Fiona Siseman spent seven years at Spotify. She helped co-create the career progression framework that defined the role of “Agile Coach” for one of the world’s most innovative tech companies. Then, she walked away to build something of her own.
In this episode of Coach as Entrepreneur, we explore the “Spotify exit” and the tactical reality of building a private coaching partnership from scratch. Fiona and her partner Alia co-founded Frank and Eddy Leadership, and in two and a half years have seen consistent, high-velocity growth while keeping their north star simple: “Are we having fun?”
What is the Spotify Coaching Culture?
The “Spotify model” is often cited in business circles as the gold standard for scaling agility. But beneath the tribes, squads, and chapters, there’s a deeply human layer of one-on-one coaching and leadership development. Fiona was at the center of this world as Spotify scaled from 3,000 to over 10,000 employees.
Her role wasn’t about software. It was about managing the interpersonal dynamics of 15 leadership teams across the globe.
“Agile coaching is seen as: what is the process by which teams on the ground use and how does that scale in the organization?” Fiona explained. “But for me, it became about the humans inside the process.”
When Spotify was smaller, coaches had real autonomy. They worked with teams organically, helping them self-organize. But as the company grew, standardization crept in. New leaders arrived with different strategies. Coaches went from empowering teams to implementing systems onto them. The flavor shifted, and for Fiona, that shift was the first signal that it might be time to leave.
The Decision to Leave (and How it Actually Happened)
Fiona didn’t quit on a whim. She and Alia had been friends at Spotify, and they’d floated the idea of going independent long before either of them left.
Then Spotify’s layoffs started. Alia’s entire organization cut its agile coaches. She was out in November. Fiona followed the following June. In between, Alia did the background work: finishing her coaching certification, building an initial website, meeting with other coaches in the market. They used the gap to align.
“Alia tells this story as: I said, ‘We could do it.’ She said, ‘Could we?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, of course we could.’”
That casual exchange became the foundation of a real business.
The Survival Threshold: Financial Alignment Before the First Client
Many coaches make the jump to independent work without a clear financial plan. Fiona and Alia took the opposite approach. Before signing a single client, they each independently answered the question: What’s the minimum we need to make for this to be viable?
They both came to the exact same number.
“Not big,” Fiona said, “but it covers living expenses and we’re not eating into savings. We can afford to do that for years.”
That alignment removed the pressure to hustle. It meant they could say no to work that didn’t fit, focus on high-integrity client relationships, and give themselves a real runway. They also addressed the harder questions upfront: What happens if one of us gets a great full-time offer? What if one of us needs more money? What if someone dies?
They wrote it all down in an operating agreement, and they revisit it every quarter. Still.
Corporate Coach vs. Independent Coach: The Real Differences
| Factor | Corporate (Internal) Coach | Independent Coach |
|---|---|---|
| Income stability | Steady paycheck, benefits | Variable, client-dependent |
| Client access | Built-in through the org | Must be generated through networking |
| Autonomy | Constrained by leadership changes | Full control over who you work with |
| Financial ceiling | Capped by salary band | Uncapped, but requires business building |
| Accountability | Manager and org structure | Self-imposed (or partnership) |
| Imposter syndrome risk | Shielded by brand name | Fully exposed, you are the product |
| Scale path | Grow within the org chart | Courses, cohorts, group facilitation |
This table captures the trade-off Fiona navigated. The Spotify brand gave her credibility and access for seven years. Going independent meant giving that up and betting that her actual skills would carry the weight. They did.
The “System of 4” Networking Method
Networking is the most dreaded part of business development for most coaches. Fiona’s approach strips out the dread by making it a system.
Her rule is simple: 4 meaningful interactions every two weeks.
Not cold DMs. Not “hustle culture.” Just reaching out to 4 people in your network with no immediate ask. A check-in. A genuine question. A referral request that isn’t desperate.
They tried doing 20 interactions a week early on. It was miserable and didn’t convert. They tried cold outreach. Nothing. So they scaled back to what was sustainable and actually worked.
“We can directly say, ‘Oh, the leads are down.’ And then we can directly say, ‘That’s because we weren’t holding each other accountable for doing the networking reach out,’” Fiona explained. The correlation between consistent outreach and pipeline health became undeniable within three quarters.
