Can AI Be Your Mentor? Practica Thinks So
Practica, a promising startup, believes that artificial intelligence can serve as an effective mentor. Evolving from a traditional marketplace for executive coaching, the company has now launched an innovative AI system that leverages years of knowledge accumulated from working with a diverse group of human coaches. This AI-powered chatbot provides a tailored mentoring experience, helping professionals enhance their skills across various topics, including management, strategy, sales, personal development, growth, customer success, marketing, data analysis, design, finance, and more.
Originally co-founded in January 2020 by Dave Whittemore, the former head of Product at Thinkful, and Andy Scheff, a former engineering manager at Dropbox, Practica initially focused on facilitating continuous upskilling throughout careers through a classic executive coaching model.
Whittemore shares, “Andy and I fully immersed ourselves in executive coaching. I coached product managers, while Andy worked with engineers.” By the end of 2020, Practica expanded to feature a marketplace for additional executive coaches and now boasts a network of 250 specialized human coaches. Notably, 90% of Practica’s business is B2B, offering services directly to employers, and the company is currently profitable.
Despite this success, the founders recognized that high pricing limited access to their coaching services. Whittemore explains, “The average coaching rate was around $200 per hour, influenced by the coach’s expertise and the coachee's seniority level. Over a year, clients could spend about $3,000, which created a significant barrier. This realization prompted our shift towards AI coaching."
The goal was to combine insights gained from personal coaching with advanced AI technology. Through their experience, they identified key elements of successful coaching relationships, allowing them to build effective constructs atop a large language model (LLM). Their extensive knowledge base is made up of meticulously curated content, including blog posts, conference talks, videos, podcasts, books, and more, categorized into hundreds of skills spanning various topics.
While many websites block AI crawlers to protect their content, Practica offers a unique approach. Instead of merely providing answers, it directs users to the original sources, driving traffic back to creators. However, the company has yet to formalize licensing agreements for its educational resources, which can range from insightful blog posts to personal anecdotes shared by industry professionals.
Practica aims to remain vendor-neutral, focusing on the application layer rather than competing directly with companies like OpenAI or Google. To tailor its coaching, Practica employs a method known as Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), which identifies the best learning resources for each learner's unique situation. The AI coach explains the content it retrieves and its relevance, much like a human coach, and encourages users to explore these materials as additional learning tasks.
Essentially, Practica’s AI serves as a curated search engine for coaching resources, prioritizing coaching over data training in machine learning. The AI combines various coaching strategies, including personalized instruction, context-driven questioning, addressing current challenges, mapping progress toward career goals, and celebrating achievements. The AI organizes this curated content in an accessible format, complete with notes for future reference.
Unlike generalized AI chatbots, Practica’s system tracks the learner's progress over time, allowing for continuous development, as Whittemore highlights, “We intentionally retain knowledge about your journey, so we can deliver tailored coaching just like a human coach would.”
Currently in private testing since July, Practica is now offering access to individual learners for a subscription fee of $10 to $20 per month. A team-oriented version for organizations is also being tested. By introducing these lower prices, Practica aims to democratize access to executive coaching.
Whittemore expresses optimism about expanding executive coaching accessibility: “We hope to introduce more individuals to AI coaching, showcasing the effectiveness of executive coaching, ultimately leading them to upgrade to our premium human services.”
Having raised $1.5 million over two funding rounds in 2021 and 2022—led by Script Capital with contributions from over 40 angel investors—Practica is poised for growth as it reshapes the future of executive coaching with AI.
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