Meet Katrin Sturm, an angel investor and the dynamic force behind Scale & Shine.

Katrin’s company is on a mission to empower purpose-driven founders to perform in sync with their values.

With a rich career history at organizations like Salesforce, Katrin has nearly a decade of experience in business development and sales management, making her a seasoned mentor and advisor in the B2B sales and tech industry.

We met Katrin a few months ago in Barcelona at the EU Startups Summit. Our conversation was quick but powerful enough to make us return to her for additional insights.

Who is Katrin Sturm?

Since its inception in 2018, Scale & Shine has been a beacon of educational training and leadership development solutions. Their distinctive approach helps ambitious leaders hone a strategic, impactful, and confident leadership style.

Katrin strives to cultivate a vibrant team spirit that accelerates performance and instills resilience in rapid and uncertain environments. She inspires leaders to level up their career development and personal growth proactively.

Katrin's reputation as a mentor to fast-growing global tech and SaaS businesses is well-deserved. She excels at helping organizations scale up high-performing leaders and teams, particularly those in revenue-related roles such as Sales.

As a startup mentor, business angel, and scale-up advisor, Katrin provides invaluable guidance to B2B SaaS companies. She aids them in driving revenue, optimizing sales funnels and customer-facing processes, and attracting and retaining top-notch business development and sales talent.

Her expertise also extends to guiding companies in their international go-to-market (GTM) strategies in key regions like DACH, FR, the UK, Ireland, and the US.

Katrin’s motivation to transition from corporate to founder

Driven by her entrepreneurial spirit, Katrin had always felt the push to build her endeavor. It didn’t happen overnight, but she was naturally making steps toward being an entrepreneur, even when working for corporations like Oracle or Salesforce.

“I always knew I wanted to run my own business. I didn’t want to work for somebody else in the long run. I worked towards building my castle.

Running your own business gives you the freedom to make agile decisions and the creativity to craft your strategies.

Before making the switch, as an intrapreneur, I felt held back by the corporate structure. It helped me take the leap and embark on my venture.”

Lessons learned from taking the leap

According to Katrin, the entrepreneurial journey is a continuous learning and growth path. From understanding the intricacies of cash flow management to learning to be a self-sufficient boss, the journey has taught her invaluable lessons.

“One of the main things I've learned is managing your cash flow efficiently and developing your money mindset.

In the corporate world, I didn't have to worry about profit and loss compared to running my own business.”

For Katrin, the entrepreneurial journey does not have a final destination but is a continuous, evolving process that involves constant adaptation and improvement.

“Another important lesson for me was learning to be the boss I always wished I had when you become an entrepreneur.

You no longer have someone telling you what to do, so you must learn how to manage your time and energy effectively. Thinking bigger and constantly pushing myself out of my comfort zone has been a significant learning experience.

In the corporate world, pursuing and achieving a goal is one thing, but as an entrepreneur, I've had to constantly adapt and pivot, especially during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Being open to change and embracing ever-changing customer needs has been crucial for survival and growth.”

Katrin’s years of experience in sales and business development have played an instrumental role in her transition from employee to founder. Here are a few things that had a significant impact:

• Overcoming challenges, experiencing successes, and learning from the dynamic environment of a corporate setting have all contributed to her growth and building resilience, a skill needed in the entrepreneurial world.
• Working with startups and small businesses during her time at Salesforce allowed Katrin to gain insights into their specific challenges and needs. She could help companies become more efficient, improve sales processes, reduce costs, increase revenue, and thus scale their businesses.
• Her role at Salesforce equipped her with the knowledge and expertise to effectively advise and invest in similar tech and B2B SaaS clients.
• Katrin utilized her corporate experience to start building her brand early on. By doing so, she didn't feel like she was starting from scratch when she embarked on her entrepreneurial journey. This strategic approach also allowed her to establish credibility and a solid foundation for her business.

Advice for strong and resilient founders

We started discussing a startup’s needs from the founder's perspective and when founders should consider improving their sales processes. Katrin advised us that it’s an ongoing process that starts with setting up your company.

“Product-market fit is crucial, as around 60 to 70% of startups fail due to lack of it. Sales are all about finding that fit and solving customer pains.

