CAREER TRANSITION, REIMAGINED.
Stop trying to jump higher. Start jumping differently.
Dick Fosbury’s breakthrough began with a question: could there be a better way to jump?
Career transitions deserve the same question. More applications. Still no breakthrough? Rethink the approach.
Think like a founder.
“If I had not developed a different, more efficient technique, I would not have been competitive“
Dick Fosbury
American high jumper, who is considered one of the most influential athletes in the history of track and field. He won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, revolutionizing the high jump event with a „back-first“ technique now known as the Fosbury Flop.
THINK, BELIEVE AND ACT LIKE A FOUNDER
Different goals. Shared thinking.
A founder builds a business. A jobseeker finds a role. Both need trust, and a clear reason to invest.
Explore the informal job market.
Start with a business problem, before a role is advertised. Test where your experience can help, and open a conversation.
A founder builds a business and carry entrepreneurial risk. Job seekers pursue an employment role with a salary.
THE APPROACH
The answer might be right. The question might be wrong.
In my formats we are looking at job search from a completely different angle. Imagine that you are not looking for an employer. You are looking for an investor. And that changes the question.
Think Like a Founder.
Turn your experience into an offer companies want to discuss. Even before a role is advertised.
I believe everyone should be able to shape their professional future.
START WITH THE MARKET
What can I contribute, for whom – and why now?
THE FOUNDER SEQUENCE
Read the market. Then make your move.
We start with a focused market analysis and test it in real conversations.
This is where it all starts. With your markets/industries where you gained credibility. Map your market (core, adjacent and analogue). Explore related industries and less obvious markets where your experience could transfer.
AI helps accelerate this process by researching markets, using public available sources, and map stakeholders.
Identify signals of what is costing businesses time, money or opportunity. Investigate the underlying causes and separate evidence from assumptions.
AI helps organise evidence, suggest possible causes and challenge assumptions.
Connect your proven capabilities to a specific business problem. Define the contribution you could make, the outcome it supports and any gaps to close.
AI helps connect past achievements with potential solutions.
Take your idea into real conversations. Discover what matters, challenge your assumptions and refine your contribution through feedback.
AI helps prepare questions and organise feedback. Real conversations test relevance.
Make your value clear: the problem you help solve, who benefits and why you are credible. Build a proposition backed by results.
AI helps identify recurring strengths and sharpen your wording.
Build a focused shortlist around relevant business developments. Identify who owns the potential problem and what you need to clarify before approaching them.
AI helps research companies, compare signals and suggest relevant decision-making roles.
Turn your research into a reason to talk. Discover offline and online outreach with intention. Explain why this company, why this person and how your contribution could help.
AI helps draft and refine your message using your evidence and voice.
Generative AI speeds up research and drafts. Judgement, experience and the final decision stay with you.
FORMATS
Group formats. Real cases.
No concept papers. No theory-only sessions. Just tough questions, real-life situations, and clear decisions, grounded in 30 years of experience, successes, failures and lessons learned.
FOR INDIVDUALS
Masterclass
Available in English and German.
Small groups. Work on real cases. Leave with a first market hypothesis, target companies and a pitch that opens a conversation.
FOR INDIVIDUALS
Webinar
Available in English and German.
All our webinars last approx. 1h, are open to everyone, and free of charge. Each webinar covers a different topic on „Think like a founder“
FOR ORGANISATIONS
Workshop
Available in English and German.
Tailored to your group, goals and challenges. No death by PowerPoint. Work on real cases, exchange ideas as equals and challenge each other’s thinking.
FOR ORGANISATIONS
Keynote
Available in English and German.
Fresh perspectives on familiar challenges. See what you know from an unfamiliar angle, question established thinking and challenge the status quo.
Occasional 1:1 and private sessions are also available in English and German.
WHO IT IS FOR
Experience deserves a new direction.
For Individuals
Leaders and experienced professionals navigating a career transition – by choice, after a setback or during transformation. Especially when your experience offers more than your last job title suggests.
For Organisations
Companies, Outplacement providers, associations, universities, alumni networks and labour market institutions.
Book a format for your group, programme or event.
ABOUT FRANK
Experience. Including the transitions.
I’m Frank Renneke. I bring 30 years of international experience in business development and strategy, as a manager and founder.
To date, I’ve helped thousands of professionals and executives change their perspective on „Think like a Founder“ to uncover new career and business opportunities.
I know career transitions firsthand.
Executive education in GenAI at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and Harvard Business School. Today, I’m a strategic advisor and CEO of Operitia.
