# Xaver Lehmann | Founder Community & Startup Scaling (xaverlehmann.com) > Why I started The Honest Founder. I founded my first company e-bot7 with a mission to transform customer service through AI. What started in a small room grew into a company with more than 130 employees, hundreds of customers, and ultimately a $60M exit. From the outside, it looked like I had everything I had worked for: a fast-growing company, investors, awards, and a successful exit. But behind the scenes, I was burned out. Around the same time, I lost my mother. It was one of the hardest periods of my life and forced me to question what success actually meant. The Honest Founder started as a way to share the lessons I wish someone had told me earlier. Today it has grown into a newsletter and vetted founder community where ambitious founders can learn from each other, build meaningful relationships, and talk honestly about the challenges of building a company. Choose your path Most founders start with the newsletter, join the community once they want deeper connections, and move to coaching when they need direct 1:1 support. Founder Community 60+ founders in my private Slack community. $200m raised & $50m ARR created. Apply to join founders who want honest conversations, meaningful relationships and practical advice. Newsletter Join thousands of readers across my newsletters. Weekly lessons from building and selling a $60M company about ambition, pressure, identity, burnout, and life after the exit. 1:1 Coaching Limited spots. Only 3 founders each month. I scaled e-bot7 to $60M and burned out doing it. Now I help founders raise faster, scale smarter, and skip the mistakes that cost me years. Adam Probst, CEO & Founder, ZenML “We closed our $3.7M round in just 8 weeks after Xaver helped us reshape the narrative.” Helping founders scale without burning out. I've raised millions, scaled to 130+ employees, and exited for $60M. Now I help founders through my newsletter, a founder community and coaching program. Thank you for contacting us In the current version, we have added support for Lottie files. To use them, visit lottiefiles.com, choose your favorites, and upload them into an 'Image' element in your project. Featured in Latest articles The next chapter of The Honest Founder. About a year ago, I started this newsletter with a simple idea. Nobody showed up. In 2021, a few months after we were acquired by a NASDAQ company in the US, a C-level executive called me up. I didn’t feel like working this week. It happens to me more often than you’d probably expect. Some days I wake up and just don’t feel like working. ## Sitemap: - [Privacy Policy](https://xaverlehmann.com/privacy-policy) Privacy Policy. Server Log Files We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited. Google Analytics uses cookies that allow us to analyse how visitors use our website. 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Copyright Responsible according to Sec. 18 para. 2 German State Media Treaty (Medienstaatsvertrag) Xaver Valentin Lehmann, Leopoldstraße 31, 80802 Munich Germany, E-Mail: xaver@xaverlehm... - [Founder Coaching & Strategy Sessions | The Honest Founder](https://xaverlehmann.com/coaching) One conversation can change everything. Get coached by from someone who's raised millions, scaled to 130+ employees, and sold for $60M. 200+ trusted founders I’ve supported more than 200 founders on their journey from early idea to fast-scaling teams. 10+ years of scaling expertise I built and scaled two AI companies from zero to multi-million ARR over the last decade - featured on the cover of Forbes 30 Under 30 and recognized with 30+ awards. 2 AI Startups built, one $60m Exit I founded e-bot7, one of Europe’s leading AI startups, scaling it to 130+ employees before selling the company for $60M to a NASDAQ-listed US company. Frequently asked questions. Just let me know if you have any more questions. Don't hesitate to reach out to me. One-time strategy session A focused 30 or 45-minute session to work through one pressing founder challenge. Bring your fundraising deck, hiring decision, GTM problem, or anything else keeping you stuck. Leave with honest feedback, greater clarity, and concrete next steps. Ongoing coaching program Ongoing strategic support from someone who has built, scaled, and exited a company. - 2x 50-minute strategy sessions per month - Slack support and asynchronous feedback - Relevant introductions to my network - Community, frameworks, and partner benefits Starting from €1,700 per month excl. VAT. Ready to make a difference? Hi! I am Xaver. Xaver is a serial entrepreneur, speaker and investor from Munich. He co-founded e-bot7, one of Europe’s leading AI startups, scaling it to 130+ employees before selling the company for $60M to a NASDAQ-listed US company. He later launched VidLab7, backed by top-tier investors like EQT which he left due to Burnout. Today he runs The Honest Founder, a community with 30,000+ Founders & CEOs. Drawing on a decade of building and scaling companies, Xaver shares raw founder stories, frameworks, and lessons to help entrepreneurs grow with clarity, resilience, and authenticity. Xaver Lehmann The Honest Founder Featured in Week 1: Understand the business, the founder, and tackle what’s urgent