Amidst a rapidly evolving work landscape characterized by remote teams and exclusively virtual interactions, the founders of one company believe their initial vision from 2018 is more relevant than ever: those who provide guidance also require support and development.

Christine Tao and Lori Mazan, the creators of Sounding Board, are dedicated to enhancing the leadership capabilities of individuals at all levels within an organization. This San Francisco-based company operates a marketplace that connects leaders – ranging from new managers to top-level executives – with professional coaches.

Since 2016, the company has experienced consistent revenue growth, doubling or tripling its earnings each year and currently operating within the “multi-millions” range. The onset of the coronavirus pandemic further accelerated demand for their services. Quarterly bookings have increased by a factor of 3.4 since Q2 2020, and monthly revenue has doubled in the past five months.

Building on this momentum, the founders state that Sounding Board’s subsequent focus is to expand beyond coaching alone and develop a platform that demonstrates how these newly acquired skills translate into tangible business outcomes. This new offering is designed to function as a central hub and strategic guide, enabling both participants and coaches to monitor insights, track progress, and observe behavioral changes.

The platform allows users to schedule coaching sessions, find suitable coaches, and access relevant resources and assigned tasks. Furthermore, it includes a feature for coaches and managers to collaboratively monitor progress toward goals, functioning similarly to OKR (Objectives and Key Results) software.

“While valuable information is important, its true benefit lies in practical application,” explained Mazan. “Our coaching services facilitate the application of insights and learning derived from various resources, ensuring they are effectively utilized in the workplace.”

This new product reimagines the traditional, periodic executive coaching summit as an integrated, dynamic component of a manager’s daily workflow.

In addition to providing a clearer understanding of progress, this product will enable Sounding Board to expand the reach of its services. By offering more avenues for coaches to engage with users’ work processes, the platform reduces reliance on synchronous calls and promotes more efficient management of coaching engagements.

The founders believe this feature will be a key differentiator for their company. While creating a marketplace is achievable for many, it requires intuitive and user-friendly technology to effectively measure the impact of coaching interventions.

Tao acknowledges that their services are particularly well-suited for certain organizations. Sounding Board has seen strong initial adoption among established, rapidly growing companies preparing for an initial public offering (IPO). This stage of maturity represents an ideal opportunity for a third-party provider to assist in scaling leadership capabilities across teams. Current clients include VMware, Uber, Plaid, Chime and Dropbox.

Currently, 60% of Sounding Board’s users are first-time managers, 30% are mid-level managers, and 10% are C-suite executives. The founders believe these figures demonstrate a wider need for mentorship than what is typically addressed by competitors, who often concentrate on executive-level coaching or stress reduction.

“Organizations are increasingly recognizing the need to extend coaching opportunities beyond the C-suite, and they are often unsure how to do so effectively,” Mazan stated.

This realization, coupled with the positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, has enabled Sounding Board to secure significant venture capital funding. The company reports to TechCrunch that it has raised $13.1 million in a Series A funding round led by Canaan Partners. Additional investors include Correlation Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Precursor Ventures, Degreed founder David Blake, and Kevin Johnson, the former CEO of Udemy.