Founders and startups
I am building a business
From idea to commercial proposition, viable model, growth and investment readiness. Pre-seed to Series A.
Founder advisory →Founder-led advisory · Technology and innovation businesses · UK
Build a business that holds up to scrutiny.
Venture & Growth Advisory helps founders turn technology and ideas into commercially stronger, investment-ready and scalable businesses. The hard questions get asked early, the gaps get named, and you leave each session knowing what to do next.
Go-to-market plan · page 4First read
We will sell through channel partners1 to reach enterprise customers in year one2, with pricing confirmed after launch3.
1Which partner has agreed, in writing?
2Who sells it before a partner exists?
3Price is a hypothesis. Test it with five customers first.
Recommended on LinkedIn by founders and leaders at
Talos Technology·TUAL·Oxford RF·About:Energy·Generational Technologies
Shown with each author's permission. Read the recommendations →
Who we help
Two kinds of client, one standard of challenge.
Founders who want their plan tested before customers and investors test it, and the accelerators, universities and innovation programmes that support them. A small number of established businesses with a real strategic challenge, by conversation.
Accelerators, universities, innovation programmes
I support founders
Mentoring, investment-readiness and commercialisation sessions, startup assessment, workshops and programme design.
Programme support →Selected business advisory
I have a different challenge
A new service, a new revenue line, an expansion, a model that no longer works. Taken on selectively, where the work can make a real difference.
Selected advisory →The journey
Fundraising is one stage, not the whole journey.
Most commercial problems show up long before an investor sees them. The work starts wherever you are, around the question that stage is really asking.
- 1IdeaIs there a business here, and who pays?
- 2Commercial propositionWhat are you selling, to whom, at what price, and why now?
- 3Viable businessDoes the model work without heroics?
- 4GrowthWhich route to market, which partners, which priorities?
- 5Investment readinessWhat will investors find when they look closely?
- 6ScaleWhat has to be true to grow without breaking?
Core work
Four areas where sharper decisions pay for themselves.
01Investment readinessFind out what is investor-ready, what is missing and what to fix before spending months fundraising.↗02Commercialisation and growthTurn a promising product, service or idea into a clear route to market, stronger customer logic and practical growth priorities.↗03Founder strategyTest the business model, proposition and plan; find the few decisions that matter most; build a roadmap you can execute.↗04Programme deliveryHelp accelerators and innovation organisations assess, mentor and move founders towards clearer commercial and investment outcomes.↗
How we work
Challenge, clarity, then a decision.
01 Challenge
Assumptions get tested before the market tests them.Expect direct questions and straight answers. The aim is not to do your job for you. It is to find the gaps while they are still cheap to fix.
02 Clarity
Gaps, priorities and trade-offs in plain words.Written so the whole team, and later an investor, sees the same picture. No consulting language where a plain sentence will do.
03 Execution
Every session ends with decisions and next steps.Things you can act on this month, not a report for the drawer. The business stays yours; the judgement is shared.
For accelerators, universities and innovation programmes
Stronger founders come out of programmes that challenge them well.
We work alongside programme teams: one-to-one mentoring, investment-readiness and commercialisation sessions, startup assessments, workshops and programme design. Delivered by someone who has run accelerator and innovation programmes, assessed startups and supported founders through to investor conversations.
- 01Cohort sessions and workshopsBusiness model, commercialisation, go-to-market and investment readiness, built around the cohort's stage.
- 02One-to-one mentoring and office hoursFounder coaching with a commercial edge. Specific, direct and written up afterwards.
- 03Assessment and programme designStartup assessment for selection and progress, and the design of investment-readiness and commercialisation strands.
Founder recommendations
What founders say after working with Gokhan.
“He helped us turn a technology into a business: sharpening our business model and go-to-market, shaping our funding strategy, and supporting us through our seed round. More recently, he reviewed our Series A materials the way an investor would: direct, specific and in order of impact. Gokhan understands both sides of the table, founders and investors, and tells you what you need to hear rather than what you want to hear.”
“In our case, he gave the necessary “tough love” that helped us make a crucial pivot at the right time. His guidance has been invaluable in shaping our investment and commercialisation strategy, and his encouragement during harder funding periods helped us keep momentum.”
“Gokhan is an all-round champion when it comes to supporting technology start-ups. He is a leader who works with start-ups to help them become investment-ready through business modelling, pitch preparation, guidance on commercialisation of new technologies, and investor introductions.”
Public LinkedIn recommendations, reproduced word for word with each author's permission.
Fit
A good fit, or not.
Likely a good fit
- +You have a real business or technology idea and want it tested properly.
- +You are preparing for pre-seed, seed or Series A and want the gaps found first.
- +You run a programme and want founders challenged, not flattered.
- +You want decisions and next steps, not a report for the drawer.
Probably not
- −You want someone to write the plan or the deck for you.
- −You want guaranteed introductions or a success fee on money raised.
- −You want reassurance rather than questions.
- −You are looking for general business coaching rather than a specific commercial challenge.
Insights
Answers to the questions founders actually ask.
How do you know if your startup is investment-ready?
A practical investment-readiness test for early-stage founders before they begin investor outreach.
Read insight →What should a commercialisation strategy include?
The essential decisions a startup commercialisation strategy should make before scaling sales and marketing.
Read insight →How can accelerators assess startup investment readiness?
A practical framework for accelerators and innovation programmes assessing whether founders are ready for investor engagement.
Read insight →Future Founders
Commercial work should create room for contribution.
Some of Gokhan's time goes, unpaid, to children and young adults: how an idea becomes a business, what technology makes possible, and the confidence to imagine building something of their own.
Future Founders →Next move
Start a conversation.
No form to fill in first and no sales call required. Write a few lines about where you are and what is stuck, and you get a reply, not a brochure.
Start a conversation