He brings clarity, speed, and true entrepreneurial judgement.

I wouldn’t have built — or sold — my company the way I did without him.

Up until Jonah joined the company, I was a single founder for years. As a single founder, there are moments where you simply don’t know who you can talk to. Employees, angels, partners, friends – everyone has their own lens, their own agenda, their own limits. The real question becomes: Who do you call when it truly matters? For me, that person was always Niels.

Niels guided me through the toughest stages. He pulled me out of the operational tunnel, helped me regain altitude, and pushed me toward the decisions that actually mattered – not through pressure or control, but through real entrepreneurial thinking. He understands what it means to carry the weight alone.

What sets him apart is his speed. He dives into a situation he hasn’t been part of day-to-day, connects two or three dots from other companies, and within minutes you have a clear direction. Every session with him ends with clarity for the next quarter. No theory. No consulting speak. Just founder-level truth.

Several turning points in the VetStage journey would not have happened without him: he encouraged me before I even started the company – and insisted that I keep the majority. That decision changed everything. He saw strategic shifts months or years before I could execute on them: moving from a one-sided to a two-sided platform, launching public profiles, and later building our education ecosystem. All of this became core to our product and our growth.

And when it came to succession and the sale of the company, he was the person I relied on again. Not just as a strategist, but as someone who understands the founder’s perspective. Timing, investor type, boutique selection, the decision-making process – he gave me the confidence I needed not to take the wrong turn at the wrong time.

If I had to put it in one sentence: I would not have built VetStage this way – nor sold it this way – without Niels. He was the one person I could always call, and he always told me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear.