The Actionable Guide to Finding a Coach
246 recommended executive coaches, questions to ask them, and curated content by coaches
Some people see executive coaching as a crutch or a luxury.
When I started working with a coach, it was a lifeline.
I sat outside the Grove on Mission Street in San Francisco over a year ago with a friend who was on the verge of selling her company. I was too busy agonizing over what to do about the startup I co-founded to be happy for her.
After 3 years of work and no signs of product market fit, I was stuck.
“Is it time to shut things down? Should I keep pushing?” I asked.
“You should talk to my coach, Ben,” my friend said.
A few weeks later, Ben was my coach too. He helped me to identify my limiting beliefs and reframe the negative story I told myself. With his help, I wound down my previous startup and raised a seed round for my current startup in just a few weeks. We continue to work together today.
If you and I chatted recently, you’ve heard me say, “I think the world would be a better place if everyone had a coach.” I say that to anyone willing to listen. Working with a coach is one of the highest-leverage activities you can do.
My goal with this post is to remove the friction from finding and choosing a coach for anyone open to coaching, but yet to have taken the leap.
You’ll find a collection of resources from top coaches and the leaders they’ve helped.
What is an executive coach and why would I work with one?
Good question.
To quote my friend and executive coach,
, executive coaching is “a tool to improve your abilities as a leader.”A coach listens to you, provides honest feedback, and offers an outside perspective in a way that a colleague, manager, or investor cannot. The job of a coach isn’t to make decisions. Instead, she provides you with the tools, frameworks, and mental models that help you make important decisions for your company and manage yourself.
When should you start working with a coach?
In my experience, leaders start looking for a coach after something has gone very right (or wrong) at work. Maybe you raised a round of funding. Maybe a relationship with an employee or investor hit rock bottom. Maybe you’re deciding between shutting down your company or continuing to push.
An effective coach helps you navigate all of the challenges that come with being a startup founder or leader of a large company. Specifically, they help you:
Identify limiting beliefs
Make better decisions
Prioritize the right things
Reduce stress
Improve communication
Navigate changing roles and responsibilities
Manage relationships
Be kind to yourself
Resolve conflicts between team members
Navigate power dynamics
Build a high-performing team
If a coach can help you do all of this, why doesn’t everyone have one?
In part, it’s hard to find them.
Tools for finding coaches
Most people who work with a coach were introduced by a friend.
What if your friends don’t have coaches? You’re in luck.
Below you’ll find hundreds of coaches recommended by top executives and highly respected coaches, coach-matching services, and firms that employ dozens of coaches.
Coaching is deeply personal. You’ll need to vet each on your own to figure out which is the best fit for you, but the resources below are a good starting point for initial conversations.
Lists of Recommended Coaches
Andy Dunn’s list of 227 executive coaches
asked his followers on Twitter and LinkedIn to shout out the executive coaches they loved working with and hundreds of people responded. This is a great starting point when you start your search for a coach.
Brian Wang’s recommended coaches
When executive coach, Brian Wang’s coaching practice is at capacity, he recommends folks reach out to a handful of coaches he knows to be “experienced, empathetic, and effective.” This list includes top coaches
, , , and more.Nathan Parcells’ recommended coaches
If you know that there’s a specific area you’d like coaching on, executive coach Nathan Parcells features specialized coach partners on his website. These coaches include experts in DEI coaching, breathing, sleeping, and other specialties.
Coach-matching services, coach marketplaces, and coaching firms
Coaches specialize to help clients with different needs. Coach-matching services, coach marketplaces, and coaching firms specialize in the types of coaches they connect to clients. Below you’ll find each grouped by specialty.
Match with a coach who used to be a founder
Practice - matches founders of venture-backed companies with coaches who used to be founders within 24 hours of an initial intake appointment.
Find the perfect coach with support during the matching process
Prismaticco - expert matchmakers guide you through understanding the value of a coach, creating goals for a coaching engagement, finding coaches & vetting them, and choosing the perfect one to work with.
Navigate a career transition, get into a competitive school, or ace a test
Leland - matches you with an accomplished coach who will mentor and guide you throughout the process of getting a new job, applying to a school, and preparing for standardized tests.
