ABOUT COACHBAR

We don't like seeing businesses struggle with software implementations

Implementing software and getting it to work well can be overwhelming. Too often, business owners are sold a solution that's either a poor fit for their business or told they can easily self-implement it. Either way, getting the software to work becomes a big issue.

Coachbar connects businesses with the right software and experienced consultants which leads to high quality system implementations and superior business performance.

Our manifesto

Hire coaches before buying software

Just like you hire an architect before you buy a truckload of lumber, businesses are far more successful when they hire a software coach before they start buying software. Discover which systems often fail when self-implemented.

Coach quality matters a lot

Coach quality and certifications are essential. Businesses that hire non-certified, inexperienced software, marketing, and finance coaches have the worst system performance. Compare the implementation success rates of each type.

Multiple coaches are key

We've analyzed data on over 10,000 businesses. The best performing businesses almost always have three coaches: software/technology, finance/accounting, and marketing. See which coaches are important to hire first for your business.

Equipping more coaches is mission critical

Roughly 10% of businesses are achieving exceptional performance in collaboration with their coaches. To reach the remaining 90%, we need more expert coaches. Why are too many businesses struggling? Too few quality coaches.

Our values

Coaches

Almost nothing hasn't been achieved by someone else before you try to do it. Coaches-first thinking creates remarkably successful outcomes, at a fraction of the cost and faster results.

Simplicity

We believe complexity is expensive and should be avoided. Insightful, curious, creative teams will find better answers through collaboration and 'how might we' exercises.

The one metric

We need to know the most important metric and why it matters. When everyone knows why and what, superior outcomes are commonplace.

Generosity is fun

We open doors for others to prosper and realize their ambitions. We'd rather make 100 people and businesses successful than buy an expensive toy for ourselves.

Abundance mindset

We're all about growth and prosperity. We know that solving important problems with efficient, elegant solutions creates more than enough value for prosperity to abound.

Ownership and delivery

Teamwork is at the core of who we are. We trust our people to do great work from start to finish. We're achievers that enjoy committing and delivering.

Refinements are expected

We're over-achievers that enjoy identifying and making improvements. We're data-driven and refinements are central to how we work.

Our story

We want greater prosperity for everyone. And for that to happen, we want more businesses to engage more coaches.

And that's why 2023 is the year of Coachbar.

I'm Doug. I've been a coach, consultant, a four-time business founder, software executive, professor, data scientist, and author. I've been in the game for over 20 years and been part of truly great teams.

I've been part of explosive record-shattering executive teams at Sage Software, CEB, Xero, and Cin7, leading marketing and channel programs, teams, and business units.

You know what I noticed? Every single time a customer of one of our products hired expert software integrators, consultants and coaches, they got better results, superior performance, and were much less stressed out than those who tried to go it alone.

I've invested nearly 20 years within software companies. We've made very good progress connecting businesses to the right software, developing and executing implementation plans, and referring people to expert coaches and partners.

However, when I reflected in December 2022 on the progress that I could make continuing as an executive software leader/CMO, versus the massive prosperity that could be achieved with a mission-driven, purpose-built team and company, I talked with Dana (my life partner for over 30 years) and we decided to make a significant investment to create a well-funded new business to catapult our progress to a whole new level.

Our team

Co-Founder & COO Rob Stone

Rob Stone’s career is focused on helping small and medium businesses. Most recently with an amazing team at Xero, who grew the community of accounting and BAS agents by 10x. Bringing together an active community of experts, who want to help SMB's, is something Rob is most proud of - along with building great teams with a common purpose. Prior to this, Rob helped emerging businesses raise equity capital on the Australian Stock Exchange.

With Coachbar, we can bring together a global community of experts who make app-stacks work - Software Consultants and Cloud Integrators - and in doing so, make it an easier world for SMB's to get the most out of their SAAS B2B products.

Co-Founder & CMO Brandi Johnson

Brandi Johnson is an experienced marketing leader with a passion for growth and empowering small business owners. With a wealth of experience in diverse industries such as B2B, eCommerce and manufacturing, Brandi is a firm believer in the power of marketing to transform businesses. She is author of Minimum Viable Marketing, a guide that helps entrepreneurs build and implement sustainable marketing strategies.

Software is one of the biggest investments a business can make - and quickly become one of the biggest headaches. At Coachbar, we help software coaches and business leaders grow through strategic investment. Everyone wins.

Co-Founder, CPO & CCO Dipan Gajjar

Dipan Gajjar is a collaborative product leader with excellent problem-solving skills driving results in an extremely fast paced environment. He has a proven track record of leading cross-functional teams and delivering products with a focus on customers.

Coachbar has an incredible team dedicated to helping small and medium-sized businesses succeed by bringing together an ecosystem of Coaches, advisors, and consultants.

