What Type of Cofounder Coach Do I Need? 3 Profiles To Consider

Cofounder coaching is a growing category of services helping cofounders improve communication, teamwork, and execution.

Most founders considering this resource may not understand key differences between cofounder coaches and instead rely on their intuition to inform which provider they select, leading to wasted time, money, and effort.

Read the list below to identify the three most common profiles of cofounder coaches to discover which approach may be the best fit for you and your team.

1. The ex-founder turned coach.

Many coaches enter the cofounder coaching space because they went through the ups and downs of building startups and did not receive the support they needed.

Strengths

Learning valuable lessons along the way, these former operators offer more business expertise than any other type of cofounder coach. Their lived experience and intimate knowledge of what it takes to build a company offers many cofounders a degree of comfort through shared identities.

While many of these ex-founder turned coaches have training in coaching modalities, their true gift is their ability to offer perspectives and insights only accessible through their experience as former founders. Many strive to learn more about coaching because they value the idea of continued personal growth and have experienced the importance of ongoing support through the entrepreneurial journey.

Weaknesses

In contrast to the other two types of cofounder coaches, ex-founders turned coaches often have less training in the skills, theories, and frameworks used to create systemic changes in partnerships. This less rigorous training is a statement of fact, not a value judgement or condemnation of their good intentions.

Lacking more in-depth psychological training may lead to certain blindspots, challenges creating change in difficult circumstances, and difficulty addressing mental health related dynamics in cofounder partnerships.

2. The therapist working with entrepreneurs.

Many Master’s level clinicians with social work, counseling, and marital and family backgrounds are entering the cofounder coaching space.

Often, these practitioners notice the applicability of systems and couple’s therapy theories to business relationships and want to work with entrepreneurs.

Strengths

These practitioners often posses important clinical skills and tools along with relevant theories to work effectively with a wide range of individuals, including entrepreneurs and cofounders. However, their primary benefit in comparison to the other two types of coaches is cost.

Most therapists working with entrepreneurs charge more accessible rates than other types of coaches. Why? Because they tend to follow the framework of counselors who charge by the hour instead of the retainers used by coaches—some even accept insurance. Paying a co-pay of $30 per session will be the least expensive starting point for cofounder coaching by a long shot.

Weaknesses

Most therapists working with entrepreneurs struggle with business comprehension. Business content is noticeably absent from the coursework found in most counseling and social work programs, meaning any comprehension requires years of hard work outside of graduate school.

Many practitioners will not understand the stage specific challenges associated with startup role transitions, nor will they understand the ins-and-outs of managing a board or raising funds. As such, some cofounders find themselves needing to educate these coaches more than the other two types.

3. The coach with psychological expertise.

The coach with expertise in psychology and exposure to business occupies a key middle ground.

They have a foot in each world that allows them to create space for you to discuss the emotional component of business decisions and take a deep dive in the psychological issues preventing your cofounder partnership from thriving.

Strengths

The primary strength of the coach with psychological expertise is their versatility.

They possess business knowledge, have specialized and focused their efforts on working with founders and cofounders, and are subject matter experts in psychology. This combination of skills and requisite knowledge allows them to engage in deep transformational coaching with founders and cofounders, while creating space for cofounders to have meaningful discussions about business decisions.

Weaknesses

The coach with psychological expertise often does not provide explicit business advice, as they may not view it as essential to protecting and enhancing the cofounder partnership.

Due to their lack of lived experience, they may be less helpful in concrete tactics involving complex business decisions, which some early stage founders need as they develop.

Now you can identify the three most common profiles of cofounder coaches, you have the ability to identify which type of provider may be the best fit for you and your team.

After thinking through your preferences, needs, and goals, contact one of the three types of cofounder coaches so you can strengthen this most important relationship.