Sphere Guidance — An app that powers & scales the magic of coaching 💫

Hello, hello Product Hunt 👋! I’m Stef, Founding Growth Marketer, hunting Sphere: an app that powers & scales the magic of coaching 💫 and makes the process of getting 1:1 Guidance more personalized, seamless, consistent and strategic. Or as some of our early customers have described us: - Tinder for Life, Leadership & Business Coaching - Classpass for Personal Development - Uber for the Soul 😜🙄— what can I say, people like a good comparison. Really, we match you to your best-fit coaches + taking care of the experience end-to-end. First off, I can’t talk about Sphere without talking about my personal coaching journey … A few years ago I was in over my head. @rickperreault recommended I invest in a coach to support me. So I did. I worked 1on1 with an incredible leadership coach (not on product hunt or I’d tag her). She supported me to better lead my team, communicate my best intentions and drive business results with impact. She asked the hard questions, challenged me and ultimately helped me grow. ⏩Fast forward to last year when I met @devsdevelopment. I couldn't shake what problems she was trying to solve with Sphere. It immediately struck a chord and resonated with me. After having a coach I *knew* how powerful coaching could be. And felt the pain she described in my original search for a coach. And so I jumped on board 🚀 Ever since our small & passionate team has been giving it our all to get Sphere off the ground — because coaching is a personal development tool that has been proven to support emotional and social intelligence. And we want more people to be able to access it. Our mission? To democratize coaching. To help connect individuals with their potential, and give them a suite of best-fit, unbiased thinking partners, plus high impact conversations to achieve their goals, take leaps, spark change and play bigger 💪 After months in beta, 4890 minutes of coaching through Sphere, an average NPS score of 84, we’re crossing a big-time milestone: a public release. For Sphere 1.0, we built a lightweight algorithm, onboarded & vetted 160+ certified & experienced leadership, business and life coaches and focused on a mobile app experience. And this is just the beginning 😉 So here we are, Product Hunt. We would LOVE 💙 for you to check us out! Passing on the baton to our Founder, @devsdevelopment who will tell you a bit more about Sphere and how it all works. And to @don_burks who will intro the tech 👇

👋Product Hunt, Founding Engineer at Sphere here! Five months ago I left a job I loved developing developers and joined Sphere. Why? Because I am passionate about personal development, growth, and improvement. And believe it takes two people to grow: you + an unbiased thinking partner, a coach. Just like in sports, if you want to improve in life, having a coach helps. And Sphere makes the process of getting 1:1 Guidance more seamless, consistent and strategic. In terms of the product itself: we built out a mobile-first app (to start): a @bumble / @tinder experience when it comes to coach profiles, — with @Calendly like functionality (ie: you don’t have to message back and forth with your coach to find a time to have a session) + @Zoom_US & FaceTime capabilities (to connect with your coach). With a membership model based on credits, similar to @classpass. Our stack: * JavaScript, from top to bottom: * NodeJS * Express * Apollo GraphQL * React Native * PostgreSQL (CloudSQL) * Kubernetes * GCP * We have a core GraphQL API with all of our ancillary functions built in a micro-service architecture. Of course, this is only the beginning. A lot more on our roadmap to follow. In the meantime, would love to know what you think. Cheers to growth over comfort 🚀 Don

