The Top 23 Startup & Business Coaches of 2022
Outside of raising a child, building a business is probably the hardest thing you will ever do. Sleepless nights, financial worries, the occasional 80, 100, 120 hour work weeks… No one ever said it was easy.
But you don’t need easy. You just need this to be a success. But what exactly is success? That’s a very personal question… For some, it’s building a business that can be make full-time living, for others it’s opening a restaurant, IPOing, being acquired by Google or Facebook or doing your part to combat climate change.
The thing is, unless you’re a serial founder, this is probably your first real rodeo. And even if it isn’t, it very often makes sense to have a business coach.
Because you don’t know what you don’t know.
And anyone that can help accelerate your growth and progress and move you toward your dream of ________… that sounds like a pretty awesome value proposition.
(Not sure if you need a business coach? This article might be a good place to start. I know personally, my biggest success was also my biggest failure – hence why I wish I’d had a business coach at the time… but you live and learn :).
Back to you and your business. You probably found this article by searching Google for “best business coach” or something similar. The good news is, that means you know you need help. You know an experienced guide can help you achieve your goal faster.
The only question is: who is the right coach for you? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
It’s important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all best business coach, not even me :). Every entrepreneur and business are different. Consider that when reviewing the list below. And so much of coaching comes down to personal connection and “jiving” with your coach, so it is good to keep in mind that it often takes a little while to see how things go.
That’s why for my coaching clients, I have a 3-month minimum commitment. I’ve worked with enough clients to know that 3 months is really the turning/taking off point where we are not only firing on all cylinders as coach-coachee team, but also, where the real results of our efforts (be that new marketing/growth initiatives, leadership/company changes or big strategy moves) start to really payoff and drive the business. (And testimonials from my past clients say the same!)
If you think about it, it makes sense. If you started a diet or exercise routine and quit after a week or two, you probably wouldn’t see much in terms of results.
If you are not looking for a quick fix, but to truly transform your business and your life, you’ve come to the right place.
The Best Business Coaches of 2022
(In no particular order)
Nick Loper (The Side Hustle Guy)
Nick Loper is the side hustle guy, helping people earn money outside of their day job. In addition to being an author, online entrepreneur, and host of the award-winning Side Hustle Show podcast, Nick loves deconstructing the tactics and strategies behind building extra income streams at SideHustleNation.com, he loves deconstructing the tactics and strategies behind building extra income streams.
John Mattone (The Leadership Guy)
In addition to being an author, John Mattone is known throughout the Fortune 500 as a thought leader for leadership and talent management and regularly gives speeches and keynotes on the subject.
Jay Abraham (The Direct Marketing Guy)
Jay Abraham is an American business exec, speaker and author known for his work in direct response marketing in the 1970s. In 2000, Forbes listed him as one of the top five executive coaches in the US.
John Maxwell
John Maxwell is a NYTimes bestselling author, coach and speaker and has been called the most influential leadership expert in the world by Business Insider and Inc. magazine. Through his various coaching businesses and organizations, he has indirectly trained more than 5 million leaders worldwide.
Allison Dunn (Deliberate Directions)
Before founding her leading business coaching company, Deliberate Directions, Allison Dunn spent 25 years as an owner and executive of several businesses in engineering, manufacturing and architecture. On her blog and podcast, she teaches business owners how to scale their companies and advance their leadership skills.
Melinda Emerson (The Small Biz Lady)
Melinda Emerson, aka the “SmallBizLady,” is a small business “influencer,” and internationally renowned keynote speaker on small business development, social selling and content marketing. In addition to her online courses which teach people to grow successful small businesses and online marketing, her consulting firm, the Quintessence Group, serves Fortune 500 brands that target the small business market.
Want help to grow your business faster? Click here to set up your FREE coaching strategy call today. From marketing and growth hacking to strategy, business model & product innovation, fundraising, acquisitions/exits and team building, if you are looking for an edge to take your business to the next level, we should talk.
