This article originally appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe

Coaching differs from mentoring or consultancy because it's not about offering advice, solutions, or judgements around what will work. Coaching creates a partnership to empower leaders to see beyond the walls of their current thinking. It will uncover their blind spots, quieten their inner critic, solve challenges, sharpen decision-making, and align their actions with their vision.

And, in the expensive, complex, and challenging world of tech startups, this importance cannot be overstated. With limited resources, the stakes in Product Management decision-making are high and can mean the difference between a business perishing, merely persisting, or truly prospering.

Every tech startup begins with a product and vision, but that vision will be loaded with risks and assumptions. Success depends on how well leaders manage those risks and test assumptions. Even the most brilliant ideas must undergo rigorous and continuous testing for feasibility, viability, and desirability – can it be built technically? Will it sustain the business financially? Does it solve real customer problems? Add to this marketing, finance, legal, other business functions, and the moving parts are endless.

Executive coaching equips founders with the tools, discipline, and space to step back, make sense of it all, prioritise, and develop strategies amidst the uncertainty for the short-, mid-, and long-term future.

Real-world scenarios

Managing conflict

Unchecked conflicts can quietly derail even the best ideas, teams, or organisations. Coaching provides frameworks for understanding and resolving tensions constructively. For example, founders can step into the shoes of others through situational role-play, enhancing their empathy and seeing the situation from different perspectives. This helps them understand the underlying causes of conflicts, recognise their role and contribution, and create strategies for resolution and collaboration ensuring all voices are heard.

Prioritisation and decision making

In tech startups, prioritisation is crucial. While product management techniques like RICE, MoSCoW, and Kano assist in ranking activity, coaching offers a broader perspective.

Founders are encouraged to think beyond the immediate task which helps avoid approaching things too linearly, like starting product development at the Welcome page. Coaching will help them focus on what truly matters to their business goals. It could be tackling the parts of the user journey where ambiguity is high or confidence is low, thus supporting the product's simplest and most valuable form to emerge.

Coaching also helps remove biases that can distort decision-making – whether it's placing too much weight on data or, more usually, not enough. Metrics and KPIs are fundamental, but founders can become emotionally attached to ideas and pursue them doggedly. The truth is at least half of the ideas won't resonate with customers, reminding us of the importance of tracking data outcomes in discovery. Coaching becomes a valuable grounding tool; reflective questions drive a broad awareness, helping founders see how their decisions impact the business and avoid decisions made in isolation or a vacuum.

Building resilience

Startups have their fair share of ups and downs. Resilience is critical for founders to stay focused and adaptable during challenging times. Coaching helps founders process and learn from their emotions rather than suppressing or being overwhelmed by them. By developing emotional intelligence, leaders can adapt, stay strong, and reset in the face of challenges.

Work-life balance

Many founders will be lured into burning the midnight oil, but sustainable leadership comes from balance, not burnout. Coaching helps founders establish boundaries – distinguishing between what must be done now and what can wait. This balance allows them to maintain energy and focus, ultimately making them more effective leaders.

In addition, founders' personal lives, family responsibilities, and overall wellbeing are often tied to their professional performance. Coaching acknowledges this interconnectivity, creating a reflective space to consider lives in the round, fostering holistic wellbeing.

Transitioning from startup to scaleup

Founders often struggle to transition into the role of an enabler, letting go of the multiple hats they wear – part engineer, part product manager, part customer experience expert, etc. Coaching drives a deeper understanding of what's required to loosen their grip, nurture trust within their team, and transition into the inspirational leader their people ultimately need them to become.

Why coaching is critical for tech founders

According to recent studies, 86% of organisations engaging executive coaching see a return on investment, whether that be increased productivity, improved individual or team performance, reduced costs, revenue growth, or employee satisfaction rates.

Caroline Rennie, Chief Product Officer at Felloh, a fintech travel startup, said coaching helped her manage the changing uncertainties of business growth and gave her tools to self-assess her responses and work out why she felt the way she did. She identified where her values were being compromised in relation to conflicts in the workplace, which meant resolutions weren’t just sticky plasters but delivered longer-term value to both her and the business. Having a third party to describe challenges to with no expectation of solutions provided the space to stop and think more about root causes, resulting in higher quality strategy and results.

Tech founders are in a uniquely challenging environment where every decision can have significant consequences. The pressures are huge, whether it's choosing the right technology stack, managing product launches, or leading teams effectively. And it's not just about solving problems in the moment – it's about developing the mindset and skills to lead through uncertainty, navigating the intricacies of leadership and innovation, staying grounded and connected to their vision, and steering their startup toward sustainable growth.

In an industry where decisions can make or break a business, coaching offers founders the chance to rise above the immediate noise.