Coaching platform Léland raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Forerunner Ventures with participation from GSV Ventures to expand its platform to connect coaches and aspirants to achieve goals ranging from entering college to passing an entrance exam and excelling in product management. The company aims to create better tools for coaches to create content, manage their schedules and grow its business offering.

The startup was founded in 2021 by John Koelliker, a former product manager at marketplaces such as Uber and LinkedIn. To date, it has raised $17.1 million in funding from investors including Goodwater, FJ Labs, Next Play Ventures and a few LinkedIn executives.

From the company raised its final round in 2022it has seen steady growth, with revenue quadrupling over the past year. The company said it has conducted more than 50,000 coaching sessions on the platform over the past 12 months. Leland currently has over 100,000 users in 70 countries accessing coaching, classes and events.

Koelliker noted that the company did not need to raise funds because its cash flow was positive. However, she raised money because the company was reaching an inflection point. The startup felt it needed to invest more to grow.

Building a solid coaching offer

The platform has more than 1,000 coaches in different categories. The startup says most of these coaches come to them organically after a friend or family member tells them about the platform.

“We still have 75% organic growth because there is so much sharing within friends, family and user networks. One of the counterintuitive things about Leland is that we have everything from dental school admission to software engineering coaching. Although they are different paths, coaches from different sectors are often closely networked, which helps us build a strong offering and discovery,” said Koelliker.

The company structures the coach onboarding process to ensure they clearly identify their areas of expertise. It also sends a confirmation link to new coaches so people in their network can affirm that the coach has expertise in a certain segment.

While the heart of the platform is its network of coaches, it also offers courses and events where people can participate in groups. Koelliker noted that Leland strictly controls the supply of coaches and has only a 5% acceptance rate to ensure the platform only receives high-quality coaches.

Since launching its seed cycle, Leland has been thinking about creating management tools for coaches, including better payments, messaging, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, reviews, and discount codes. The company believes these tools can help coaches better monetize their expertise. The startup calls this tool “business in a box” for coaches.

The company also offers an AI-powered tool for coaches that provides them with session summaries, actions and key takeaways, similar to meeting intelligence tools such as Read AI And Otter.

“We’ve tried to create packages and templates that coaches can use to insert their expertise and content. This makes it easier for coaches to onboard and easier for users to discover,” Koelliker said.

During onboarding, the platform uses AI to gain insight into a coach’s professional experience and suggests engaging titles and bios for their Leland profiles.

Product Roadmap and Future Opportunities

Koelliker noted that many Fortune 500 companies offer Leland’s services and coaching sessions as a benefit to their employees. The startup wants to build on this and invest in its business tools to further develop this area of ​​activity.

The company is also experimenting with an AI-based onboarding tool for end customers, who can describe their goals and get suggestions from suitable coaches for those goals. Additionally, the startup is expanding the goals and coaches category to reach a wider audience. She plans to use AI to help coaches develop interactive coaches tailored to learner progress.

Eurie Kim, managing partner at Forerunner Ventures, said that as a company that invests in consumer technology, it wanted to invest in the career advancement and coaching space for as long as possible.

“We see younger generations deeply struggling to find purpose and direction in adulthood, as the job market becomes more and more competitive and higher education becomes more and more expensive. At the same time, AI has a clear opportunity to reshape the way people learn, transforming what is possible through personalization and efficiency,” she said.

Kim emphasized that Leland’s model of creating a marketplace with top-quality coaches, along with assessments and hands-on support, creates a growth opportunity for the startup.

“Coaches benefit from advanced tools to run their business: integrated marketing, simplified backend processing, and AI capabilities for greater scalability and efficiency. The referrals and organic growth Leland is seeing already demonstrate network effects at work,” Kim added.

Leland competes in a tough market with other startups like executive coaching company BetterUpsupported by a16z Introductionwhich connects high-level experts with builders and founders; AceUpwhich offers workplace coaching; Shimmera coaching platform for people with ADHD; and group coaching business HumanQ.