Hello, Product Hunt! Oliver here, Sphere's Product Designer 👋! I was fortunate enough to join Sphere as employee no.1 after our Founder, Devon, was hunting down UX designers in my local coffee shop. Serendipity came through and connected us by chance and as it happened, I'd just left my previous role. Candidly, when I joined Sphere, coaching was a buzzword I'd heard chucked about a few times. I didn't really get it. I was more excited about the opportunity to build something from the ground up. That said, after working with a coach since joining Sphere, that buzzword is actually an extremely powerful tool that has taken me personally so far in my work and my mindset. Like many designers, simplicity has been front of mind when crafting this experience. Reducing the path to end-game as much as possible and making the key features as simple as possible; iconising the guides and content was a big focus since our learnings from Beta; creating an automatic booking system that lets you book with ease; migrating to a subscription model to reduce the decision fatigue behind the many prices and types of coaches; keeping the experience of coaching in-app so our users receive a one-stop-shop... the list goes on. Design is always about picking what we do, and how we do it and this product is a result of considering every thought, idea and question we've had along the way. It's been an amazing journey thus far, and I'm very excited to keep iterating and improving our experience and make Sphere the go-to platform to receive the magic of Coaching. Watch out for Sphere 2.0 and beyond. If you'll join me, I hope you enjoy your experience on the platform, and if you have any thoughts on the design / product itself feel free to reach out to me personally at oliver@sphereishere.com. Thank you Hunters!

Hola Product Hunt, Founder & Creator of Sphere proudly and excitedly chiming in! Our story goes a little something like this: My love of coaching started at my first company, Blo Blow Dry Bar - the largest franchise chain of its kind with over 130+ locations around the world. I was 21 then and catapulted into a leadership position as co-founder, responsible for seeding and nurturing our growing teams and franchises. Coaching was an inherent part of our culture and totally our secret sauce. Fast forward to 6 years later when my co-founders and I exited our business completely and I jumped into a full-time leadership and life coaching practice, to do the work that fills my soul: helping people grow. Yeilding transformation. After 6 years in my personal practice, one night, I was sitting awake in bed dreaming of building something that would make this service and experiences more accessible and approachable for everyone - not just fancy c-suites, and people with connections. There was so much friction for someone to find a great coach and commit to growth in a seamless and agile way. The space was filled with upfront fees, and hard to understand service menus on hard to find websites. I’d seen the industry booming yoy with little to no innovations in consumer experiences or technologies. Yoga and meditation had so much beautiful, approachable tech powering and scaling their magic, but coaching - a personal development tool that has been proven to support emotional and social intelligence - didn't. People didn’t know how to find the right coaching for them; and coaches were wasting too much time, and money, on business development, maintenance and management. So, I’ve spent the last year in alpha and beta, working with an inspiring crew [shout out to my team!] to build something that serves as the 1-click wonder for accessing and delivering Guidance. Making it easier for Seekers (clients) to grow as people, and for Guides (coaches) to grow their business. 🌟 Meet. Book. Grow. This morning, I am dancing in my purple pyjamas - while trying not to wake my kids ;)- because Sphere is going live on Product Hunt. Lift off. **Here’s how Sphere works:** 1. We learn about you, where you’re at and what you want to work on 2. You are intelligently matched to a collective of vetted, qualified and professionally trained coaches 3. You grow with a Sphere of Guides customized to your needs. Yup, coaching in your pocket: from personal to professional, and from mindfulness to leadership. 4. We take care of the experience seamlessly. Connecting, scheduling and sessions all happen in the app. **Why Sphere? And what makes us unique?** → When you work with Sphere, you aren't restricted to just one coach or one type of coach. We have over 160+ (and growing): life coaches, leadership coaches, business coaches, career coaches, health coaches, communication coaches. → Not just anyone can be a coach. All our coaches have a track record of success. They’re certified, have their own professional practices, and come highly referred by their coaching community. We aren’t a come one, come all listing directory. We're a premium experience for self-improvement and proactive wellbeing. → Coaches outside of Sphere charge up to 70% more (because it costs them a lot to run and maintain their practice). But we make it super easy for them, so you get high-quality coaching, at a digestible rate. → Committing to growing as a person is made as accessible as signing up to your favorite gym. Our membership model is designed like @classpass. You get monthly credits to spend on coaching experiences. Because we know commitment & consistency breed transformation. We're amplifying the impact of Guidance because we believe that a curious world is a conscious world. Where there is alignment between our beliefs and behaviors — there is humanity and fulfillment. Growing is for everyone, Dev

I've been a beta user of Sphere since January, meeting with the same fantastic coach 1-2 times a month. I was incredibly fortunate to have access to a coach at my previous job, and only realized once I started using Sphere how much I missed and needed those regular neutral heart-to-hearts. I haven't found a tool or app that can replace the value of the honest feedback and situational experience you get from talking with a professional coach. It's definitely an investment, but one I consider as important as investing in my physical and mental health, and far more personal and accountable than any generalized program or productivity app.