Taking a customer-centric approach and building something that adds value and is needed establishes the groundwork for sales. It creates demand for your offerings, making it easier to generate revenue later."

Katrin offers valuable advice to founders, emphasizing that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for sales. The most successful approach can depend on factors such as your business model, go-to-market strategy, sales cycle, average deal size, industry, and which buyer profiles you target.

“Optimize processes and use technology to automate them where relevant. Hire the right people aligned with your vision and who can execute it. Guide yourself in making the right choice by looking at your values and ambitions and the cultural fit with your company.

Additionally, enable people to understand the pain and solutions. The best-sellers are not necessarily the ones who have the most product knowledge but the ones who understand their customer’s needs and speak their language.”

Another overlooked component in supporting founders to thrive in scaling their startups is developing the right mindset. When starting a company, resilience cannot be stressed enough.

A founder must possess the mental fortitude to weather the storms that will likely come. It's not merely about surviving these challenges but emerging stronger after adversity.

“Taking care of yourself as an entrepreneur is essential. Remember the saying, 'You cannot pour from an empty cup'?"

Prioritize self-care to benefit both your business and the people involved. Without a boss to guide you, addressing these factors early on is crucial and breaking the vicious circle of neglecting yourself.

Running your own business can be a lonely journey. Thus it is crucial to surround yourself with inspiring people and the right mentors and experts."

Common mistakes to avoid by early-stage founders

1. Avoid focusing on technical features.

Katrin’s core recommendation is to listen to your target audience. As a founder, the focus should be on connecting with those who genuinely need your product and the major ecosystem players.

Instead of resorting to mass messaging or trying to find a needle in the haystack, start conversations with those who matter and define and know the market and personas you target.

“Stop and ask yourself, 'Who will need this? How does it solve their problems?'

It forms the basis of a strong value proposition, as people will only pay for something if they perceive its value.”

2. Strengthen your value proposition.

“People will only pay the price when it’s a perceived value. You don’t get anything in return if nobody sees the perceived value.

Is my product needed and wanted? Are people happy to pay for it, and why? What pain are you trying to solve? Is it a ‘nice to have’ or a game changer on a financial and personal level?"

Becoming an angel investor

Katrin embarked on her investment journey a few years ago, dipping her toes in the startup waters through platforms like SeedBlink. Over time, her role evolved from a passive investor to an active investor, involving herself in the day-to-day strategic and operational decisions of the startups she invests in.

She currently chooses to contribute to the businesses she invests in actively and proactively. Katrin offers guidance, acts as a growth mentor, and is a sparring partner for CEOs and their stakeholders. Her goal is to help founders overcome obstacles and help them make important decisions.

“Throughout my corporate career and as a founder of Scale & Shine, I've gained valuable insights, expertise, and tools that can benefit other businesses in the same space.

I'm passionate about making an impact, from financial outcomes to creating positive change and growth."

Are all angel investors advisors?

While it's true that an advisor may not always be an investor, one could argue that any kind of advisory role involves a form of investment. We wanted to find out what Katrin thinks!

“When becoming a non-executive director of the advisory board and receiving equity in return, you trade your time with the potential risk and opportunity cost."

However, not all purely financial investors are a good fit to be advisors or mentors. Some individuals may solely provide financial support, and founders welcome a mix of the above.

"I'm currently building a portfolio of more active investments where I can offer guidance and act as a sounding board for the business. It’s where the advisor and mentor roles come into play, providing comprehensive support beyond mere financial investment.

It’s important to get the right level of expertise and guidance onboard (where you cannot afford to hire people with such a profile yet), especially in the earlier stages of the business.”

Resources mentioned in the discussion:

Connect with Katrin:

• LinkedIn
• Scale & Shine

About SeedBlink

SeedBlink is an equity management and tech-specialized venture investment platform that enables European startups and their stakeholders to access, manage, and trade equity alongside established institutional investors.

SeedBlink SA is registered in the Register of the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), under number PJR28FSFPR/400001 as of November 3, 2022, with an EU passport as per the European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) register of crowdfunding service providers.