Understand your business, challenges, and what's actually blocking progress. Walk away with immediate relief on your most urgent problem. Weeks 2-4: Build momentum Deep dive into core challenges, turn insights into action, and refine based on what actually happens (not what you hoped would happen). Between sessions, you get regular check-ins, quick feedback when you're stuck, and someone who won't let you avoid the hard decisions. Ongoing: Stay accountable Example of a coaching journey. What working together actually looks like session by session. Common founder painpoints. These are the topics I typically work on with founders from fundraising to helping them stop being the bottleneck and set up systems that actually scale. Getting ghosted by investors? I've closed 5 rounds from top-tier investors like EQT. I'll help you craft the narrative that gets VCs to respond, take meetings, and make offers... - [About The Honest Founder: My Journey & Mission](https://xaverlehmann.com/about-me) Book me as a keynote speaker. If you want a speaker who brings honesty, real founder experience, and zero fluff - I’m your guy. I’ve built and scaled companies from a student apartment to a $60M exit. I’ve led teams across Europe, raised millions, burned out, rebuilt myself, and now help founders do the same with more clarity and less chaos. My talks are not theoretical. They’re lived experience, distilled into simple frameworks your audience can apply immediately. Past audiences: Forbes, Web Summit, UN, Microsoft, Deutsche Bank What your audience will walk away with: Featured in Previous Speaking Gigs AI Startups, a $60m Exit and Burnout. Over the past decade, I’ve built two AI startups. The first, e-bot7, scaled to 130 employees across five European offices and was acquired by LivePerson Inc. (NASDAQ) for $60M. It was an incredible ride but also the one that led to my first burnout. After taking time to recover, I jumped into my next venture: Vidlab7, an AI avatar company backed by EQT Ventures. It grew fast, but by the end of 2024, I had to step away again. This time, to protect my health. I spent four months in South Africa, working on social projects, helping local families, and rediscovering what really matters. That’s where The Honest Founder was born. A desire to help ambitious founders build great companies without losing themselves in the process. Xaver Lehmann The Honest Founder Thank you for contacting us In the current version, we have added support for Lottie files. To use them, visit lottiefiles.com, choose your favorites, and upload them into an 'Image' element in your project. Podcast Features - [Sponsorships - The Honest Founder](https://xaverlehmann.com/sponsorships) Flexible sponsorship options. Either choose to sponsor a Linkedin post or feature a Substack newsletter article - or both. One-off sponsorship Reach a focused audience of founders, CEOs, and operators. LinkedIn: 35,000+ followers and 31,000+ average impressions per post Newsletter: 10,000+ subscribers Choose LinkedIn, newsletter, or a combined placement Ideal for product launches, announcements, and focused campaigns Ongoing sponsorships Build familiarity and trust through repeated exposure. Choose 4 or 12 placements throughout the year Available for LinkedIn, the newsletter, or both Preferential pricing compared with one-off bookings Stay visible to a relevant founder audience over time Stays online forever. Your sponsorships will remain live forever as they are published on my Substack or Linkedin. Highly engaged audience. Founders & CEOs who actually open emails (40-50% open rate vs industry standard of 21%). Website visitors and leads. Sponsors average 100-500 qualified website visits, with best performers seeing 50 demo bookings from a single campaign. What you get as a sponsor. Previous sponsors You fill out the sponsorship request form. It takes you less than 3 min to fill it out. Sponsorship review. We’ll review your request within 24–36 hours and email you once it’s approved. After that, we’ll share the offer for you to accept. A few days before launch. We will send you the proposal for the sponsorship. You can review and edit it with comments. Go-Live and analytics. We’re going live on a Tuesday morning. I’ll keep you updated throughout the rollout and share the full analytics around one week after launch. Go-Live and analytics. We’re going live on a Tuesday morning. I’ll keep you updated throughout the rollout and share the full analytics around one week after launch. Next steps. 