~ Matt Ward: Helping mission-driven businesses change the world faster.
Jade Weller (@jadestart)
Jade Weller, aka JadeStart is a lawyer, award-winning business coach, public speaker and podcaster with extensive experience in business. On top of building and selling an ecommerce business with her husband and building her consultancy, JadeStart, to a six-figure company, she has worked for PwC since 2016 on insolvency, restructuring and corporate strategy.
Sheri Kaye Hoff
Sheri Kaye is a business coach and author with a unique inspirational business mindset that approach has helped her gather a large audience of loyal followers.
Tristan Wright (Evolve to Grow)
Tristan Wright is the CEO and Founder of Evolve to Grow and the self-proclaimed original “Business Sherpa” that wasn’t born to be a business coach. After founding a sportswear company in his 20s where he both made and lost tons of money, he now helps business owners roadmap their journey to an efficient, successful business.
Alan Melton (The Small Business Guy)
Alan Melton is an author, speaker and the owner of Small Business Coach Associates, a coaching company concentrating on helping small business owners implement business marketing strategies to grow and increase cash flows.
Dan Sullivan (The “Strategic Coach”)
Dan Sullivan is the founder of Strategic Coach and has over 40 years of experience as a speaker, consultant, podcaster and strategic planner.
Mark Thompson
Mark Thompson is a sought after coach, venture investor and NYTimes bestselling author that’s been called the World’s #1 Executive Coach by the American Management Association. In addition to being Schwab’s former Chief of Staff and Chief Customer Experience Officer, Mark was an early investor in Facebook and Netflix, a founding board member of Esurance and a co-founding advisor of Sir Richard Branson’s Entrepreneurship Centres.
Dr. Peter Chee
Dr Peter Chee is the President and CEO of ITD World, a leading multinational for Human Resource Development, co-author of “5 Levels of Mastery” and “Coaching for Breakthrough Success” (with Jack Canfield) and the creator of several coaching standards. Today, he’s the Chief Coach of the Certified Coaching and Mentoring Professional (CCMP) program.
Want help to grow your business faster? Click here to set up your FREE coaching strategy call today. From marketing and growth hacking to strategy, business model & product innovation, fundraising, acquisitions/exits and team building, if you are looking for an edge to take your business to the next level, we should talk.
~ Matt Ward: Helping mission-driven businesses change the world faster.
Karl Bryan (The Small Business Marketing Guy)
In addition to Karl Bryan’s E-learning company which publishes marketing courses for small businesses, Karl is the founder and editor-in-chief of Six-Figure Coach Magazine, a magazine which alongside his courses, helps coaches get more clients.
Loren Fogelman (From Sports Psychology to Coaching)
Loren Fogelman is one of America’s top-ranked business coaches and speaks across the US on all things sales and pricing strategy, especially for small businesses. Her coaching business, Business Success Solution is geared toward entrepreneurs who want to move from a per-hour business model to a value-based model.
Marshall Goldsmith
Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is a NYTimes best selling author, a top rated executive coach, keynote speaker and has been recognized as one of the top ten business thinkers in the world, twice. Marshall brings almost 40 years of hands-on experience for leadership and behavioral change.
Dave Bailey
Dave Bailey is a founder and tech startup guy that, like me, helps CEOs of early-stage startups navigate growth, business challenges and venture industry. After being an early employee at Delivery Hero and building and selling his own startup, he transitioned into investing and venture capital and now works with founders looking to grow themselves and their businesses.
Tammy Adams (Local Small Business Coach)
After 25 years in big-box retail, Tammy Adams left to start her own small business and now helps other small business owners reach their first $100k in profits through her coaching, courses and Badass Business Owner podcast.
Barry Moltz (The Unstuck Guy)
Barry Moltz is a serial entrepreneur, author, speaker, angel investor and business coach focused on helping small businesses get over the hurdles holding them back from their full potential.
