Alternative · Executive Coaching

An alternative to an executive coach
for the calls between hours

A senior executive coach is a relationship measured in quarters. Between hours, the alternative to an executive coach is a board measured in minutes — for calls too small for the coaching hour and too large for your inbox.

Start free See how it works

In short

No. An executive coach builds a multi-quarter relationship, holds you to commitments, reads patterns you cannot see in yourself and watches you grow. SynthBoard cannot. It is the room you use between coaching hours.

Last reviewed October 1, 2026

An example

One ask, start to finish.
What comes back is a memo.

How a board takes a call like this: her read, who sits, what they ask first, then the call — with how sure they are, who disagreed and the first step.

Executive Coaching

Example · Board of 3

Should I promote my VP of Sales into the COO role or hire externally?

Chief of staff

This one needs a board: The CEO, The Empath and The Strategist. The CEO holds the through-line on company strategy and stakeholder trade-offs. Each researches alone first, then they react to one another — and on a decision, two of them take opposed sides.

The CEOChief Executive Officer
The EmpathPeople Advocate
The StrategistCompetitive Expert

Asked first

If you could do only one thing this quarter, is this it?

YesOne of twoProbably not

The board’s call

Hire externally for COO. Promote your VP of Sales to a new "Chief Revenue & Customer Officer" role that recognises their contribution without overstretching them into ops they have not run.

The internal promotion would lose your best revenue leader to a job they will not love. External COO buys complementary skill rather than duplicating your own.

Confidence76 · High

The Strategist disagreed

“External COO hires fail 40% of the time in years 1-2; tighten the on-ramp”

First step Test what The Strategist flagged before you commit.this week

Board of 3 · up to 135 credits on the card · an example, not a recorded run

Other asks people bring here

Several asks in one message become several rooms, each with its expert and its own price on the card. Keep or drop any, then convene them together.

How do I have the performance conversation with my co-founder without burning the relationship? — The Empath, up to 85 credits
What is the steel-man case against the restructuring I am about to announce? — The Strategist, up to 85 credits
Am I avoiding the conversation about my own succession? — The Skeptic, up to 85 credits

What you get

What she handles.
On this kind of call.

A C-suite board, proposed for you

The CEO, The CFO, The Strategist, The Empath and The Skeptic — the room your coach would assemble if they could borrow the executives you wish you knew.

A stress-test before the meeting

Walk into the board meeting, the difficult one-on-one or the investor update with the argument already tested by opposed experts.

The counter-case on calls you cannot un-make

The promotion, the firing, the reorganisation. Every board includes someone whose job is to argue against the obvious answer.

Why SynthBoard

Why SynthBoard for this.
Not one voice. A board.

There between hours

Coaches meet monthly or quarterly. Your Chief of Staff is there for the question that arrives in between, and talking to her costs nothing.

Several C-suite lenses at once

Your coach holds your perspective. A board seats the CEO, CFO, strategist, skeptic and investor lenses side by side, spread across different AI models.

Priced per call, not per hour

A board shows its price on the card before it runs — up to 135 credits for a 3-seat board on Free — and a board never bills above its card. Senior executive coaches charge $500–$2,000 an hour.

The board’s call

Hire externally for COO. Promote your VP of Sales to a new "Chief Revenue & Customer Officer" role that…

Confidence76 · High

What would flip it

Your VP of Sales needs to be told first, not last — sequencing matters.

The Strategist disagreed

External COO hires fail 40% of the time in years 1-2; tighten the on-ramp.

First step Test what The Strategist flagged before you commit.this week

Who sits

The experts for this call.
Each one holds a position.

Your Chief of Staff proposes who sits for the call, and every board is built with someone whose job is to argue against the obvious answer. Name an expert and they take a seat; tell her who you want on your board and they sit by default. How many seats a board has depends on your plan.

Chief Executive Officer

The CEO

Everything on this list is important. That’s the problem. Pick one, and say no to the rest.

The CEO Chief Executive Officer

Best on: Trade-offs between teams, priorities, and what to stop doing.
Won’t let you: Keep every option open until none of them is real.

Try asking The CEO

Start with

The CEOOpen on every plan, Free included

Pick an expert

Hover, tap or tab throughSwipe, then tap one

GPT
Claude
Gemini
Grok

Seats are spread across model families: GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and more.

In their words

Your coach is the one person allowed to interrupt your story. A board is where you check the story first.

The CEO Chief Executive OfficerThe CEO on the complementary role

Questions

Fair questions.
Straight answers.

What people ask before they bring this call to a board.

Does SynthBoard replace an executive coach?

When should I use SynthBoard instead of my exec coach?

When the question is tactical and time-sensitive, when you need opposed input rather than reflective questioning, or when the call does not warrant a coaching hour. Keep the coach for the patterns underneath.

When is an executive coach still the right call?

When the work is on you, not on the decision. When you are in a leadership identity shift and need to be witnessed. When the pattern is years old and only a human relationship can name it. Coaching and SynthBoard are different instruments.

How does the price compare?

SynthBoard prices each call on its card; a coach bills by the hour or the month. Free to start — 150 credits every month + 250 to start. Talking to your Chief of Staff costs nothing. A board shows its price on the card before it runs — up to 135 credits for a 3-seat board on Free — and a board never bills above its card. Paid plans are $20, $50 or $99 a month (1 credit = $0.01 USD). Senior executive coaches charge $500–$2,000 an hour, with retainers commonly $5k–$25k a month.

What does SynthBoard NOT do that an exec coach does?

It keeps what you tell it on file, but it does not watch you lead, hold you accountable outside the room, read who you are becoming or witness you emotionally. SynthBoard is a structured thinking room, not a developmental relationship.

Can I bring a SynthBoard memo into my next coaching hour?

Yes. Bring the call, its confidence, who disagreed and why, and your reaction to it. The hour becomes a conversation about the patterns underneath the decision, not a walk-through of the surface analysis.

SynthBoard (synthboard.ai) is one place for your business, your life, and every hard call. Your Chief of Staff keeps what you tell her on file, and 24 named experts on different AI models take the calls — one expert for a consult, a board with opposed seats for the hard ones — and hand back a memo with the call, the dissent and the first move. How it works.