capital or bootstrap it?
Can the current team take the company to the next level?
When every dollar and minute matters, executive coaches help startups figure out how to maximize sustainable growth with limited resources.
Developing Motivation and Confidence
Plenty of good ideas have turned into failed startups over the years. Even with a great concept, many startups never get off the ground because the founder loses focus, burns out, or makes reactive decisions that make tough times even tougher.
An executive coach supports both personal growth and professional development for business owners. When things go sideways — which, trust me, they will — it’s tempting to spiral. Working longer hours, sacrificing sleep, surviving on Red Bull and grit…none of this stuff is getting you anywhere in the long run.
Coaches provide emotional support, helping startup founders stay grounded and develop sustainable habits that lead to effective leadership. They can help you:
Build the competence-confidence loop
Stay accountable to yourself, your team, and your company’s mission
Catch your blind spots (thinking you don’t have any is the best way to crash and burn)
Encourage open-mindedness — beyond merely Option A or B — to see creative, strategic solutions
The right coach will also deliver constructive feedback with care and precision, and they can break through where your peers or team members might hold their tongues. Every business leader needs to hear some tough truths sometimes — coaches can communicate these in a way your colleagues and employees can’t or won’t.
Team Building and Leadership Development
In essence, startups are an exercise in change management. They’re a living metamorphosis, transforming from a scrappy idea to a full-fledged enterprise like a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The core goal of every startup is to go beyond the form it has.
This requires people to evolve with it. Far too many founders get stuck because they’re either unwilling to adapt or unaware that they need to. Within executive teams, effective communication and the ability to roll with the punches are crucial as the company scales.
A great CEO coach can help founders bolster the leadership skills of their exec team, either through direct coaching sessions or by coaching the founder to coach others. Raising the collective emotional intelligence of the leadership team puts the company in a position to succeed long-term.
Startup leaders need to consistently ask themselves:
What specific needs does the team have right now?
Is it more effective communication?
Better strategic thinking?
Building systems for sustainable growth?
Without strong internal leadership development, even the greatest business concepts can falter. Executive coaches help startup leaders create an environment conducive to employee engagement, resilience, and innovation.
Respecting Work-Life Balance (Both for Yourself and Others)
It’s safe to say that there’s no 9-to-5 in startup spheres. Startup entrepreneurs invest a ton of their time and energy into their businesses. But even within the adrenaline rush of the startup world, professional growth isn’t everything — work-life balance always matters.
Think of it like charging your phone. When the battery’s dead, mashing the buttons harder won’t resuscitate it — you need to plug it in and recharge it. Similarly, as a founder, you need to build in time away to rest and recover so you can reach peak performance in your role and be a good human being to your team members.
Executive coaching helps startup CEOs know when to hit the gas and when to slow down, recover, and allow space for creative insights. After all, our brains come up with their most innovative ideas when we’re completely disconnected from work.
Raising Capital: Navigating the Ultimate Fork in the Road
Many startups eventually face a huge decision: Whether to bring in outside capital or go it alone. The right business coach can help you decide whether taking on investors aligns with your business strategy and leadership style.
The short answer? If you want total control of a “lifestyle” business, skip outside investors altogether. If you want rapid growth, outside funding via venture capital (VC) or private equity (PE) might be your best bet.
Venture Capital
VC firms usually come in at an earlier stage than PE firms, betting on a few big wins out of a broad portfolio. VC is all about taking big swings for the fences with largely unproven companies. They provide the initial cash infusion to get the idea off the ground. VC firms might invest in up to 50 companies per round, betting that one or two of those will “go big” with a 10x multiplier.
Private Equity
PE firms typically invest in later-stage companies that are still relatively small businesses. They often look for companies with some financial traction and proven metrics — the bet is that the PE money will accelerate that and increase their valuation. PE firms expect solid 3x-5x returns and often take a more active, hands-on role to help companies get to that level.
[To learn more about how to leverage private equity and the differences between PE and VC, check out my book On-Ramp to Exit.]
If you decide to go the VC or PE route — or you’re seeking an angel investor — a good coach can guide you through decisions like…
Partnering with a reputable investment banker
Crafting your pitches, including messaging, content, and talk tracks
You’ll want a 30-second, 20-minute, and four-hour version of your pitch
Weaving your personal narrative and business model into a compelling story
The VC or PE firm can see where they fit in that narrative
When pitching your company to VC and PE firms, your delivery is as important as the content. Having an experienced coach in your corner gives you an edge that many other startups lack.
Building Systems for Future Growth
As your startup experiences sustained success, new and unique challenges will require your attention. You must scale your team and systems with intentionality — put the right structures in place today to give yourself the best options tomorrow.
Scaling can take several different forms. Maybe you’re switching out fractional or third-party resources to full-time, in-house teams. Perhaps you need to upgrade systems and tools (such as accounting, enterprise resource planning, learning management system, customer relationship management, etc.). And you’ll almost certainly need several different types of regular meetings — weekly leadership meetings, all-hands meetings, quarterly board meetings, and maybe even a bi-weekly steering committee meeting for product updates.
There are always plenty of questions in this stage, as you’ll need to find answers for questions like…
Is the right info getting to the right people at the right time?
Are rank-and-file team members delivering valuable customer info to leadership?
Does everyone know how their day-to-day responsibilities contribute to their overall team dynamics and the company at large?
Are you investing in your people and building up their skills? If so, how?
Do teams have the appropriate job-leveling systems in place? How about hiring and recruiting best practices? Performance reviews? Bonus structures?
An executive coach can help you build the regular rhythm of business in your org and drive employee engagement across all functional areas of the company.
Why Executive Coaches Are a Must-Have for Startup Entrepreneurs
Whether you’re running tech companies in San Francisco or financial firms in Miami, the best startup coaches bring an invaluable outside perspective to the table. They care about you and the business, but they’re not part of the day-to-day chaos. An executive coaching relationship offers:
A sounding board for your biggest challenges
An experienced guide with strategic decision-making skills
A “been there, done that” mindset
An open mind and a different perspective
Clear-cut action plans to help you make the biggest impact in a crucial role
Whether you’re a first-time founder seeking a trusted guide or a seasoned serial entrepreneur deep in the Silicon Valley scene, working with the right executive coach is a powerful investment. Choosing a coach with extensive experience in startup coaching programs — who knows how to help startups at every stage — can set you, your team, and your company up for sustainable, long-term success.
At the end of the day, we all need someone in our corner — someone who has great rapport with us, someone we can trust and rely on when challenges arise. The executive coaching experience is tailored to your unique needs, with ongoing support for personal development and startup success.
Ready to take the next steps? Next Level Coaching specializes in working with startup founders and leadership teams to drive sustainable growth, build strong cultures, and successfully navigate the world of entrepreneurship. Book an intro call with me today and see if I’m the right fit for you. If not, I’m sure I can recommend someone who might be!
About The Author
Emily Sander is a C-suite executive turned leadership coach. Her corporate career spanned Fortune 500 companies and scrappy start-ups. She is an ICF-certified leadership coach and the author of two books, An Insider’s Perspective on the Chief of Staff and Hacking Executive Leadership.
Emily works with early to senior executives to step into effective leadership with one-on-one coaching. Go here to read her story from seasoned executive to knowledgeable coach.