Andy Turner (The Coach’s Coach)
Andy Turner is an author and sales and marketing focused business coach that helps other coaches and small business owners become profitable by finding more clients to grow their revenues.
Karl Lillrud
Karl Lillrud has extensive experience in retail, telecom, media and pharmaceuticals and brings this to bear helping global organizations scale their business, improve efficiency and identify bottlenecks within the organization.
Matt Ward (The Strategy, Growth & Scaling Startup Guy)
If you’re here, you know me. I’ve built and sold multiple ecommerce and media businesses, run several top podcasts focused on ecommerce, venture capital, startups and tech, built an angel investor syndicate and now help mission-driven startups and small businesses grow and scale to change the world faster.
From CEOs looking to uplevel themselves or exit their companies to startup founders seeking growth, more users & revenues or funding to fuel their rocketship, I help companies of all sizes go bigger, faster.
If you’re interested in scaling, overwhelmed with your business or just want to earn more or work less, set up a free strategy call today. My dream is to help you hit yours, seriously. So, let’s change the world together!
Best Coaching Companies & Platforms
Noomi (The BetterHelp of Online Coaching)
Noomii is a free online service that matches you based on your goals with a life coach, business coach or career coach from their network of 100s of professional coaches. Although I’m registered as a coach on Noomi, I think you’re probably better off with finding a specific business coach whose methods you “click” with, rather than a random, semi-personal platform.
EMyth (The “Certified” Solution)
If you are looking for a business coach that’s completed a specific coaching curriculum (rather than having learned from building their own businesses…) EMyth might be a good fit for you. They say their comprehensive system for building a business gives you more freedom and produces consistent, predictable results. This paired with their personal mentorship have helped many companies and leaders grow and succeed.
ActionCOACH
Brad Sugars started ActionCOACH when he was in his early twenties. Today the company has over 1000 coaches and is internationally recognized as one of the leading global business coaching firms/franchises in the world. I’ll be honest though, I’m always a bit skeptical of franchises in terms of maintaining real quality.
Want help to grow your business faster? Click here to set up your FREE coaching strategy call today. From marketing and growth hacking to strategy, business model & product innovation, fundraising, acquisitions/exits and team building, if you are looking for an edge to take your business to the next level, we should talk.
~ Matt Ward: Helping mission-driven businesses change the world faster.
Best Inspirational & Life Coaches
Tony Robbins (Half Guru, Half Superhero)
You know who Tony Robbins is, do I need to say more? Just avoid signing up for his email newsletter or you’ll be pestered with hundreds of courses and offers from here until infinity. That said, his videos can be very inspirational and many people say his seminars have changed their lives.
Robert Viney (Prestige Business Coaching)
Robert Viney has built and run several successful businesses and for over 20 years, coached small businesses to achieve more sales and higher profits with less effort and stress.
Melissa Dawn (CEO of Your Life)
Melissa Dawn is a renowned speaker, author, and life coach that helps many entrepreneurs to build a business to fit their values and lifestyle – i.e. to become the captain of their life. She specializes in helping people to transition from a day job into a passion-driven entrepreneur.
Honorable Mentions
- Anthony John Amyx – The get unstuck, “Fast Results” business coach
- Rieva Lesonsky – Content and consulting for small businesses on retail trends
- Lindsey Anderson – The generate more traffic and get more leads coach for coaches
- Ian Brodie – Winning clients with value-based marketing
- Alycia Wicker – The interior designer’s business coach
- Tommi Wolfe – The serial entrepreneur helping startups market more effectively
- Adetiloye Adedayo – Nigeria’s #1 business coach
- Karen Skidmore – Scaling your business while maintaining your lifestyle
- Michael Bungay Stanier – Coaching for developing leadership and culture change
- Glenn Smith – Leadership development for execs
- Paul Martinelli – Personal development and belief to unleash your potential
- Jackie Nagel – Tailoring small business to fit your lifestyle and finance goals
- Lizzie Moult – Mindset + Marketing Founder Business Bootcamp
- Dave Labowitz – Business coaching for better life balance
- Lara Galloway – The Mom Biz Coach
- Arlene Klein – Business coaching for the health and wellness community
- Rob Carol – Less time working, more time making money
- Julie Keyes – Successful business exit planning
- Zac de Silva – The cafe and sneakers kind of coach
- Lorraine Robles – The changing your mindset, positivity coach
- James Kademan – The sales psychology of drawing in customers
- Natalie Heeley – The network marketing business coach
- Sean Garner – The business coach for fitness professionals
Want help to grow your business faster?