Really interesting idea for a product! Can you advise on how you sourced and vetted all of the coaches? That seems like a huge task in and of itself.

I've worked with several coaches and support people over the years, each with their own unique styles and niches. But it can be really difficult finding the right coach - first you ask around, maybe you do a Google search, then you scrutinize websites and finally you set up an in-person appointment which *may* come with a fee. If they're not the right fit, you have to go through the process all over again! I love that Sphere has simplified this process, not only by providing a templated profile for each guide which allows you to easily scan and identify what makes them unique, but also by serving you up recommendations based on your intake results. I'll be having my first child in the coming weeks, but I can't wait to give Sphere a try as soon as I'm ready to start thinking about setting myself up for success in this new, busier and fuller stage of life.

How do you vet your coaches?

Sphere and it’s amazing team are blazing a new trail in self-development and career growth! Having spent a lot of time around the founder Devon and team members, I can confidently say that the future is bright for the coaching space! I am beyond inspired by their dedication to creating a valuable and meaningful contribution to the tech space, with an emphasis on HUMANS. Looking forward to seeing this app and the team thrive, for the benefit of our collective ❤️

we have to pay monthly fee to get coaching or fee differs from coach to coach ?

I've worked with Kristin Constable who's on Sphere as a coach and can't recommend her enough! If the quality of coaches parallels her work then I see a promising future ahead for this platform :)

Look, I have a therapist but getting in to see her is 1) expensive and 2) takes time. Sometimes I can't see her for a few weeks. Plus, while she's a business owner herself, it's just not what she specializes in. Enter Sphere. Finally I can get coaching when and how I want it. This takes the coaching experience and puts it in our hands, the consumers. Finally!

Very nice sign-up process - clear value props, simple steps, and great design. Most apps don't put much care into the users' first experience. If this is any indication of the quality of Sphere as a whole, you have a very bright future. Great work!

I admittedly have been jealous every time I've worked at a company that offers coaching solely to their C-level executives; what about the rest of us who are leading teams?? I need guidance, too! I'm so excited to give Sphere a spin (esp. since Stefanie Grieser is one of my fave people and everything she does is gold).

Products like this are much needed. Making it easy to find a coach and get started enables more people to get the help they need. Bravo!

Hey all- as one of the guides for Sphere since Beta tests, I have had the pleasure of being involved and getting to see this product and concept grow tremendously. I felt it might be worthwhile to share what Sphere means from a coach's angle: As a coach, I am very clear on what I am great at: asking good questions, listening, and working with people to generate incredible insights and actions. I am also clear on where I am not the best: spending my time doing things which distract me from that passion and skill. Sphere is the answer to this- it helps connect me with really incredible people, allows me to maximize my impact as a coach, and it hits home on something I am deeply passionate about: increasing access for coaching to the world. Coaching is not just for executives, and Sphere makes that accessible.

Just chiming in here. I've met with the team at Sphere and I've seen what's happening behind the scenes. They're building something really special. They've put so much care into this product – from sourcing and vetting expert coaches to crafting a great user experience. Very excited to finally see this out in the wild :)

Coaching has transformed my life. Sounds like Sphere will allow me to have access to quality coaching in a much simpler fashion! What a great idea!! Super excited to try it out.

Unless a coach is coming from a friend's recommendation (and in these cases they're usually super expensive and fully booked), it's hard to know which ones are credible, experienced and a good fit for what I'm looking for. Sphere seems to be solving this problem - looking forward to giving it a try! One question - how long is a session?

The onboarding flow is smooth. Love the design. I like the 6/month commitment for credits. I can see this subscription model holding a user accountable to get the most out of Sphere.