Even GOATs Need a Coach – The Hidden Pressures of Selling a Business and What Founders Rarely Say Out Loud

Monday, 24 November 2025

Even GOATs Need a Coach – The Hidden Pressures of Selling a Business and What Founders Rarely Say Out Loud

By Richard Album

 

When Roger Federer was under pressure, he turned to his box for support. When Tiger Woods had a bad round, he went to the range with his coach to fix problems in real time. Serena Williams had Patrick Mouratoglou, Simone Biles had Aimee Boorman. They aren’t as famous, but when top sportspeople face high-pressure moments, they rely on clarity, composure and the perspective a experienced coach can bring. Even the GOATs needed a coach.

 

Founders preparing to sell a business face their own version of that, but often without the same support team or playbook. Ask any business owner who has been through a sale, and you’ll hear a similar theme: it can get intense and stressful very quickly.

 

The Moment Everything Converges

For years you’ve run the business with skill and insight. Then the sale process begins and suddenly everything accelerates at once:

  • Performance is scrutinised more sharply
  • Timelines compress
  • Legal, financial and commercial detail multiplies
  • Buyers assess not only your business, but your judgement
  • Your team looks to you for reassurance
  • Your life outside the business doesn’t pause to accommodate it

 

It’s a moment where you’re expected to be steady, precise and calm, exactly when the pressure is at its peak.

 

During a sale, most founders privately wrestle with similar thoughts:

 

“I’m constantly reacting. I’m losing strategic headspace.”
A sale forces fast decisions. Without space to think, founders often feel pulled into reactive mode, which is where costly choices tend to originate.

 

“I need to keep the team confident, even if I’m not always feeling it myself.”
Founders often shoulder the emotional burden alone. They can’t voice every uncertainty internally, and their families aren’t always the right outlet either.

 

“I thought I’d feel more in control during this process.”
Buyers may dive deeper into your business than anyone ever has. Even confident founders sometimes feel exposed when every number, decision and assumption is analysed.

 

The Pressure No One Talks About: Identity Under Scrutiny

A surprising pattern emerges during diligence and buyer meetings. Capable, proven founders suddenly feel like outsiders in rooms filled with advisers speaking in acronyms or buyers benchmarking everything against models and spreadsheets. Founders tend to fixate on their one perceived weakness, think of it like the ‘wobbly brick’ in a Jenga tower. They don’t focus on the tens of other bricks still standing, the ‘tower’ they’ve built over years. The customers won, the crises navigated, the hires made, the culture shaped. Under scrutiny, perspective narrows, and doubt grows louder. Its sometimes called Imposter Syndrome – or more accurately Imposter Phenomenon. And it can get to anyone often at precisely the wrong time.

 

And Then Comes the Part Few Prepare For: Life After the Sale

Most founders imagine the finish line: the deal completed, the announcement posted, the celebration earned. What very few expect is what happens next. Long after the advisors, lawyers and buyers move on, founders often sit with questions they didn’t anticipate:

  • What does my identity look like now?
  • Where do I focus my energy without the daily demands of the business?
  • Why does this feel more emotionally complex than I expected?

 

Even the most successful exits can come with a sense of disorientation. For many owners, the business wasn’t just an asset, it was a chapter of life (often the main chapter). A community, a purpose. Closing that chapter, however positive the outcome, can feel strangely quiet.

 

So Where Can Executive Coaching Support Fit In?

At the end of the process, many founders admit something similar:

“I wish I’d had a clearer space to think while everything was happening.”

Not transactional support, your advisers (hopefully Bluebox) handle that expertly. But a structured way to maintain perspective, make decisions with clarity, and prepare emotionally for what happens after the sale. Even the greatest performers in the world benefit from an external perspective during high-stakes moments. Founders selling a business are no exception, not because they lack capability, but because the complexity and pressure of the process are unlike anything they navigate day-to-day.

Sometimes the most powerful advantage in a sale isn’t more information, it’s clearer thinking in the moments that matter most. Working with an executive coach to guide you through the process, can be invaluable.

 

 

Richard Album is a highly experienced Executive Coach, who has been working in professional services for over 25 years. He is the founder of the consultancy ALBUM Coaching and co-founder of Mindset Quotient Ltd. Neither are ready for sale… yet.

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