About Sounding Board
Sounding Board is a Technology company based in San Francisco (United States) founded in 2016 by Lori Mazan and Christine Tao, and was acquired by BTS in March 2025. Employee leadership skills are developed through virtual coaching matches. Sounding Board has raised $47.19 million across 6 funding rounds from investors including Canaan, BTS and JAZZ Venture Partners. Its chief executive, as recorded, is Christine Tao. Its website soundingboardinc.com draws about 13 thousand monthly visits. Sounding Board offers products and services including 1:1 Coaching, Group Coaching, Mentoring Module, On-Demand Coaching, and Dynamic Leader Development Suite. Its focus areas include Enterprise Applications, HRTech, LMS and Leadership Training. Its legal entity is Sounding Board Labs, Inc. Its competitors include ExecOnline, CorpU and Rising Team; 3 of its 3 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
Founded in 2016 in San Francisco, United States, Sounding Board functions as a platform in the employee training sector. Skills, feedback, and goals of employees are assessed by algorithms that pair them with virtual coaches and development resources. Customized leadership programs are created by employers and distributed to staff. Operations focus on scalable coaching solutions for organizations, with clients spanning tech and nonprofit fields.
Products & Services of Sounding Board
Sounding Board offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including 1:1 Coaching, Group Coaching, Mentoring Module, On-Demand Coaching, and Dynamic Leader Development Suite.
Personalized coaching to build individual leader skills and capabilities.
Facilitates collaborative learning for teams to improve interactions.
Software-based mentoring for insight and career support in organizations.
Provides immediate coaching access through digital platforms for leaders.
Integrated software for managing and scaling leadership programs effectively.
Apps and channels of Sounding Board
its YouTube channel Sounding Board has 230 subscribers and 30 videos.
Videos from Sounding Board
The most watched videos on Sounding Board's YouTube channel, Sounding Board (230 subscribers). Click a video to play it here.
More on Sounding Board.
Funding Insights of Sounding Board
Sounding Board has successfully raised a total of $47.19M across 6 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Series B round of $30 million completed in December 2021. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $47.19M
- Total Rounds 6
- Last Round Series B — $30M
- First Round $650,000
(Sep 2017)
- Investors Count 16
All 6 funding rounds of Sounding Board with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2021 | $30M | Series B | – | JAZZ Venture Partners | |
| Dec 2020 | $13.19M | Series A | – | Canaan | |
| Mar 2020 | $1.85M | Series A | – | – | – |
| Jan 2019 | $500,000 | Seed | – | – | – |
| Sep 2018 | $1M | Seed | – | – | |
| Sep 2017 | $650,000 | Seed | – | – | – |
17 investors in total: 9 institutional and 8 angel.
Investors in Sounding Board
Sounding Board has secured backing from 17 investors, including venture fund, angel, and institutional investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Canaan, BTS and JAZZ Venture Partners.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tech & Life Science focused VC firm investing in the US | jazzvp.com | San Francisco, United States | ||
Venture capital investing with a focus on diversity and inclusion in the ecosystem. | gaingels.com | |||
Venture capital investments in pre-seed and seed stages, focusing on founders. | precursorvc.com | |||
Canaan is recognized as an early-stage venture capital firm. | 1987 | canaan.com | San Francisco, United States | |
Corporate backed venture capital firm focused on multiple sectors | bloombergbeta.com | San Francisco, United States | ||
Venture capital is invested in multiple sectors by Engage. | engage.vc | Atlanta, United States | ||
Venture capital firm focused on aerospace, biopharma, consumer, and multiple sectors | correlationvc.com | San Francisco, United States | ||
Correlation is engaged in supporting insurance entrepreneurs worldwide. | correlation.com | London, United Kingdom | ||
SS Sukhinder Singh Cassidy | Tech executive, angel investor, founder of Choose Possibility, ex-Google and StubHub. | unknown_82a8f4738e394f529 | ||
TA Tammy Aguillon | unknown_4ea7b5d33123402ca |
Investor details for Sounding Board
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
- Complete investor list
- Round participation
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Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
People of Sounding Board
13 people are tracked at Sounding Board (4 in leadership, 3 in board & advisors, 6 in team).