Click here to set up your FREE coaching strategy call today. From marketing and growth hacking to strategy, business model & product innovation, fundraising, acquisitions/exits and team building, if you are looking for an edge to take your business to the next level, we should talk.
~ Matt Ward: Helping mission-driven businesses change the world faster.
To learn more about how I help companies 10x results and hear what past clients have to say about working together, please visit mattward.io/testimonials
STARTUP & BUSINESS COACHINGFrequently Asked Questions
Yes.
I have never met a startup or business I couldn’t help with aligning strategy and marketing to achieve faster, more scalable growth (nearly always without paid ads).
There are innumerable ways to grow a business and increase revenues, everything from acquiring more customers and reducing churn to tapping into additional revenue streams and improving your upsells and LTV.
And the strategy and best approach all depends on you and your unique business.
So, let’s work together to craft your tailored growth plan.
In addition to a deep background in ecommerce & CPG, media & podcasting, B2B SaaS, consumer and climate tech, I work with numerous startups & companies in retail, B2B, healthtech, and Fintech/blockchain sectors (from early-stage to at-scale corporates) with services such as:
- Development of Growth Marketing Plans
- Strategic Business Development & Planning
- Valuation & Fundraising Strategy
- Leadership & Founder Coaching
- Company Branding & Positioning
- Business Model Innovation & Iteration
If you have to ask, you already know. Here’s an in-depth article on the topic and why CEOs (and especially startup founders) should absolutely have a business coach, at least those interested in growing faster, building bigger and avoiding the common pitfalls of startups & leadership like burnout, overwhelm and failure to scale.
In summary: “If you’ve got a dream and it doesn’t require a team, you probably aren’t dreaming big enough!”
Absolutely!
Thanks to working with and interviewing hundreds of VCs and angel investors and making several investments myself, I know exactly what to put (and not put) in your pitch deck and presentation. Let’s refine your pitch together and create your killer pitch deck that investors & VCs can’t ignore.
NOTE: This is also available as a done-for-you service as well if you prefer.
Rather do this yourself and practice later with me? That’s fine too. Here’s a free guide to help you get started.
Yes, although traditional business plans are a bit outdated in my opinion.
Instead, together we’ll craft your tailored business one-pager outlining all critical aspects of your business & marketing strategy and your business’ roadmap.
In a sense, we cut to the core of what it takes to build your company into something great – all in one page.
Interested? Be sure to reach out today as my capacity is limited. Or, just send me an email: matt@mattward.io
If we decide to work together, I usually like to have a minimum commitment with coachees because:
- I only want to work with founders & CEOs who are serious about success and the process.
- It typically takes a little while to hit our stride and for you to truly see just how impactful the sessions and changes can be.
If you are willing to commit to building something great and putting in the work to make it happen, I am here to help!
Apply for one of my limited spots here or just send me an email: matt@mattward.io
My fees depend on the type of company I’m working with and the capacity at which I’m retained. That is why it is definitely worth reaching out. We can almost always find a solution that fits your company’s stage of development and needs and helps you hit your ambitious business goals.
And fees are pretty relative when we’re able to 10x your growth & results – especially when it leads to you working less in the process.
