She Burned $300K Before One Pitch Changed Everything

Dr. Niklas Richter · 2026-11-05

Inge Geerdens has 156,000 followers on LinkedIn. That makes her the most-followed Belgian woman on the platform. But behind that number sits a story most people would never post about. She got fired. Then she decided she'd never work for a boss again. That decision kicked off a run that included building Executive Research, selling it, and using the proceeds to buy out her shareholders in CV Warehouse. Sounds like a clean win, right? It wasn't. Right after that buyout, the financial crisis hit. Suddenly she owned a software company burning tens of thousands of dollars a month, sitting in a hole worth roughly $215,000 to $325,000. ### The Part Nobody Puts on a Highlight Reel Here's what makes this conversation worth your time: Inge doesn't sand down the rough edges. She talks openly about how she clawed her way out on her own, and what that taught her about cash, investors, hiring, and growth. A few things she's learned the hard way: - Raising capital should never be the goal itself. It's a tool, not a trophy. - A good product alone won't save you. Plenty of great products die because nobody bought them. - Cash flow is the thing you watch daily, not quarterly. And then there's the pitch story. She gave one genuinely terrible pitch. Nine months later, almost out of nowhere, she was offered three separate checks of $1 million each. That gap between the low point and the offer is where the real lessons live. ### Two Exits, and Why She'd Do One Differently She's been through two company exits. And she's clear about one thing: she would never sell a business herself again. That's a strong statement from someone who's done it twice. It's the kind of honesty you only get from people who've actually signed the papers and lived with the aftermath. > "My children I'll never sell. Everything else is for sale." That line is the title of the episode, and it tells you a lot about how she separates what matters from what's negotiable. ### The LinkedIn Story Goes Back Further Than You Think Those 156,000 followers didn't happen by accident. The story traces back to the early days of content on LinkedIn, long before posting was a strategy anyone talked about. She was there early, and she kept showing up. Today she shares what she's learned with other founders through Founders Hub. And she's building something completely different with Your Next Move: working alongside Garry Kasparov to get as many kids as possible playing chess. ### What You Actually Take Away From This This isn't a story about winning and then explaining afterward how obvious it all was. It's about winning, falling flat on your face, getting back up, and only understanding the lesson once you're standing again. If you're building something and the numbers look scary right now, that's the point. The people who make it through usually aren't the ones with the smoothest path. They're the ones who keep going after the smooth path disappears.