Why successful founders make the best coaches

TL;DR

Post-exit founders face an identity crisis that retirement and another startup can’t solve. Becoming a business coach offers the perfect leverage: multiply your hard-won experience across 12+ companies while earning $300K-$500K+ annually. With a proven system, elite peer community, and world-class support, you can transform imposter syndrome into impact—helping founders who are exactly where you once were.

• The post-exit identity crisis nobody warns you about
• Career transitions for founders who want different leverage
• The imposter syndrome every coach feels (and why you’re more qualified than you think)
• What career options after exit actually look like
• Your next act starts with a question

If you’ve recently exited your company—or you’re in that strange liminal space between ventures—you’re likely fielding the same question from everyone: “So, what’s next? Another startup? Consulting? Retirement?”

But here’s what nobody tells you about life after exit: Research from UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley found that 72% of entrepreneurs are directly or indirectly affected by mental health concerns, and that number often spikes after a successful exit. The company that consumed your identity for a decade is gone. The team you built, the problems you solved daily, the mission that got you out of bed—all of it, gone.

You’re too young for retirement. Too experienced to start over. And frankly? Too entrepreneurial to do nothing.
So let’s talk about what to do after selling your business—and why becoming a business coach might be the most fulfilling (and lucrative) post-exit opportunity you haven’t considered.

The post-exit identity crisis nobody warns you about

You spent years, maybe decades, building something from nothing. Your business wasn’t just your livelihood—it was your identity. And now that it’s gone, you’re experiencing what researchers call “post-Olympic depression.”

Athletes feel it after the games end. Founders feel it after the exit. Many post-exit founders feel pressure to build another company, even better than the first, leading to a destructive spiral when things inevitably go wrong.

The truth? Starting another company isn’t always the answer.

Why another startup might not be the move

You’ve already climbed that mountain. You know the terrain: the 80-hour weeks, the cash flow anxiety, the pivot-or-die moments, the years before you see any return.

Career options for exited founders shouldn’t default to “do it all over again.” Consider what another startup actually means:

• Another 5-10 year commitment minimum
• Starting from zero (again)
• Building infrastructure, hiring, firing, scaling (again)
• The same stress that led a 2018 Small Business Economics study to find that 49% of entrepreneurs deal with at least one mental health condition, including 30% experiencing depression and 29% dealing with ADHD
• Betting everything on one outcome

You’ve already proven you can build and scale. The question is: Do you want to?

Career transitions for founders who want different leverage

Here’s what changed for you after your exit: You stopped needing to prove anything.

You’ve already done the hardest thing in business. You’ve built a company worth buying. That credential alone makes you invaluable to the thousands of founders who are where you were five, ten, or fifteen years ago.

Which brings us to the opportunity most exited founders miss: Coaching.

Why coaching beats consulting (and another startup)

Let’s be clear about the difference.

Consultants get hired to solve specific problems. They’re expensive specialists brought in for a defined project, then they leave. It’s transactional.

Time for money.

Coaching is transformational.

As a business coach, you’re not just fixing problems—you’re building leaders. You’re not just optimizing operations—you’re creating sustainable systems that outlast your engagement. You’re not working for them—you’re working with them.

Here’s the leverage difference:

• Another startup: One company. One outcome. 5-10 year investment.
• Consulting: Multiple companies. Transactional relationships. You trade time for money.
• Coaching: Multiple companies (typically 12 clients). Transformational relationships. You multiply your impact while earning $300,000-$500,000+ annually.

Finding purpose after exit: Help someone who is where you once were

Remember being stuck at $1 million in revenue, unable to break through?

Remember the hiring mistake that nearly tanked your culture?

Remember the moment you almost gave up?

You survived all of it. You learned. You figured it out.

And now there are dozens of founders experiencing those exact same moments, right now, with no idea what to do next. They’re making the same mistakes you made. They’re hitting the same walls you hit. They’re feeling the same doubt you felt.

You can change that.

Becoming a business coach means paying forward every hard-won lesson while building something meaningful for yourself. It’s the rare opportunity to combine purpose with profit—to create impact that compounds across multiple businesses while earning multiple six figures annually.

This is what finding purpose after exit actually looks like. Not another startup. Not early retirement. But multiplication: taking everything you learned and multiplying it across twelve companies instead of one.

The imposter syndrome every coach feels (and why you’re more qualified than you think)

Here’s the part where you’re thinking: “But I’m not a coach. I don’t have training. What if I don’t know enough?”

Welcome to the club. Every single coach we’ve worked with felt the same way.

The irony? That doubt is what makes you qualified.

You’ve been in the trenches. You’ve built a real company with real revenue—at least $1 million+. You’ve scaled through chaos, navigated uncertainty, and solved problems that business school never taught you. You’ve lived the transformation your future clients are trying to achieve.

That’s not imposter syndrome. That’s pattern recognition. You’re seeing the gap between what you’ve accomplished and what you think a “coach” should be.

But here’s what we know: The best coaches aren’t the ones with the most credentials. They’re the ones who’ve actually done it.

The world-class support system that changes everything

The real difference between struggling as a solo coach and thriving as a Bloom Growth Coach isn’t just about your qualifications—it’s about the infrastructure behind you.

When you join Bloom Growth, you’re not figuring this out alone:

• You’re surrounded by an elite community of vetted founders who’ve built companies with $1 million+ in revenue
• You have access to proprietary software that streamlines preparation and maximizes every client session
• You’re supported by proven methodology developed by entrepreneurs who’ve scaled real companies from startup to exit
• You get ongoing professional development that keeps your skills sharp and relevant

This is the support system that turns “I’m not sure I can do this” into “I can’t believe I waited this long to start.”

What career options after exit actually look like

Let’s be practical about what becoming a Bloom Growth Coach actually means for your life:

Financially: $300,000-$500,000+ annual income with approximately 12 clients. You own your practice. You control your schedule. You have full autonomy as an independent business owner.

 

Structurally: You’re not starting from scratch. You have a plug-and-play system with proven methodology, world-class technology, and an elite peer network of coaches who understand exactly what you’re building.

 

Emotionally: You’re back in the game, but with different leverage. Instead of betting everything on one company, you’re creating transformation across multiple businesses. Instead of carrying all the risk, you’re guiding others through it.

 

Impact: Every entrepreneur you coach impacts dozens of employees, hundreds of customers, and thousands of community members. The ripple effect of your expertise creates lasting change that extends far beyond quarterly results.

This is what post-exit opportunities should look like. Not another decade of grinding. Not the slow fade of retirement. But purposeful work that leverages everything you’ve learned while creating the lifestyle and income you actually want.

Your next act starts with a question

You’ve already proven you can build and scale a company. That’s the hard part.

The question isn’t whether you’re qualified to coach. You are.

The question now is: Are you ready to turn your experience into exponential impact?

If you’ve built and scaled a company with $1 million+ in revenue or 10+ employees, you possess the exact experience today’s entrepreneurs desperately need. You’ve lived through the challenges they’re facing. You’ve made the mistakes they’re about to make. You’ve solved the problems keeping them up at night.

That’s not imposter syndrome. That’s qualification.

If you want to skip the quiz and talk to someone at Bloom about becoming a Bloom Growth Coach, just fill out this form and someone from our team will get in touch!