Work with us

One team of operators, three ways to work together. From a thinking partner in your corner to a senior operator inside the business. All of it pointed at the same thing, your next customers.

Founder, Inside Startups

I'm Ben Sheppard.

I build with founders when the next customer, the next decision, or the next turn in the business needs someone senior in the room.

Ben Sheppard

The record

22 years in business, twelve of them in startups, four companies built, one exit, one wind-down of my own, a missed product-market fit, a pivot that reached $1M ARR in twelve months, founders advised through their own exits in the last year.

My story

I have done the hard part too.

I'm a four-time founder with one exit, ventures launched across Hong Kong, Switzerland, Spain, and the UK, and millions raised from US and European investors. I've negotiated hundreds of millions in enterprise deals and led companies from idea to revenue across AI, infrastructure, SaaS, and deep tech.

I have advised founders through their own exits and a founder buyout in the last year. I learned that discipline a decade earlier in infrastructure, finance and M&A, including as buy-side advisor on a $67M acquisition. The mechanics do not change much with the number of zeros.

I work with founders and leadership teams at the moments that matter most: scaling, turnaround, and exit. I work on the business and the people running it at the same time, because when both evolve together the results are faster, stronger, and they last.

Ben Sheppard speaking on a conference panel
Ben Sheppard speaking at an event
Ben Sheppard in Barcelona
Ben Sheppard

Why Inside Startups exists

The business and the person building it.

Every founder I have worked with has, at some point, hit the same wall. The customer that churned or the competitor that appeared are expected. The harder moment is when the pressure of building starts to affect judgement, health, relationships, and ultimately the business itself.

Most support addresses the commercial layer. Strategy, operations, go-to-market, and funding all matter. I built Inside Startups to answer the question underneath them: what does the human running the business need when the pressure exceeds their current operating system?

Advise

01

Coaching

A thinking partner in your corner.

Weekly sessions built around what you are actually working through, with structure between them and someone who has made the call you are facing. For the decisions that do not have a clean answer.

Monthly plans from EUR 379, chosen on each coach profile.

Operate

02

Fractional operator

A senior operator inside your business, part-time.

Sixteen to twenty hours a month on the decisions that actually need us, with real accountability for the outcome, not advice from the sidelines. Below-market cash at pre-seed, equity at entry, and a rate that steps up when you raise.

Retainer plus a success fee, set out on each operator profile.

Run

03

The Long Run

We build and run your pipeline.

For established firms whose growth still depends on the founder selling. We run the outreach and the qualification, so delivery capacity becomes the constraint instead of your attention.

Retainer plus a share of what closes.