Being the CEO of a startup company puts you in a unique position. You have an overwhelming responsibility, but you must balance leadership with an emerging business. Startup CEO coaching can help you on the path to being both an effective leader and having a successful startup business.
Learning to Be More Decisive
Decisiveness is a quality that takes the forefront in startup companies more than in companies that have reached a stage of growth. As the CEO of a startup, there will be fewer employees and other team members to help you navigate important decisions, so others will look to you for critical decisions that ultimately make or break the business. Since the overwhelming majority of businesses fail in the first year, not only do you need to make good business decisions, but there is also no room for being indecisive or insecure about your capabilities. A coach can help you develop more confidence in your abilities to lead the new business.
Avoiding Grandiosity
Just as startup CEOs can face tremendous pressure that can make them feel insecure about their abilities, there are those with grandiose ideas that may not work in the real world. One of the major concerns that can drive your business into the ground is erroneously believing you can expand or scale your business in an unrealistic time frame. Working with a coach can help you stay more grounded about your business and have realistic goals and time frames. Another way grandiosity can interfere with startups is you wearing "rose-colored glasses" regarding signs of failure. It is easy to overlook problems as growing pains when they are really signs that changes need to be made to avoid a catastrophe.
Learning the Value of the Team
Although the number of people who surround startup CEOs is small, each person should play a critical role in the longevity of the business and be considered a valuable member of the team. In some instances, startup CEOs do not feel the need to delegate or may feel they are not doing their job if they need more help from their team members. An overly ambitious startup CEO may feel like they are weak if they ask for help. Coaching can give CEOs ideas of where they fall short in teamwork and help them address these problems before they lead to irreparable friction in the business.
The needs of a startup CEO are very different from those of CEOs of a stable business. Hiring a coach who specializes in working with startups is one of the best investments in the longevity of your business.