What was happening professionally when you decided to start your T2P journey — what were you trying to change or unlock?
Pascal Kornfuehrer, Interim CFO, Air by CCSquared & Board Advisor, RegenÜrate: When Connectd approached me, I — being a very rational person — approached the question of whether it made sense for me to join this programme by envisioning four different scenarios.
The first scenario, albeit not very realistic, was that I wouldn't gain anything out of the programme, but at least I'd have the title of board advisor because of the guaranteed placement. The second scenario, already a little more realistic, was that I'd not only gain that title but also learn a lot — getting more acquainted with the ecosystem of early-stage startups, potentially even learning about a different industry and from the community.
The third scenario was, for me, the best case — and also the one I deemed most realistic. That was: A, gaining the title of board advisor; B, learning a lot; and C, actually expanding my can-do scope, so to speak. Having worked for more than 20 years in multinational corporates, it felt quite intriguing to demonstrate that I could also excel and perform in completely different circumstances — particularly early-stage startups, which as we all know are a world apart from multinational corporates.
The fourth scenario was all of the above, plus the upside. And the upside could translate into anything — a second or third startup engagement, a conversion of the pro bono work into paid fractional work, and so on.
What were you hoping to achieve by joining T2P — and what was the biggest gap you wanted to close?
Pascal Kornfuehrer: I was hoping to work in very dynamic environments. Given the nature of early-stage startups, I thought the chances of that were quite high — and my expectations were definitely met.
Having worked in a lot of multinational corporates where the rhythm and pace are not nearly as high, I deliberately wanted to experience this different environment. And I can confirm that it is a completely different ecosystem. The questions that are top of mind for a founder are so different from the questions a CEO of a multinational corporate has to deal with. The rhythm in terms of forecasting, the necessity to pivot, adjust, and reprioritise — it's completely different. Early-stage startups might have an idea and a clear set of priorities in the moment, but those can shift. There's no strategy that was defined two years ago, communicated to shareholders, and is now being executed. It's a completely different ball game — and that's a very thrilling experience.
How did you use the platform to navigate your next steps, and align your value proposition to startups you were interested in?
Pascal Kornfuehrer: The value proposition topic is a very crucial one. What everyone needs to understand — especially when your background is not in working with early-stage startups — is that startups don't need our past. They need our relevance. So it was important for me to first get clarity about the value I could bring to those startups, because what was valuable in multinational corporates in the past might be completely irrelevant for them. Gaining that clarity was a very enlightening and enriching process for me personally, and it helped me communicate far more effectively to founders how I could support them.
Over time, and through more and more conversations with early-stage founders, you develop a feeling for the patterns — identifying the transferable skills you have, and then translating those into the value you can bring to the table. That process is crucial.
I used the platform quite actively. I didn't wait for startups to approach me just because my profile was visible. I didn't limit myself to the official job posts where founders already know exactly what they're looking for. I made use of all the transparency the portal offers — including pitch decks, revenue information, team size, and industry — to approach founders proactively, presenting myself, showing what value I could bring, and asking if it might be relevant to them. The feedback was actually quite positive. I got in touch with two additional startups on top of my pro bono placement, entered into relationships with both, and have contracts with them as well — not because they had posted anything, but because I approached them, we started a conversation, and we identified a demand that my offering could meet.
How did you convert your pro bono placement into a paid one?
Pascal Kornfuehrer: I think it's important for everyone to acknowledge that if you want to land a first paid advisor role — or even convert that role into a fractional support role — you have to be relevant and useful before you are official.
Of course, during that first phase, you could focus purely on the pro bono element and feel like you're doing it for free, limiting yourself to the bare minimum in terms of effort and time invested. But the other approach — and I think it's a matter of mindset — is that you don't focus on the pro bono element at all, but on the placement element. You treat it as a great opportunity, not just to learn, but to genuinely support. And that's what I did.
I approached it with the mindset of: I didn't sign up just for fun. I actually want to add value. I didn't really think about the possibility of converting it to a paid role — I just supported beyond what was stipulated in the agreement. I didn't watch the clock. I wasn't working full-time on it, but I really dove into what needed to be done to help the founder get from A to B.
After about three and a half months — roughly the midpoint of our six-month agreement — I asked the founder for feedback. Was there more of A needed, less of B? Something I wasn't working on that I should be? He said he would love more support in certain areas, but assumed it was outside the scope. I asked him to walk me through exactly what he needed, and rather than waiting for the pro bono placement to end, we converted it into a fractional CFO role after just four months.
What did you do to set expectations, build trust fast, and keep momentum?
Pascal Kornfuehrer: I tried to strike a balance between asking the founder if there was anything specific he needed support with, and proactively suggesting what I should be working on. That helped a lot — because regularly there are things the founder raises that have just come up and they don't know how to handle, but there are also many things I can see that a founder without a financial background simply cannot. That balance was very helpful.
In terms of cadence, we ensured we had a weekly touchpoint — the day shifted from time to time, but we always tried to link it to a specific milestone or deliverable. If I said, for example, let me work on the unit economics based on the data you've just provided, and I'll have it ready by the beginning of next week — we'd schedule a quick call around that, whether it fell on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. We stayed in touch in various ways: email, WhatsApp, calls. It was very uncomplicated, and I think that actually made it fairly effective.
For a T2P member who wants to convert their pro bono placement to paid, what's the one thing they should do from week one?
Pascal Kornfuehrer: Your experience is only an asset if you know how to translate it.
If you haven't spent many years working with startups — which means you gained your experience in a different ecosystem — it needs to be translated, because the requirements are different. The dynamic is different, the questions are different, and the entire infrastructure in terms of systems and processes is different. So it's important for everyone who has built their experience outside of the startup ecosystem to identify which part of that experience is actually relevant.
Let me give an example. If I, with my financial background from multinationals with billions in revenue, had presented myself to founders by saying I had led major restructuring projects and managed global finance teams — the founder would have shrugged their shoulders and said, "So what's the relevance for me right now?" But if I go back to that same experience, translate it, and tell a founder that my strength is in establishing financial hygiene and building investor-ready reporting — the likelihood increases significantly that they think, "Yes, that's exactly what I need, especially if I'm in the middle of raising funds."
That's the work we have to do. We have to translate our experience to make it an asset — and explain to a founder, in their language, how it can help them.
Pascal Kornfuehrer, Interim CFO, Air by CCSquared & Board Advisor, RegenÜrate
