# I Left Finance to Build a Coaching Marketplace - Here's What I Learned in Year One

*Published 22 April 2026*

I'll be honest with you: I had no idea how to build a software platform when I started GoalMate. I still work in Replit. I learned React by breaking things repeatedly until they stopped breaking.
      What I did have was a clear problem I wanted to solve - and a decision, made once, that I wasn't going back to finance.
      Where the idea came from
      My brother spent four years as a personal trainer. He was brilliant at the actual job. But I watched him spend nearly as much time on admin - scheduling, chasing payments, managing no-shows - as he did coaching. It seemed insane that there was no platform built specifically for coaches that handled all of that.
      So I built one.
      What year one actually looked like
      Less glamorous than the LinkedIn version. A lot of Replit error messages at 11pm. A lot of cold outreach to coaches who'd never heard of us. Learning what "SEIS Advance Assurance" means. Getting our first booking and genuinely not believing it was real.
      But also: 55+ verified coaches. 7 sports. Personal trainers across the North West, golf coaches from Manchester to Cheshire, football, tennis, yoga, pilates and cricket. Early conversations with the PGA. And a platform that actually works.
      What I know now that I didn't then
      The product is never the hardest part. Getting people to trust something new - that's the job. Every feature I've built has been in service of one goal: making it easier for a customer to say yes to their first booking.
      We're just getting started. Come join us.

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