What can an advisor do for a startup?

This week, I was drafting a report for six months of my work for an early-stage energy and AI startup, so I thought, why not share what I can? So here it goes.

The value from advisors to startups is usually customer or investor connections, and some PR representation. I can deliver very little of those. So why get one if he can’t deliver the usual advisor value?

Let’s see what I did:

• Stress-tested the core business logic across multiple markets and rollout scenarios, finally narrowing down the best geographical market for the first product roll-out.


• Built a bottom-up financial model that forced necessary early conversations about unit economics, customer acquisition costs, and cash timing.


• Reworked the pitch materials so that strategy, numbers, and execution risks were aligned, and investors noticed that immediately.


• Acted as a sparring partner to the founder on priorities: what not to do in year one matters as much as what to do.

The outcome was not just a cleaner deck or a better spreadsheet. It was a shared operating logic between the founder, first investors and his early team.

In my case, having an advisor is more akin to having a pro-consultant on board, who, instead of jumping from top-MBA programs into consulting, has managed P&Ls for several industrial companies over the last decade.

Do you use advisors, and if so, what for?