She Burned $300K, Then Got Three $1M Offers

Dr. Niklas Richter · 2026-11-05

Inge Geerdens has 156,000 followers on LinkedIn — the most of any Belgian woman on the platform. But behind that number sits a founder story that's anything but polished. It's the kind of story most people only tell after the dust settles. And honestly, that's exactly why it's worth your time. ### Fired, Then Never Looking Back Inge got fired. Instead of hunting for another job, she made a decision: never work for a boss again. She built Executive Research from the ground up, sold it, and used the proceeds to buy out her shareholders in CV Warehouse. Then the financial crisis hit. Almost overnight, she was sitting on a software company burning tens of thousands of dollars a month — with a hole of roughly $200,000 to $300,000 staring back at her. That's the part most success stories skip. The part where you're not sure you'll make payroll. The part where the only way out is through. ### The Lessons Nobody Teaches You In this conversation, Inge gets remarkably candid about how she clawed her way out on her own. Not with a savior investor. Not with a lucky break. On her own strength, and the hard lessons that came with it. Here's what she digs into: - **Raising capital is not a goal.** It's a tool, and treating it like a finish line can sink you. - **A good product isn't enough.** You can build something great and still fail if the business around it doesn't work. - **Cash is oxygen.** You don't notice it until it's running out. - **Investors, staff, and growth** all demand a different kind of honesty than most founders are ready for. And then there's the pitch story. Inge gave what she calls a truly terrible pitch. Nine months later, she was offered three separate checks of $1 million each. That gap between the low point and the turning point is where the real insight lives. ### Two Exits, One Big Regret She's had two company exits. You'd think that would make her a fan of selling. It didn't. Inge says she'd never sell a company herself again — and her reasoning is worth hearing. > "My children I'll never sell. Everything else is for sale." That line says a lot about how she separates what matters from what's negotiable. It's a mindset that shapes every deal she makes. ### The LinkedIn Story You Haven't Heard The 156,000 followers didn't happen by accident. It goes back to the early days of content on LinkedIn, long before everyone treated the platform like a stage. Inge was posting when almost nobody was, and that head start compounded over years. 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. ### Why This Episode Matters This isn't a highlight reel. It's about winning, falling flat on your face, getting back up, and the lessons you usually only understand after the fact. If you're building something and the road feels rough, this one's for you. Because the founders worth listening to are rarely the ones who make it look easy. They're the ones who tell you what it actually cost.