You're receiving this because we've had a real conversation.
Thirteen years. Two acquisitions. A lot of scar tissue.
Most of what I’ve share’d so far is what NOT to do.
This week, something different. Here are the five things we actually got right at CoachNow plus a deeper insight into what I’m building now and why you’re here.
What Worked at CoachNow
🎯 Being User #1 — I built CoachNow for my own pain as a coach. I didn’t have to outsource product and industry expertise which allowed us to make the right call more often than not.
🔗 Starting with customers who have impact — We went after coaches, not golfers. One coach = access to hundreds of users. That network effect changed everything.
🏠 Building remote-first — A fully remote, four-day workweek, before it was a thing. Happy, rested people build better products and stay longer.
💰 Turning on the money button — We charged from day one. Then VC money made us stop. We hit a wall, rebuilt our payment flows in 48 hours, and emails poured in thanking us for charging.
🤝 Support as the retention strategy — Our blended retention hovered around 90% year after year. It started and stayed with human support. The kind where coaches felt like we were in the trenches with them.
2025 in a Nutshell
After leaving CoachNow about a year ago, I genuinely had no idea what I was going to do next.
My only plan was taking 3-6 months off, but before I could even put my feet up, a few founders reached out asking for help.
I was hesitant to say yes since I knew a rest window like this likely wouldn’t come around for years, but the coach in me couldn’t resist helping where I could.
Over the next 6 months, I worked with teams in what I call the athlete-performance space. Some were in golf, some were multi-sport, and some focused on fitness/endurance.
Because of this, I started leaning into the wide world of sports tech, but quickly realized I couldn’t keep up with every innovation across all sports and deliver the value I wanted.
So, late in 2025, I decided to narrow my focus, not just to golf but to the performance side of things I cared and knew most about.
This decision crystalized 2 business units.
scale.golf: the growth engine I would have killed for back in the day
GOLFHACKZ: a D2C game-improvement brand that also acts as a distribution hack for our partners
scale.golf
What it is today
1:1 Coaching with Performance Brands (aka startups)
If you’re interested, shoot me a note
This Newsletter
Connecting on social is only getting harder, this is my direct line
A 90-Day Remote Coaching Accelerator
Co-led with Andrew Banner (coaching monetization guru)
Golf coaches are seeing a substantial return within their first 2 weeks
If you’re a coach and want to learn more, let us know
Advisory and implementation for Performance Brands from growth experts in my network
Need help with growth operations? We've got you.
What's next
A Go-to-Market Accelerator Program (GTM)
The majority of brands I work with, regardless of stage, are struggling with acquiring and keeping new customers
Weekly AMAs or Open Office
A direct, live connection to me and your peers each week
Member-only podcast
Interviews and insights that can't be shared on social
A community, but not just for community's sake
I don't want you to have another login or distraction point — this one is going to take a bit of time to dial in
An opportunity board
For those looking and hiring
Access to capital intros
This will include specific frameworks, but most importantly, I want to connect founders with investors who are strategic and can make quick decisions
A membership and a whole lot more
Your needs and feedback will help us dial this in faster
While I can't share too much about the companies I work with individually, I'm excited to document the growth and insider information of GOLFHACKZ with you all.
This will not only serve as a potential distribution point for coaches and brands but also as a case study where I can test things in real time and report back.
To date, it's been a fun little side account, but together with Andrew Banner and some other teammates, we'll be turning this into a performance brand as well.
More soon 👊
Where we go is up to you
We're building this in real time. The content strategy, the structure, the programs we prioritize, all of it moves based on your feedback. So don't hold back.
Help us prioritize what's next
Keep fighting the good fight. See ya next week 👊
-Spencer
P.S. A word of caution. I've seen more than a few people overstate their role in the Edufii/CoachNow story, as well as their involvement with companies they've had little to do with. It's more common than you'd think. I won't name names, but if someone's credentials don't add up, trust your gut.