Dear Jan, you have been advising start-ups in search of the perfect business model for over twenty years. Have you counted how many there have been? Do you keep statistics?

There were hundreds…. I don’t keep records.

I’m mainly interested in communication. How do your coachees approach this topic?

I often find that they communicate from the inside out. “My” founders usually come from an academic background. They rely on their own worldviews and mental concepts and try to convince others of them.

This strategy is rarely successful.

I’m sure you’ve also seen natural talents. What is their approach?

Founders who communicate well help their customers to innovate. They listen carefully and adapt their language to that of their customers in order to position their solution successfully. There is a great book about this: “Fall in Love with the Problem, not the Solution” by Uri Levine.

What was the worst communication you have seen?

Oh, there are several examples. Once someone told a customer that he was too stupid to understand the product.

I can also describe badly misguided communication in more general terms: The worst thing is if you’re not familiar with the industry and the customs. Good entrepreneurs do the opposite: they know their customers’ market very well and understand the problem they are trying to solve down to the last detail.

We’re always reading about how much easier it is to communicate now, thanks to AI. Do you see this happening with your coachees?

Not generally, although the explanation is very simple: even with AI, little is possible without expertise. AI only gives very good results if the prompt is of the right quality. I have built a special GPT for my coachees to create investor pitches – my area of expertise. I hope it makes their job easier.

Let’s talk about timing. When is communication important for a start-up?

With customers: from day 1. With investors, especially financial investors: as late as possible and only when the business case is really clear. This usually happens when a company makes money.

Why shouldn’t you talk to investors early on?

Because talking to investors is incredibly time-consuming and direct energy into the wrong channels. There are many more important things to do in the early days: finding customers (e.g. to build prototypes), building a network and knowledge – in other words, creating value. Money, if too much of it comes too early, is a ‘stupid’, often ineffective resource and is rarely used in a targeted way.

Are there any phrases you never want to hear from founders?

Conservative financial planning! This phrase regularly drives me mad. Startups can’t really plan, even if they would like to – the success of a startup depends on many factors that the startup can’t control. What’s more, when you enter the market with a new technology, you still have no idea. Instead of pseudo-precise financial planning, I would much rather learn from the founding team how the business model works, i.e. how the company is supposed to earn its money.

Doubts also arise when I hear: ‘We only want to capture 1 to 2 percent of the market. The first one per cent – and even more so the first thousandth – is the hardest!

Another evergreen: ‘There are no competitors’. There are two possible explanations for this statement: Either no one is interested in the product, or the market analysis has not been done properly. In fact, there are always competitors, the hardest being the status quo.

Great! So we have identified three dangerous pitfalls. Finally, let’s talk about success stories: How can you tell when communication in a startup is successful?

By the results. Communication is a tool for building bridges and achieving goals. Was the conversion successful?

A good indicator is the ‘acceptance rate’. How many requests for meetings follow the inquiries?