"One question can turn your business from zero to a hundred — and it takes the right advisor to ask you that question. There have been so many thought-provoking questions that have led us to grow at a very fast pace that I wouldn't have been able to find on my own."
Kelvin Voen, Co-Founder, NewKroo: Before I joined Connectd, we had gone live. We had a working MVP and were just trying to start building our brand awareness. One of the founding members we were trying to bring on board mentioned Connectd while we were discussing the challenges we were having around refining how we wanted to solve the problem. He said, "Have you heard about this platform called Connectd? They have amazing advisors who can help with several parts of the business — you should reach out to them."
So I did some googling, found Connectd, and thought, wow, how come nobody ever told me about this? I went through the registration process, applied, got accepted, and got connected with some amazing advisors who could really help us in the areas we were struggling with — refining how we deliver value to users and how we position ourselves in the market, because there are other companies solving the same problem as us.
What made me reach out to Connectd was that we were lacking clarity in several parts of the business and we weren't sure of our direction. We just didn't want to waste resources or make the classic mistakes most startups make. We were very keen on finding people who had been in these areas of their careers and could give us the right guidance. That was the major reason.
Kelvin Voen: I think the biggest challenge sitting on my shoulders was how to allocate the resources we had. In the past I'd made a lot of mistakes by focusing on parts of the business that weren't relevant at the time. As a startup, it's always best to make the right decisions so you don't run out of cash. I just wanted to be sure that when we were spending money, we were spending it in the right areas and solving the problems we should be solving at this stage — because it's so easy to lose track of what you're actually trying to do. You can end up solving next year's problem today, which won't really make the business grow. That was one of the biggest challenges weighing on me.
Kelvin Voen: The number one thing I was looking for from the advisors was help with focus and clarity. I think those two things are sometimes underrated. As a founder, you have so many ideas and so much chaos going on in your head — you just need the right advisors to help you stay focused and give you perspective on your decisions. Without that, you end up wasting resources on areas you shouldn't be. With the right advisors, they can really help you with that focus and clarity. And once you have that, it becomes so much easier to build everything else you're trying to do in the business.
Kelvin Voen: I think what made Connectd the right place for me was the fact that they have curated amazing advisors with experience across several industries, skill sets, and departments — people who have worked with some of the biggest companies in the world, and who have made a conscious decision to help founders and startups grow.
In the past, trying to find people like that was hit or miss, because a lot of people aren't really willing to put in the time. Advisory sounds easy, but it's a lot of work. So I was looking for advisors who had actively made the decision to help founders — people who genuinely enjoy seeing startups grow and enjoy using their experience to provide the kind of support that a lot of founders are struggling without.
A lot of people always put emphasis on lack of funding as the reason startups fail. But for me, it's more than that. It's about having the right information and the right knowledge to build what you're trying to create. As one of my coaches once told me, the reason a lot of startups fail is because they don't have clarity on how they want to run the business. So even if they raise £10 million or £50 million, if they don't have the right people making the right decisions, they're going to waste it all on the wrong things.
Getting advisors who are genuinely passionate about helping founders was key. Because then I wasn't trying to convince anyone to come on board. If they choose you, it's because they're interested in what you're building and they can see where their experience fits.
Kelvin Voen: The brief I gave to the Connectd team — so they could explain it to the advisors they thought would be a good fit — covered our journey, our why, our what, and how we are trying to solve the problem. I was very open about the challenges we were facing and how advisors could help take us to the next level.
I think that gave the Connectd team a very broad understanding of what we were trying to do, and when they were making matches, it was very intentional. They even matched us with advisors in areas we hadn't even been thinking about, which was really valuable — it showed they had truly understood the problem.
Even today, the team is still checking in and asking which other areas of the business we need more support with. That's really something. We had close to an hour-long meeting just so they could understand what we were building, and I think that is rare when it comes to matching advisors with founders. It's not just throwing people at anyone and seeing if it sticks. That briefing process — and their understanding of it — is what really helped us meet the right people.
Kelvin Voen: I structured the relationships with my advisors by being very intentional with their time. We set a cadence that works for both parties — we meet once every two weeks and have been very consistent with that. Good communication is really important. I try as much as possible to keep my advisors informed about everything we're doing, because they can't really advise on what they don't know. We have good communication almost weekly, and before each meeting we also touch base on the agenda so we come prepared — both parties — and use the meeting time to actually solve problems.
If I could speak to a founder thinking about connecting with Connectd today, I would tell them this: it's very easy to think you have all the knowledge you need when you're building a startup — that you have all the answers. But the truth is, a lot of our preconceptions could be wrong, and our reality is shaped entirely by our own experience. It's so important to share your why and your how with people who have deep experience, who've been there before, and who in many cases have worked in the very industries you're trying to enter. That perspective alone can save you years of going in the wrong direction and a huge amount of resources spent on the wrong things.
One of the things I always used to say was that if you want to build a business, you need mentors — people who have built similar businesses. But I've realised that you might actually need to become the mentor of yourself, because you might not find anyone who has built exactly what you're trying to build. What you do need are people who can teach you the things you don't know and give you perspective on how to solve the problem — because there are so many moving parts, and it's so easy to miss something that could be very costly.
As one of my coaches once taught me, one question can turn your business from zero to a hundred — and it takes the right advisor to ask you that question. That's something I've really experienced working with Connectd. There have been so many thought-provoking questions that have led us to grow at a pace I wouldn't have been able to achieve on my own.
Connect with advisors who are passionate about helping startups, who have the experience and the skills, and who are genuinely keen to help. You'll find plenty of them at Connectd. It's been a real blessing for us.
Kelvin Voen, Co-Founder, NewKroo
Going fractional doesn't change your function — it changes almost everything about how you operate within it.