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Lori Mazan | Co-Founder, President & Chief Coaching Officer | Leadership |
Christine Tao | Co-Founder & CEO | Leadership |
Lauren Morley Hutto, CPCC, PCC (she/her) | Vice President, Leader Transformation | Leadership |
Dana Parker | Senior Customer Experience Partner | Leadership |
John Spinale | Director | Board & advisors |
Geoff Watson | Advisor | Board & advisors |
Brett Queener | Advisor | Board & advisors |
Jason Roberts | Leadership Coach | Team |
Evan Wildey | Senior Leader Development Specialist | Team |
Solu Nwanze | Executive & Leadership Coach | Team |
Laura Sciore | Leadership Coach | Team |
Suzanne Smith, CPCC | Leadership Coach | Team |
Brian Lawrence | Leadership Coach | Team |
Complete people profiles for Sounding Board
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
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Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Timeline of Sounding Board
4 dated milestones of Sounding Board across 9 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Sounding Board is founded.
- Funding First funding round of $650K.
- Funding Latest funding round, Series B, of $30.0M.
- Exit Acquired by BTS.
Competitors of Sounding Board
Sounding Board has 3 listed competitors in our database, 3 of them funded. They include ExecOnline, CorpU and Rising Team.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| execonline.com | 2012 | New York, United States | $86.6M | 220 | Online certified courses for professional development are delivered via partnerships. | |
| corpu.com | 1997 | Mechanicsburg, United States | $4.75M | 29 | An online platform is offered for professional collaboration and learning. | |
| risingteam.com | 2020 | Palo Alto, United States | $11M | Sports team management solutions are provided by Rising Team. |
Detailed competitors of Sounding Board
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
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Web traffic of Sounding Board
The website of Sounding Board (soundingboardinc.com) receives about 13.4K visits a month.
- Monthly visits13.4K
▼ 9.6% vs previous month
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Sounding Board. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
revenuerocket.com | revenuerocket.com | 100% | #6,329,463 | – |
Top companies in HR & Workforce Technology
3 companies that operate in the same segment as Sounding Board (HR & Workforce Technology) in United States, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anonymous employee reviews and job search platform are operated. | 2007 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 201.5 M | 1,695 | ||
Cloud-based LMS platform for IT industry | 2004 | Farmington, Utah, United States | USD 235.41 M | USD 4.95 M | 1,774 | |
Employee health benefits are facilitated via a cloud-based platform. | 2007 | Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States | USD 228.3 M |
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Related news about Sounding Board
Complete news archive for Sounding Board
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Frequently Asked Questions about Sounding Board
Sounding Board was founded in 2016 and raised its 1st funding round 1 year after it was founded.
Sounding Board is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. It is registered at San Francisco, California, United States.
Christine Tao is the CEO of Sounding Board, as recorded in our data. They have also founded this company.
Sounding Board is a funded company, having raised a total of $47.19M across 6 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Seed of $650K, raised on Sep 2017.
Founded in 2016 in San Francisco, United States, Sounding Board functions as a platform in the employee training sector. Skills, feedback, and goals of employees are assessed by algorithms that pair them with virtual coaches and development resources. Customized leadership programs are created by employers and distributed to staff. Operations focus on scalable coaching solutions for organizations, with clients spanning tech and nonprofit fields.
Sounding Board's top competitors include ExecOnline, CorpU and Rising Team.
Sounding Board offers 1:1 Coaching, Group Coaching, Mentoring Module, On-Demand Coaching, and Dynamic Leader Development Suite.
Sounding Board has 17 investors. Key investors include Canaan, BTS, JAZZ Venture Partners, Gaingels, and Sukhinder Singh Cassidy.
Sounding Board operates through Sounding Board Labs, Inc..
Yes. Sounding Board was acquired by BTS in March 2025.