Co-Founder & Practice Lead Josh Drummond

Josh Drummond is focused on helping small businesses - and their advisors - survive and thrive. At Cin7 and Xero, he was a customer and partner champion, co-authoring two books (The Pacesetters and The Pacesetters: Advisory). In his increasingly limited spare time, Josh enjoys writing about the strange worlds of self-improvement, media, and tech - and then there's art, cooking, hiking, golf, music, and (most of all) spending time with his wife and young son.

Over my career, I've seen it thousands of times — nothing helps a business succeed like having a great software coach. Helping set small and medium businesses up with the right coach is an incredibly effective way of creating meaningful change.

Founder & CEO Doug LaBahn

Doug LaBahn, founder of Coachbar has been a coach, consultant, four-time business founder, software executive, professor, data scientist, and author. While leading marketing and channel partnerships at companies like Sage Software, CEB, Xero and Cin7, he recognized that customers had better outcomes when they hired software coaches (and they were less stressed!) Doug brought together the Coachbar team to give more business leaders access to the software coaches that can transform their businesses.

The top 10% most successful small and medium businesses, they are all using modern, integrated software systems. Unfortunately, 90% of businesses are stuck on old, poorly implemented, inferior software and their business performance is suffering. The right technology is a must have for today’s businesses.

Co-Founder & UK Practice Manager Owen Burley

When Owen Burley isn’t wandering around in the wilderness with his wife and daughters looking for a Gruffalo, or hacking his way out of the thick stuff on a golf course, he thrives on helping stockcentric businesses become more efficient with best in class software.

Coachbar helps connect SMBs with trusted Coaches, Advisors and Consultants. It is our mission to support growing SMBs with the guidance and insight in a ever more complex ecosystem of tech.

Co-Founder & Creative Director Jason Gonzales

Jason Gonzales is a Creative Director and Designer. He is passionate about telling engaging stories, and making useful artifacts for the benefit of the audiences he serves.

It's exciting to be part of team that is all about unlocking more potential and creating more virtuous cycles for small businesses, software consultants, and software providers.

Engineering Manager Indrajitsinh Rathod

Indrajitsinh Rathod is a tech enthusiast, a tech leader and architect responsible for the end to end delivery and maintenance of web apps and product infrastructure.

In today's world of digital transformation, Coachbar can play a key role in connecting SMBs to the right coach to make their digital transformation smooth and successful.

Product Owner Elena Piskova

Elena Piskova is deeply passionate about delivering value to clients. Her robust experience in crafting software programs from inception, utilizing the latest frameworks, aligns seamlessly with team objectives. With expertise in project development and cutting-edge product requirements analysis, Elena is dedicated to ensuring the delivery of high-quality software products that precisely meet business needs.

At Coachbar, we value the irreplaceable resource of time. Understanding the weight of unfulfilled goals, we prioritize saving SMBs' time by streamlining expert searches. Efficient collaboration with our experts transforms ambitious goals into reality, preserving our clients' valuable time.

Ecosystem Strategy Bryan Williams

Bryan Williams unlocks growth for companies through building & curating impactful partnerships. Having had deep experience with engagements with hundreds of aspiring tech companies, he draws insights & lessons on how companies can best work together with others to go faster, help each other win & create great customer outcomes. Outside of work Bryan has a busy household with 3 kids under 4, & refuses to give up as a wkd warrior competing in various endurance events, His young family is based in Melbourne.

Coachbar has a unique opportunity to help businesses everywhere operate more effectively, through gaining insights & unlocking efficiencies by utilising market leading technology, enabled & supported via coaches, consultants and advisors.

Digital Marketing Jigar Modi

Expertise is held by Jigar in the field of Digital Marketing and SEO. Effective strategies are developed and executed by him to reach and engage target audiences. Through a strong understanding of consumer behavior and digital trends, Jigar drives traffic, increases brand awareness, and generates leads across various online channels. He possesses skills such as successful social media campaign creation and implementation, management of email marketing campaigns, optimization of SEO, managing website updates and maintenance, tracking and analysis of key metrics for continuous performance improvement.

Coachbar's mission is to provide guidance and insight to support the growth of SMBs in an increasingly complex ecosystem of technology. This is accomplished by connecting SMBs with trusted Coaches, Advisors, and Consultants.

Join our team

We're growing and hiring. Interested? Let us know. We'll share great roles with you as they open up.

Our ONE metric that matters and why

We're on a mission to connect businesses to the right software and experienced coaches to achieve a 100,000 digital software system makeovers, as quickly as reasonably possible.

Why? Businesses that have modern software operating systems implemented by software coaches grow 30% faster than equivalent companies running on old technology or trying to implement software with their own internal resources and failing at it. Further, these companies are 40% more profitable, and people are 50% more likely to be enjoying working for these businesses using modern software.

We're going to make history here by helping thousands and thousands of businesses to be more prosperous and successful with software systems. I encourage and welcome you to join us.