Why Being Average Is the Most Expensive Bet a Founder Can Make

Dr. Niklas Richter · 2026-09-11

### The Hidden Cost of Blending In There's a moment every entrepreneur knows. You're doing okay. Not great, not terrible. Just… fine. And that's exactly the problem. Dries Henau and Yuri Vandenbogaerde have built and sold companies like WASBAR, Chez Claire, and Ambassy. Fifteen years of skin in the game, their own money on the line every single time. Now they run The Brand Guys, creating total concepts for hotels and food brands worldwide. Their work on the Boardwalk Hotel in Aruba earned two Michelin Keys. They gave a safari camp in the Masai Mara a second life. And through their COBRA program, they help small and family businesses find their unique place in the market. Their message is simple and uncomfortable: being average is the most expensive thing you can do as a founder. ### The Three Strategies That Actually Exist According to Dries and Yuri, there are only three ways to compete: - Be the cheapest - Shout the loudest - Be so clear that customers never think of anyone else Most entrepreneurs drift somewhere in the middle. They're not cheap enough to win on price. They're not loud enough to dominate attention. And they're not clear enough to become the obvious choice. That middle ground feels safe, but it quietly drains your margins and your energy. > "We do so much for so many, but what do we actually stand for?" That's the question they ask every founder. And it's the one most people avoid. ### When an Adults-Only Hotel Felt Terrifying One of their hotel projects went adults-only. On paper, it made sense. In practice, it felt like jumping off a cliff. What if families stopped coming? What if bookings dropped? They did it anyway. And then something interesting happened. Occupancy didn't just hold. Prices went up. Because when you stop trying to please everyone, you become magnetic to the people who actually want what you offer. That's the counterintuitive part. Clarity doesn't shrink your market. It sharpens your appeal. ### The Mistakes They'll Admit To Dries and Yuri are refreshingly honest about what they got wrong. - When they sold WASBAR, they accepted a payment plan they never should have agreed to. - They turned away an investor who knocked on their door because they were too young and too arrogant to have the conversation. - Building a team kept stalling because of their own perfectionism. These aren't small things. They're the kind of mistakes that cost real money and real time. But talking about them openly is what makes their advice credible. ### A New AI Tool for Smaller Founders Here's something they haven't shared before. They're building an AI tool trained on every trajectory they've ever worked on. It contains their full methodology and way of thinking. The goal? To let smaller entrepreneurs access their framework even if they don't qualify for the COBRA program. It's a way to scale what they've learned without diluting the quality. ### Why This Matters for Every Founder If you've ever felt stuck in the middle, doing a lot but not standing out, this conversation is for you. The world has become average. Products look the same. Messaging sounds the same. Experiences feel the same. Breaking out doesn't require a bigger budget. It requires the courage to be specific. To pick a lane. To say no to the wrong customers so you can say yes to the right ones. That's not just a branding exercise. It's a survival strategy. And the cost of ignoring it? Far higher than most founders want to admit.