40-50% open rates vs. 21% industry average. Your message actually gets read, not ignored. Get up to 500 website visitors Sponsors see up to 500 website visits from a single campaign. Decision-makers with budgets Pre-seed to Series B+ CEOs, ex-founders who exited, and operators at $1-10M+ ARR companies. People who can actually buy. Why sponsors choose The Honest Founder Reach 35,000+ founders and CEOs through content they trust. Partner with me across LinkedIn and The Honest Founder newsletter. One recent campaign generated 82,000 impressions and 388 website visits. - [Xaver Lehmann: AI & Tech Investments - Experience Over Capital](https://xaverlehmann.com/investments) Investing in the next generation of founders. I don’t just write checks. I help founders build and scale without making some of the mistakes that nearly broke me. I have been there myself Having built 2 startups my self, I understand the tactical challenges of hyper-growth that traditional VCs often miss. AI & SaaS focus Deep expertise in SaaS and AI. I help founders navigate the complexity of product-market fit in crowded markets. Radical honesty I provide the unfiltered feedback you need to hear, even when it's uncomfortable, to ensure long-term health. AI search analytics for marketing teams. Company value: $100M+ All-in-one solution for solar technologies. Company value: $1BN+ AI assistant for phone calls in the SMB space. Company value: $100M+ Fastest-growing restaurant discovery app in Europe. Company value: $100M+ Clean Spend Data for Agentic Procurement. Company value: $20M+ Process Automation for the SMB Sector. Company value: $20M+ Micro robotics for open surgery precision. Company value: $1BN+ Selected Angel Portfolio Selected investments in high-growth AI, SaaS, and scaling technology companies. Looking for someone who has been through it? If you're building something significant in the technology / AI space and value experience over just capital, let's talk about how I can help you scale. - [Community Founders: Build & Scale with Vetted CEOs & Experts](https://xaverlehmann.com/communityfounders) A private community of founders who want to scale without burning out. Join incredible founders & CEOs who are building, scaling and sharing the real lessons behind their journey. 60+ Vetted founders & CEOs. $200M Raised by members from investors including Accel, EQT and Y Combinator. $50M Combined ARR. Monthly Founder Live Sessions. What happens inside? Open conversations, practical advice, and real connections. Get Advice Share Challenges Celebrate Wins Exclusive Live Sessions Perks you get with a membership. Every paid member gets access to exclusive startup offers from companies including HubSpot, Notion, Linear, and Qonto. Other perks include 50 Atlassian seats free for 12 months, 50% off Apollo’s Basic or Pro plan for 12 months, 75% off NordVPN, and more. If you’re building a startup and haven’t implemented a CRM yet, this is the perfect time to get started with HubSpot at a significant discount. Up to 90% off. 6 months Notion AI for free. Enjoy 6 months of Notion Business and Notion AI at no cost, with savings of up to €12,000. Access 3 months of Linear for free and build faster with the modern product development platform trusted by the world’s best startups. 3 months for free. Get 6 months of Qonto - for free the business account I’ve used for years. You can also connect it directly to your accounting software. 6 months for free. Get 6 months of Qonto - for free the business account I’ve used for years. You can also connect it directly to your accounting software. 6 months for free. Thank you for contacting us In the current version, we have added support for Lottie files. To use them, visit lottiefiles.com, choose your favorites, and upload them into an 'Image' element in your project. Questions founders ask before joining. - [A weekly newsletter to help you grow without burning out.](https://xaverlehmann.com/newsletter) A weekly newsletter to help you grow without burning out. Honest lessons from building and selling a company about ambition, pressure, loneliness, identity, and life after the exit. 10,000+ subscribers My newsletters have reached 10,000 subscribers across Substack and Linkedin and the audience keeps growing daily. 70+ Countries reading My newsletter is now read in over 70 countries and continues to grow every day. Honest lessons From money and freedom to burnout, identity shift and what happens after the exit. Previous issues of The Honest Founder Everything you need to build the life you always wanted. Lessons and stories - all in one place. If you’re comfortable, you’re not growing. Lesson about discomfort and how you should use it to your advantage. The darkest days of being a founder. COVID, M&A and a tragic loss that changed my life. The exact framework to help you find the next billion dollar startup idea. My repeatable success framework "SOE" and how you can use it to find great ideas. 3-min energy audit for a better life. Unlocking your zone of genius. Forget luck – these 5 factors decide Startup success. What really matters when you’re building from zero. Recovering from Burnout. The slow and messy process nobody prepares you for. - [Fundraising Course: Get Investor-Ready with Xaver Lehmann](https://xaverlehmann.com/fundraising-course) The Ultimate Fundraising Course. The exact playbook I used to raise $40M+ from top-tier VCs like EQT and helped other founders raise $100m+ without burning out. What took me 10 years (and millions in mistakes) you’ll get in a few hours. This course is worth €800+ if I priced it like a private workshop. But you get it for only 119€. What you’ll get inside​. 7 Modules, 3h+ of video material, 55+ Slides and Bonus Material. It's everything you need to successfully fundraise. 