Independent advisor to founders and CEOs
Independent advisor to founders and CEOs
Bigger. More profitable.
Less dependent on you.
Bigger. More profitable.
Less dependent on you.
I’ve built and run companies. Now I work with founders who want more from theirs.
I’ve built and run companies. Now I work with founders who want more from theirs.
Previously
Previously
When founders call me
When founders call me
Which of these is costing you the most?
Which of these is costing you the most?
01
The numbers stopped working.
Revenue has stalled, or it grows and the profit doesn’t follow. Either way, it comes down to the same decisions: what to kill, what to keep, where to double down, and what to charge.
01
The numbers stopped working.
Revenue has stalled, or it grows and the profit doesn’t follow. Either way, it comes down to the same decisions: what to kill, what to keep, where to double down, and what to charge.
02
Everything runs through you.
Every decision waits for you. Your leaders defer, or were never hired. Do you need a real second-in-command, or a better one? What should your team own, and what do you need to stop doing?
02
Everything runs through you.
Every decision waits for you. Your leaders defer, or were never hired. Do you need a real second-in-command, or a better one? What should your team own, and what do you need to stop doing?
03
A sale, a raise, a change of course.
Decisions that are hard to reverse: sell or stay independent, take the money or not, merge, close a business line. And everyone at the table wants a different outcome.
03
A sale, a raise, a change of course.
Decisions that are hard to reverse: sell or stay independent, take the money or not, merge, close a business line. And everyone at the table wants a different outcome.
04
You’ve outgrown the job, or it has outgrown you.
Your days go to work someone else should do, or to a role you no longer want. Do you reshape the role, bring in a CEO, or move on? And what do you want next?
04
You’ve outgrown the job, or it has outgrown you.
Your days go to work someone else should do, or to a role you no longer want. Do you reshape the role, bring in a CEO, or move on? And what do you want next?
Why me
Why me
Close enough to know the business.
Far enough from its politics.
Close enough to know the business.
Far enough from its politics.
Everyone in your circle sees your company from their own seat.
Everyone in your circle sees your company from their own seat.
Elsewhere
Your leadership team: they report to you
Investors: a portfolio view
Advisory board: quarterly, high-level
Peer groups: busy with their own companies
Friends & family: they know you, not the business
AI: fast, but easily swayed
Elsewhere
Your leadership team: they report to you
Investors: a portfolio view
Advisory board: quarterly, high-level
Peer groups: busy with their own companies
Friends & family: they know you, not the business
AI: fast, but easily swayed
With me
Free to disagree with you
Your company, judged on its own merits
Weeks of depth on one decision
Advising founders is all I do
Full context, under NDA
Advice I stand behind
With me
Free to disagree with you
Your company, judged on its own merits
Weeks of depth on one decision
Advising founders is all I do
Full context, under NDA
Advice I stand behind
How it works
How it works
One decision at a time.
One decision at a time.
We start with the decision that’s holding the rest back, and work forward from there.
We start with the decision that’s holding the rest back, and work forward from there.
01
The conversation
It begins with one question: what decision is on your mind? Within an hour you’ll know whether I can help. If I can’t, I’ll say so, and usually who can.
01
The conversation
It begins with one question: what decision is on your mind? Within an hour you’ll know whether I can help. If I can’t, I’ll say so, and usually who can.
02
The Decision Sprint
Three to four weeks on a single decision. I work through your numbers, speak with the people who matter to it, and give you a clear recommendation. You leave with the decision made or deliberately rejected, the reasoning written down, and next steps and specialists named. Fixed scope, fixed fee.
02
The Decision Sprint
Three to four weeks on a single decision. I work through your numbers, speak with the people who matter to it, and give you a clear recommendation. You leave with the decision made or deliberately rejected, the reasoning written down, and next steps and specialists named. Fixed scope, fixed fee.
03
Ongoing advisory
For founders who want me close after the Sprint. Two working sessions a month, access in between when something can’t wait, and a shared log of every decision we’ve made.
03
Ongoing advisory
For founders who want me close after the Sprint. Two working sessions a month, access in between when something can’t wait, and a shared log of every decision we’ve made.
