Bravely

Bravely: On-Demand Workplace Coaching for Every Employee

Bravely is an on-demand professional coaching platform that gives employees at every level, not just executives or high-potentials, access to unlimited coaching for a flat annual company fee. The company was founded in 2017 in New York City by Sarah Sheehan and Toby Hervey, who built the company after their own experiences feeling unsupported in earlier workplace roles (Startup Intros; AlleyWatch, 2021). Sheehan has since been promoted to CEO and Founder. Bravely raised $1.5 million in initial funding in 2017, followed by a $15 million Series A round in August 2021 led by Telescope Partners, bringing total funding to roughly $18 million (Tracxn, 2026).

What Bravely does

Bravely connects employees to a network of professional coaches for one-on-one sessions covering workplace challenges, goal setting, conflict resolution, burnout prevention, and career development, delivered through a subscription model that gives every employee at a client company unlimited access rather than reserving coaching for senior leaders (AlleyWatch, 2021). The company specifically emphasizes support tailored to diverse employee demographics, including managerial training and support programs for women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ employees (Startup Intros, 2026). Bravely has also partnered with organizations like The Wing to extend coaching support to recently separated employees as part of alternative outplacement offerings.

Where it fits

Bravely serves employees at companies including Zillow, Pinterest, Autodesk, Yelp, Harry's, and Better Mortgage (LeadIQ; AlleyWatch, 2026). It's a fit for HR and people leaders who want to make professional coaching a broadly available benefit rather than an executive perk, particularly organizations focused on closing coaching-access gaps for employees who are traditionally underserved by leadership development programs.

Why this matters for people leaders

Coaching has historically been reserved for senior executives and identified high-potential employees, which means most of the workforce never gets structured, professional support for navigating workplace challenges or planning their own growth. Bravely's founding bet is that widening access to coaching, rather than concentrating it further up the org chart, changes engagement and retention outcomes for the much larger group of employees who never got that support before. For organizations focused on Culture, Performance, and Retention, that's a meaningful reframe: retention gaps often show up hardest among employees without access to development resources, not the ones already getting the most attention.

Learn more