1 The Fundamentals What materials you actually need Which investors to target: angels, VCs, family offices, and more How long a fundraising process really takes How much to raise at each stage (pre-seed, seed, Series A, Series B) 2 Building & Managing Your Pipeline Step-by-step system to build a qualified list of 50–150 investors My CRM framework for tracking intros and creating momentum Warm introductions vs. cold outreach (with exact scripts that got me meetings) 3 Pitch Deck Mastery The 10–15 slides every deck needs. Nothing more, nothing less What investors actually look at (and what they ignore) Real-world mistakes that kill decks Benchmark stats: how long investors spend on slides, what they re-read, and why 5 After the Raise How to write investor updates that activate your investors (not just inform) Why fundraising never really ends and how to always be ready for the next round 4 Negotiation & Term Sheets The 5 clauses that really matter (and the ones you can give away) Liquidation preferences, dilution, founder vesting explained How to create urgency, FOMO, and competitive pressure without bluffing 6 Founder Mindset How to convince investors with vision + traction + story Building resilience when you hear 100 “no’s” before one “yes” Long-term energy management: how to stay sharp during the fundraising marathon 7 My own Fundraising Journey How I raised capital and what it took All my rounds summarized and insights into each round Bonus Materials Cap Table Template → keep ownership and dilution clear Investor Outreach Templates → copy-paste scripts for cold + warm intros Pitch Deck Template (Creandum format) → the exact structure top VCs expect Investor Update Template → build trust and momentum Financial Plan Template → model runway and scenarios like a pro Investor Long List → 110 EU + 128 US investors (with emails) List of 1000+ Angels including where they invest and their Linkedin 30 Legendary Pitch Decks → learn directly from the best My Fundraising Tool Stack → All my tools I used What founders say about the course. "Honestly, hands down the best fundraising content I’ve come across. Xaver makes it feel like a normal conversation. Before the course I felt lost in investor talks. After going through it, I knew exactly how to explain my round, where to push back, and how the math actually worked. I ended up closing my pre-seed way faster than I expected, and I’m sure I walked away with better terms too. If you’re raising right now, this stuff is gold!" "I am an Inves... - [Founder Resources](https://xaverlehmann.com/resources) The same frameworks I used to raise millions and exit for $60M. Get the exact step-by-step systems I used to build, fundraise, and scale two startups including the frameworks that got me funded by Europe's top VCs. Find your next billion-dollar startup idea. Stop wasting months on ideas nobody wants. Use the same system top VCs use to spot opportunities. Inside, you’ll discover: ✅ How to identify startup ideas where the world's best VCs are investing right now ✅ How to align those ideas with your passion and unique strengths ✅ How to validate quickly in weeks, not months ✅ A practical workbook to put everything into action immediately B2B SaaS Pricing: Stop leaving money on the table. I left €200,000 on the table in Year 1. Not because the product was bad because I was too scared to charge what it was worth. This is everything I learned going from €500/month to €10,000/month. Inside, you’ll learn: ✅ The €200K pricing mistake and the exact math that fixed it ✅ The 5 pricing models I tested: what worked, what bombed, and why ✅ How to price when you have zero reference points (the value formula) ✅ When and how to raise prices without losing customers (we raised 25%, only 10% churned) ✅ How to handle 'you're too expensive' without dropping your price Build thought leadership that converts into revenue. The exact system I used to land million-dollar customers before we had a product. Inside, you’ll discover: ✅ How to define your positioning so people know instantly why they should trust you ✅ How to create content that stops the scroll and actually gets read ✅ How to build a top funnel that drives massive reach ✅ How to convert trust into opportunities at the bottom of your funnel Grow your newsletter from 0 to 1,000 subscribers (without paid ads). The exact strategies I used to hit 1,000+ Substack subscribers including the one post that brought hundreds of subscribers and coaching clients overnight. Inside, you’ll learn: ✅ How to find and attract your first 100 subscribers using your existing network ✅ The exact strategies to go from 100 → 500 → 1,000 subscribers in months ✅ How one viral post brought in hundreds of subscribers, clients, and podcast invitations ✅ How a newsletter can turn into multiple income streams Hiring: What I learned scaling to 130 employees. The exact framework I used to build a 130+ person team without the €500K mistakes most founders make. I've hired 130+ people, conducted 500+ interviews, and learned what separates great hires from expensive disasters. Inside, you’ll learn: ✅ The 7 deadly hiring mistakes that cost me €500K+ (and how to avoid them) ✅ The exact 5-round interview process that reveals who can actually execute ✅ The 3 non-negotiable traits every great hire has and the questions that reveal them ✅ When to fire fast vs. when to coach (the 30-60-90 rule that saves months) ✅ How to build a hiring machine that scales from 10 to 100+ employees Thanks for reaching out! Good news! We've add...