Excel in your role with domain-specific coaching
Practica - matches you with an expert coach who’s done work in the area you’re hoping to grow in.
Build your confidence with a licensed coach
BetterUp - matches you with certified coaches who help you develop, skills, plans, and confidence to achieve your goals.
Navigate the workplace as a leader of color
Thrive Street Advisors - matches you with coaches experienced in helping leaders of color navigate bias in their organizations, identify limiting stories, and “define authentic success.”
Grow your employees with coaches
While most of the coach-matching services above offer their services, not just to individuals but also to organizations, the services below are focused specifically on helping organizations find coaches for multiple team members.
Torch’s coaches work with individual contributors, managers, and leaders on your team through 1:1 coaching, group coaching, and drop-in coaching to make the benefits of coaching accessible to more people.
Trium’s coaches work with executives, entire teams, and individuals who could benefit from “specific support” to grow into the challenges of their roles.
Skye matches you with a dedicated certified coach to accelerate your career.
Don’t feel bad if a coach says “no”
Coaches work with between 5-30 clients at a time, and often cannot take on new clients.
Coaches will refer you to other coaches. If a coach tells you they’re at capacity, don’t be shy about asking for an intro to a fellow coach.
Now that you have hundreds of coaches to reach out to, you might be wondering how to choose the right one.
How to pick a coach that’s right for you
Picking the right coach might be the single highest leverage activity you can do.
With a price point between $500-$7500 per hour and a time commitment of 2-4 hours per month for 6+ months, coaching is a big investment. Not all coach-client partnerships work out. If you’re willing to make the investment, improve your chances of success by doing upfront research.
You’ll want to meet at least 3 coaches to understand who is right for you.
To make things easier, I’ve created a public Google Doc of interview questions for coaches. These questions were sourced from top coaches (Ada Chen, Nathan Parcells, Ed Batista) and a founder (Nina Barber) who is building a coach-matching service.
Don’t ask a coach you meet every question on this list.
Instead, pick and choose the ones that are meaningful for you. Consider the questions before your calls, pose some of them directly to coaches, and reflect on them after your conversations.
The Best Coaching Content
Not ready to invest in coaching yet?
Coaches share their insights on blogs, in newsletters, and through interviews. Some even livestream coaching sessions.
I can’t believe these resources are free
The Art of Self-Coaching - Legendary executive coach Ed Batista open-sources the course he designed and launched at the Stanford Graduate School of Business so that you have every resource you need (webinar videos, slides, readings, and instructions) to start coaching yourself for free.
Mochary Method Curriculum - Matt Mochary and his team of coaches at the Mochary Method share the tactical frameworks in a series of Google Docs that the founders of OpenAI, Coinbase, Faire, and Flexport use to grow as leaders and build their teams.
Blogs & newsletters by coaches
- - Sean Byrnes has been a CEO & Founder (Flurry, Outlier) for the past 20 years. Now he shares leadership lessons he learned, frameworks, interviews, and business deep dives in his newsletter (he also draws A+ cartoons).
Hoo Boy - Executive coach (and my good friend!) Andy Sparks writes a kickass newsletter about the challenges of being a founder with practical advice on personal development, leadership, and building a company where people love to work.
Leo Widrich - Co-founder of Buffer and now coach to founders and leaders, Leo Widrich writes a blog on topics ranging from life advice from a book about raising dogs to interview scripts to learn about customers
- - Steven Schlafman, former venture capitalist and now executive coach, helps readers navigate career and life transitions through long essays and conversations with leaders, psychologists, and coaches.
Ada Chen - Ada Chen is the co-founder & COO of Notejoy and an executive coach. She shares essays on her blog that are concise and packed with actionable tips for leaders.
- - Each week executive performance coach shares challenges pulled from her sessions with clients to uplevel readers.
Anamaria - Anamaria Nino-Murcia shares concepts, frameworks, insights, and stories that will help leaders feel better and lead better.
Dashing Leadership - Executive coach Brian Wang pulls topics straight from his coaching sessions and shares them on his blog as resources to help founders grow into high-performing leaders. Topics range from navigating a difficult fundraise to finding your voice as a leader.