“Falko tells you what he actually thinks, backs it with the numbers, and then makes it happen. Together, we more than tripled the company without a cent of outside money.”
Natascha Wegelin
Founder & CEO, Madame Moneypenny
“Falko tells you what he actually thinks, backs it with the numbers, and then makes it happen. Together, we more than tripled the company without a cent of outside money.”
Natascha Wegelin
Founder & CEO, Madame Moneypenny
About
About
Founder twice.
Co-CEO three times.
Founder twice.
Co-CEO three times.
I co-founded two companies and co-led both, one of them venture-backed. Both failed, in different ways, and most of what I know about risk I learned there.
I’ve also worked inside companies at scale. I built Fiverr’s first office in Germany and ran its DACH and UK markets through the IPO. At TIDAL, I ran the German market through the acquisition by Block and helped integrate the two.
Most recently, as Co-CEO beside the founder of Madame Moneypenny, I scaled a bootstrapped company from $3M to $10M in revenue in two years, with $6.5M in operating profit at margins above 40%, without a cent of outside capital.
From two people to 12,000, I’ve seen companies from the inside, always from a management seat. Now I bring that to founders and CEOs facing the decisions that shape what their company becomes.
Author of The Creator CEO · MiM, IE Business School · BA, Universität der Künste Berlin
I co-founded two companies and co-led both, one of them venture-backed. Both failed, in different ways, and most of what I know about risk I learned there.
I’ve also worked inside companies at scale. I built Fiverr’s first office in Germany and ran its DACH and UK markets through the IPO. At TIDAL, I ran the German market through the acquisition by Block and helped integrate the two.
Most recently, as Co-CEO beside the founder of Madame Moneypenny, I scaled a bootstrapped company from $3M to $10M in revenue in two years, with $6.5M in operating profit at margins above 40%, without a cent of outside capital.
From two people to 12,000, I’ve seen companies from the inside, always from a management seat. Now I bring that to founders and CEOs facing the decisions that shape what their company becomes.
Author of The Creator CEO · MiM, IE Business School · BA, Universität der Künste Berlin
The Book
The Book
Founder-led, taken to the extreme.
Founder-led, taken to the extreme.
The Creator CEO — How to Turn Your Personal Brand Into a Billion-Dollar Enterprise
My first book is about creator-led companies, where the founder’s name carries the brand, the marketing and the trust. They’re the sharpest test of a question every founder faces: how a business grows past the person who started it. For founders outside the creator world, it’s also a case for putting your own name to work.
The Creator CEO — How to Turn Your Personal Brand Into a Billion-Dollar Enterprise
My first book is about creator-led companies, where the founder’s name carries the brand, the marketing and the trust. They’re the sharpest test of a question every founder faces: how a business grows past the person who started it. For founders outside the creator world, it’s also a case for putting your own name to work.
FAQ
FAQ
Before you get in touch.
Before you get in touch.
Who do you work with?
Founders and CEOs whose companies have grown too big to run on instinct, usually somewhere between 15 and 150 people. Some are bootstrapped, some venture-backed. Most still run the company they built; some have handed over the CEO role and are deciding what comes next.
We’re a founding team. Do you work with all of us?
Yes. How we set it up depends on the decision: sometimes I work mainly with one of you, sometimes with all of you together. Some of the hardest decisions sit between co-founders: roles, ownership, who leads, whether someone leaves. That’s where someone independent of all of you is most useful. I’ve co-led three companies myself, so I know how those conversations go from the inside.
How is this different from consulting or coaching?
You hire me to help you make a specific decision. I work directly with you, examine the numbers, speak with the people involved, and give you a recommendation with the reasoning behind it. A coach can help you develop your own judgment. A consulting team can bring specialist expertise and delivery capacity. My role is to bring experienced, independent judgment to the choice itself. Where that choice needs fundraising, M&A, legal or tax expertise, I bring in specialists I trust and stay with you on the decision.
How can an outsider understand my business well enough?
