Startup Ignition Ventures Backs the Former D1 Athletes Building the Operating System for the Modern Sports Coach
Sports coaches play a pivotal role in young athletes’ development but their impact is too often constrained by outdated tools and limited resources. We’re on a mission to change that.
Today, we’re thrilled to share a pivotal milestone in our journey: we’ve secured $1.3 million in pre‑seed funding to accelerate product development and empower exceptional coaching businesses worldwide.
What We Do
CoachIQ is the growth engine for modern coaching businesses – an all‑in‑one operating system that drives revenue while slashing admin time. With a single login, coaches launch their website, schedule sessions, accept payments, manage CRM and messaging, and deliver online training without juggling a dozen apps.
Backing From the Right Partners
Our round was led by Startup Ignition Ventures, veteran software investors who know the sports landscape well as the first backers of golf‑tech success story ForeUp, with a select group of professional athletes and operator‑angels participating in the round as well.
“Independent coaches are the backbone of athlete development, and CoachIQ finally gives them enterprise‑grade tools without the enterprise‑grade headache.” — John Richards, Managing Partner, Startup Ignition Ventures
We’re also fortunate to have NFL Hall‑of‑Famer and HGGC partner Steve Young as a strategic advisor, helping us bridge the worlds of grassroots coaching and professional sports.
John Richards, Managing Partner, Startup Ignition Ventures (SIV)
The CoachIQ Mission
Our mission is to help coaches run more profitable businesses, expand the brands they’ve built, and lead their local sports communities by delivering unmatched training experiences.
We succeed when a coach can spend more time on the court or field and less time on the laptop, confident that their business is growing and their athletes are thriving.
We’re building the performance engine under every successful coaching business, unifying operations, payments, data, and AI‑powered insights so that independent coaches can operate like even the biggest franchises and, every athlete gains access to elite-level guidance.
Founding Story
CoachIQ’s mission was born out of personal experience. The founding team, Russell Reeder, Corey Quick, and Ryan Bua, are all former Division I athletes who saw firsthand how the fragmented resources in youth athletics leave even elite competitors under‑prepared for top‑level competition.
Those shared frustrations sparked a question:
What if the local coaches who know their athletes best had the infrastructure to guide athletes the way college and pro organizations do?
We founded CoachIQ to build that infrastructure. Along the way, we’ve partnered with thousands of coaching businesses across basketball, soccer, baseball, football, racket sports, and more to refine every feature and help coaches run effective businesses to scale their coaching knowledge to as many athletes as possible.
Looking Ahead
This funding accelerates our ability to build, hire, and deepen our impact on coaching businesses everywhere. It’s a testament to the confidence our customers and investors place in CoachIQ’s mission: to give every coach a growth engine that runs like a five‑person team, freeing them to focus on developing athletes and leading their communities.
Join Us
Coaches: Ready to simplify operations and scale your impact? Book a demo.
Builders: Passionate about empowering the next generation of athletes? Reach out to jobs@coachiq.io