Outsmart the Hustle - Executive coach Michael Knouse writes about everything from tiny habits and routines that can change your life (like a 10-minute mandatory meditation before drinking coffee) to embracing adventure.
Inside-Out Leadership Development- CEO turned executive coach Ryan Vaughn writes a bi-weekly on entrepreneurship and leadership for leaders who don’t want to lose themselves in the process of being great.
Jason Waller Executive Coaching - Jason Waller explores topics from growth to leadership, pulled directly from his sessions with clients, in this excellent blog.
Coaching Founder - Executive coach (and founder)
shares downloadable templates on topics like “Absolute Feedback” and Offboarding for founders to include in their internal wikis.Leadership & Mindset Tools for CEOs - CEO and executive Coach Sabrina Wang shares templates and step-by-step how-to guides on topics ranging from creating company values to processing discomfort and training salespeople.
Jeanette Jordan’s blog - Former CMO turned executive coach Jeanette Jordan helps leaders overcome self-doubt and burnout
Arielle Shnaidman’s blog - Executive coach
shares zero-fluff tips with founders on topics like the wisdom of improv, getting unstuck on problems, and conflating perfectionism with consistency in her blog.Crystallin Dillon - Life and Leadership Coach Crystallin Dillon’s blog is a bookmark-worthy resource with pieces that dig into topics like giving difficult feedback, group dynamics, psychological safety, and re-writing the productivity narrative.
Videos and Podcasts Featuring Coaches
The Conversation Factory - Executive coach Daniel Stillman investigates how conversations are shaped inside organizations, teams, and communities through interviews with leaders in his excellent podcast.
The Shift to Freedom - Executive coaches and co-hosts Ben and Paige Easter and Clayton Olson join forces to discuss stories that limit and hold back leaders in lively weekly conversations on their podcast. The most recent topics include a discussion on trusting yourself, how your environment shapes your success, and navigating the uncertainty of the AI revolution.
How to Run a Co-Founder Sync - Executive coach Nathan Parcells offers tactical tips to help anyone who wants to improve their communication and relationship with their co-founder in this youtube playlist.
Andy Ellwood’s channel - Andy Elwood, executive coach (and master barbecuer!), shares personal stories from his journey as a startup founder and insights drawn from his sessions with clients on his YouTube channel.
Matt Mochary - The Coach Behind Sam Altman, Naval, Brian Armstrong, Shares the Mistakes That All CEOs Make - Matt Mochary, one of Silicon Valley’s most well-known executive coaches, discusses fear, zones of genius, and having hard conversations in this podcast episode with Logan Bartlett.
Coaching Tim, Why Fear and Anger Give Bad Advice, and More - Matt Mochary does a live coaching session with Tim Ferriss in this YouTube video.
The Reboot Podcast - Jerry Colona, CEO of the coaching company Reboot, hosts entrepreneurs and CEOs for discussions on the ugly realities of daily startup leadership in this podcast.
Books by Coaches
The Great CEO Within: The Tactical Guide to Company Building - Executive coach Matt Mochary and Clearbit founder Alex McCaw co-authored an actionable book for startup CEOs. Chapters cover topics ranging from Inbox Zero to Energy Audits to Single Points of Failure and Customer empathy.
Lead With Heart - Edward Sullivan and John Baird, both top executive coaches and leaders at Velocity Coaching, wrote this book to unlock change within companies using 5 conversations. Those conversations are prompted with the following questions: “What do you need to be at your best?”, “What features are holding you back?”, “What desires drive you and which might derail you”, “What are your greatest gifts?”, and “What is your purpose?”
Coaches to Follow on Twitter
Badass Executive Coaches (Twitter list) - 73 badass coaches who are active on Twitter and share high-quality content. (Curated by yours truly 😊)
Thank you
If you’ve gotten enough value from this post to read this far, I have a favor to ask you.
Know someone who would benefit from working with a coach?
Please share this article with them.
Are you a coach?
Grab time on my calendar. I’d love to meet you and chat about the ways we’re helping coaches use AI to improve their practice at Heyday.