What to look for when selecting a startup coach?

With startups being a hot field to be in (despite the sleepless nights that most founders and investors endure time and time again), many founders and rightly so, are in the search of the right startup coach. Someone who gets their idea, their business model, and can help them beat the failure rate of 92%. In my view, every first-time founder should invest a little bit of cash and work with a coach that can help him/her navigate the unchartered waters of entrepreneurship. But selecting the right coach is not a simple task.

Here are the five attributes you look for when selecting a coach:

If you are inventing the next energy-efficient space shuttle, make sure your coach has experience in both energy and space industries. You can veer off a little from your target industry but not too far. If you are operating in the B2C market, it is conceivable to find the right coach who is strong in B2B. But if you are offering a food product and your coach has only operated in the enterprise technology domain, you are going a little too far from their sphere of expertise. Try to find someone who has experience in the same industry or perhaps just one step away.

This one is so important. I am not saying that you are your coach have to become buddies but make sure there are commonalities on how you view things. Your coach has to understand your approach and MO in addition to your business. You need to feel like you can trust and respect your coach. Only you can decide if this professional chemistry exists between the two of you. If you don’t have it, move on. This is not a marriage where you work hard at making it work. If one coach doesn’t work out, find another one.

So many advisors and investors have never run a startup. It is easy to share advice when one does not have real-life experience in running a startup. There will be a time when you will be facing the decision of cutting payroll or cutting marketing. Ask an investor and 9 out of 10 times, you will be advised to cut payroll. Ask a former startup operator, he/she will help you find creative options that are neither. Look for someone with startup operating experience.

It is equally important that your startup coach has operated outside of the startup domain. Working in a successful enterprise teaches them how to do things the right way if resources were ample. For example, they learn what prototyping for high-volume production looks like and how to lead a global and virtual team. They will help you get unstuck and stay on-track despite your very limited resources.

Your startup coach, similar to your investor, has to have a robust network and be able to make valuable connections for you. If they are unwilling or unable to do that, move on. One easy way to find out about their network is to look them up on LinkedIn and see how many connections they have and how active they are. Do not buy the “I am too busy to network” excuse. A successful coach is a connected coach.

Related posts:

Here are the goals of this series of posts: 1. Outline the major events that formed this branch of physics 2. Describe in, simple words, the fundamental main ideas of Quantum Mechanics (today’s…

I was never supposed to be a runner. Weighing in at 245 lbs., I was big, strong, and bulky. I was a weightlifter. And I could bench press nearly two times my body weight. Eventually I reached a point…

It is time to upgrade your bed sheets, which are undoubtedly infested with bacteria, to those manufactured by the Miracle brand. In case you haven’t heard already, silver is the most effective…