Leadership

Why Founders Need Coaches, Not Consultants

Engaging founders is an art. In 10 years of working with startups, I’ve learned that some approaches work better than others.

I’ve worked with startups in a variety of professional formats: in Venture Capital, Google LaunchPad, Techstars and other accelerator and alumni networks. But I’ve always found consulting to startups an uphill struggle.

As a founder, I hired consultants on a handful of occasions, and it never went particularly well. Don’t get me wrong — the consultants I hired were very talented people. But startups simply aren’t equipped to work with them.

Why consulting doesn’t work for early-stage startups

Consulting typically involves the consultant handing over new ideas for the startup to implement. In truth, startups rarely need new ideas — they already have more than they know what to do with. So adding yet more ideas to the backlog is stressful, especially without the resources to execute them.

Moreover, consulting is an extremely expensive way to execute ideas. Consultants charge anything from £350 to £1500 per day. Considering it’s in a startup’s DNA not to spend money, fees like this are out of the question.

I learned that if you want to help startups, you have to help the founders build their business — not build it for them.

Coaching vs. consulting

If consulting is about bringing skills to the startup, coaching is about nurturing skills within it. A great coach doesn’t come with the right answers. They come with the right questions.

Coaching has a different skill set compared to consulting. Here are some ideas that have helped me become a better coach.

1. Let them bring their agenda to you

Consultants are quick to predict the most urgent needs of a startup. But if you aren’t engaging with a founder’s top priorities, you’ll only ever get part of their attention. Ask what keeps them up at night and let them describe a successful outcome to you.