That’s what the Sprint is for. I go through your numbers, the documents that matter, and talk to the people involved, so I understand the whole company before I recommend anything. Most founders come with several open questions. Part of the work is finding the one that holds the others back, and that one gets the full depth. Everything is under NDA.
Do you work for me or my company?
Both, through you. In a founder-led company the two are hard to separate: most decisions that matter run through the people who built it. So I work directly with you, on what’s right for the company and for you. Where those pull apart, on your own role for instance, I’ll tell you plainly. I take no referral fees from the specialists I bring in, and my fee is the same whichever way you decide. That’s why your investors and the rest of your team can trust the outcome too.
I’m an investor. Can I bring you in for a portfolio company?
Yes, with the founder’s agreement. Founder-led companies tend to lose momentum in the same places: hiring and team management, prioritization and focus. I help founders make the right calls there, early and on facts. Your perspective is welcome context, and my recommendation stays independent, which is why founders act on it. What I share with you is the founder’s call.
What does it cost?
Decision Sprints start at $10,000, fixed and agreed before we begin. Ongoing advisory is a monthly retainer. We’ll scope both in the first conversation.
What happens after the Sprint?
You leave with the decision made and the next steps named, so you can take it from there. If you want me to stay close, I continue as your advisor. What that looks like depends on what the Sprint found, so we shape it together at the end. Either way, the Sprint stands on its own.
Who do you work with?
Founders and CEOs whose companies have grown too big to run on instinct, usually somewhere between 15 and 150 people. Some are bootstrapped, some venture-backed. Most still run the company they built; some have handed over the CEO role and are deciding what comes next.
We’re a founding team. Do you work with all of us?
Yes. How we set it up depends on the decision: sometimes I work mainly with one of you, sometimes with all of you together. Some of the hardest decisions sit between co-founders: roles, ownership, who leads, whether someone leaves. That’s where someone independent of all of you is most useful. I’ve co-led three companies myself, so I know how those conversations go from the inside.
How is this different from consulting or coaching?
You hire me to help you make a specific decision. I work directly with you, examine the numbers, speak with the people involved, and give you a recommendation with the reasoning behind it. A coach can help you develop your own judgment. A consulting team can bring specialist expertise and delivery capacity. My role is to bring experienced, independent judgment to the choice itself. Where that choice needs fundraising, M&A, legal or tax expertise, I bring in specialists I trust and stay with you on the decision.
How can an outsider understand my business well enough?
That’s what the Sprint is for. I go through your numbers, the documents that matter, and talk to the people involved, so I understand the whole company before I recommend anything. Most founders come with several open questions. Part of the work is finding the one that holds the others back, and that one gets the full depth. Everything is under NDA.
Do you work for me or my company?
Both, through you. In a founder-led company the two are hard to separate: most decisions that matter run through the people who built it. So I work directly with you, on what’s right for the company and for you. Where those pull apart, on your own role for instance, I’ll tell you plainly. I take no referral fees from the specialists I bring in, and my fee is the same whichever way you decide. That’s why your investors and the rest of your team can trust the outcome too.
I’m an investor. Can I bring you in for a portfolio company?
Yes, with the founder’s agreement. Founder-led companies tend to lose momentum in the same places: hiring and team management, prioritization and focus. I help founders make the right calls there, early and on facts. Your perspective is welcome context, and my recommendation stays independent, which is why founders act on it. What I share with you is the founder’s call.
What does it cost?
Decision Sprints start at $10,000, fixed and agreed before we begin. Ongoing advisory is a monthly retainer. We’ll scope both in the first conversation.
What happens after the Sprint?
You leave with the decision made and the next steps named, so you can take it from there. If you want me to stay close, I continue as your advisor. What that looks like depends on what the Sprint found, so we shape it together at the end. Either way, the Sprint stands on its own.
Get in touch
What’s the decision on your mind?
Tell me in a few sentences. I read every message myself and reply within two business days.
Get in touch
What’s the decision on your mind?
Tell me in a few sentences. I read every message myself and reply within two business days.
Get in touch
What’s the decision on your mind?
Tell me in a few sentences. I read every message myself and reply within two business days.