By making it a repeatable habit, Fiona and Alia experienced consistent growth without a massive marketing budget or a perfect website.
Sustainable Growth and Momentum
The transition from corporate life to independent practice often feels like starting from zero, but Fiona and Alia found that their growth followed a predictable, compounding path.
Their first year was defined by lean operations and pre-paid commitments for future leadership series. By their second year, they were seeing the kind of momentum that typically takes small businesses much longer to achieve—doubling their impact and visibility across the tech ecosystem.
This growth wasn’t driven by a marketing machine. It came from the compounding effect of a loyal network, strong client outcomes, and the built-in referral engine of a two-person partnership.
The “Are We Having Fun?” Operating Model
Most coaching businesses optimize for revenue. Frank and Eddy optimizes for three questions:
- Are we having fun?
- Are we delivering what we want to?
- Do we want to work with each other?
“We didn’t want to get any of those things out of balance,” Fiona said. “The money was always secondary.”
This isn’t idealism. It’s a management system. When they got too busy last fall, they stopped having fun. The fix wasn’t to push harder. It was to slow down, rebalance, and talk about it. They built in a three-day weekend every other week. They close fully over the holidays. They treat the operating agreement like a living document, not a filing cabinet artifact.
Why the Best Coaches Want to Be Redundant
In our conversation, Fiona made a statement that stopped me cold: “The coach’s job is to be not needed anymore.”
She told the story of a client she coached for two years. When they started, the client was a senior engineering manager riddled with imposter syndrome. By the end, they’d been promoted to director of engineering. But the real win wasn’t the promotion.
“If they had left early on, it would’ve been because they’re not good enough. But actually, they were leaving like, ‘I’ve done everything I can here. I’ve left a lot of legacy. I’ve learned a lot. And I don’t have to do this anymore.’”
That’s the difference between a coach who creates dependency and a coach who builds legacy. Fiona builds legacy.
Practical Takeaways for Coaches Starting Out
Fiona’s final advice was direct: “It’s probably not gonna look like what you think it will at the beginning. Be brave enough to just start, because those things will come over time.”
The practical playbook from her journey:
- Align on finances before you start. Whether solo or in a partnership, know your minimum viable income.
- Build a system for networking, not a feeling. Four interactions every two weeks beats 20 panicked cold DMs.
- Track leads, even if you don’t set targets. The act of tracking creates accountability.
- Revisit your operating agreement quarterly. What was true six months ago might not be true now.
- Don’t wait for the perfect website. The value is in the exercise of articulating what you do, not the site itself.
- Accept that coaching is selling yourself. The sooner you make peace with that, the sooner imposter syndrome loses its grip.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the “Spotify model” influence independent coaching?
The Spotify model focuses on autonomy and alignment. Independent coaches can apply this by building self-sustaining leadership frameworks within their client organizations, ensuring that the company’s culture can scale without permanent external intervention. Fiona brought this exact philosophy to Frank and Eddy: build the thing, then make yourself unnecessary.
What is the advantage of a coaching partnership over solo practice?
A partnership provides immediate brainstorming, network overlap, and a built-in accountability partner. For Fiona, the partnership acts as a business accelerator. When a potential client doesn’t click with one partner, there’s an immediate warm referral to the other. The combined network is also larger, which directly feeds the word-of-mouth engine that drives their growth.
Does a new coaching business need a website to succeed?
No. As we discussed in the episode, the activity of building the site is often more valuable than the site itself because it forces you to articulate your value. Fiona recalled her early days of worrying that they “didn’t look real,” but the reality is that finding the right people to talk to is the only thing that moves the needle in the early stages. The “perfect” website is often a delay tactic; a clear operating agreement and a consistent networking system are far more valuable for early-stage growth.
Listen to the full conversation with Fiona Siseman on Episode 25 of Coach as Entrepreneur.
Connect with Fiona:
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/fionasiseman
- Website: frankandeddy.com
The Next Step
If you’re in the early stages of building your coaching practice, the first question isn’t “how do I improve my coaching?” It’s “do I have a system?”
Take the Growth Gap Diagnostic. A 2-minute quiz that shows you exactly where your business has structural gaps. You’ll get a personalized profile, a score breakdown of your referral engine vs. digital infrastructure, and a clear picture of what to fix first.