A lot of people think product-market fit is the key milestone for a startup. But Uli Schmitz sees it as just the start.

With over thirty years of building companies, investing in startups, and coaching founders, he believes the biggest challenge isn't building the product. It's becoming the leader the company needs next.

In this interview, he explains why leadership is the main challenge in scaling, how AI is changing business, and why investors should truly support founders as they grow.

About Uli Schmitz

Uli Schmitz is Co-founder of UP Growth Advisory and a Venture Partner at Robin Capital. Over the past three decades, he has built, scaled, and invested in more than 300 companies, working with founders, executive teams, and investors from early-stage startups through to global organizations. His career spans engineering, venture capital, corporate innovation and executive coaching, including leadership roles at Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator and Axel Springer Digital Ventures, where he helped shape one of Europe's leading corporate venture platforms.

About UP Growth Advisory

UP Growth Advisory is an executive advisory and coaching firm co-founded by Uli Schmitz and Philipp Peitsch. Built by operators who have founded, scaled, and led companies themselves, the firm helps founders navigate one of the most demanding phases of company building: scaling from around 20 to 200 employees. At this stage, growth puts increasing pressure on structures, processes and leadership, and what worked in the past rarely works in the future.

Rather than helping founders react to problems as they arise, UP Growth Advisory helps them anticipate change, recognize patterns early and grow as leaders alongside their companies. Working in rhythm with fundraising, the team supports founders in building resilient organizations, accelerating decision-making, freeing up leadership capacity, and creating the foundations for sustainable long-term growth.

Their philosophy is simple: they work until it's done.

The founder is the first part of the company that needs to grow

Uli Schmitz has worked with over 300 companies and met founders at every stage, from those with just an idea to CEOs running global organizations. He believes the real difference between good and great founders is not technical skill, but their willingness to keep learning.

"In the beginning, it helps when founders have a certain reality distortion," he says. "They see opportunities where others would stay away."

Being able to picture a future others can't see often gives startups their edge. Great founders chase ideas that seem unrealistic, push through setbacks, and get others to believe in a vision, something that isn't real yet.

But while that mindset can help start a company, Uli thinks lasting success depends on something more.

To him, curiosity is more than a personality trait. Every stage of growth changes the game, and founders who keep learning are the ones who keep growing. Being coachable isn’t about following somebody else’s advice without question. It’s about taking ownership of your own development.

"The founders who succeed over the long term are curious, ambitious, and coachable. They always want to improve themselves and their team.”

Why founders should surround themselves with the strongest people

The best founders actively seek the strongest people around them – not to tell them what to do, but to accelerate their learning, challenge their thinking and help them find their own way. They know that in highly competitive markets, there isn’t enough time to learn everything through trial and error. Each stage of growth demands something different from the founder. The skills for building a product are rarely the same as those needed to lead a team of fifty or five hundred people.

"You can't simply rely on the qualities that helped you start the company. Every stage requires becoming a different founder."

This shift usually starts soon after product-market fit. As companies grow, founders can't make every decision or be part of every customer conversation. They need to go from being the expert in every room to building a team that can succeed on its own.

"The common mistake is that founders try to scale the company before they scale the way they lead."

Instead of waiting for growth to reveal problems, Uli urges founders to get ready for the next stage while things are still going well. He says leadership should be developed as intentionally as fundraising or product planning.

"Every stage requires becoming a different founder."

AI is changing the rules

After helping organizations through past tech changes, Uli sees AI as much more than just another software trend.

"It's another true revolution," he says. "Every business has to deal with it. Period."

AI changes the economics of work. Every company has to rethink what should be done by people, software, or AI. At the same time, it also lowers barriers to entry, making it easier for new competitors to emerge and challenge markets that once seemed secure.

"A new technology allows new players to break into areas you previously considered safe."

Having witnessed the rise of the internet, Uli recognizes familiar patterns. The organizations that survived weren't necessarily the largest – they were the ones willing to reinvent themselves before they were forced to.

He thinks startups shouldn't assume they're safe just because they're new.

"The Innovator's Dilemma doesn't only affect fifty-year-old companies," he says. "It also affects five-year-old startups."

For founders, AI is more than just another productivity tool. It forces companies to rethink how they build products, serve customers, and compete.

"Every business has to deal with AI. Period."

Coaching starts before things go wrong

In recent years, Uli has focused more on executive coaching. He thinks one of the biggest myths is that founders should only get coaching when they're already having problems.

"My message is always: start before the challenging moments come."

He compares founders to elite athletes. Top athletes don't wait until they're hurt to hire a coach. They keep working on their performance, mindset, and preparation. Uli believes founders should do the same.

"We can learn a lot from elite athletes. They invest in their personal development and in finding the best role within the team."

Instead of just fixing problems, coaching gives founders space to think clearly, question their assumptions, and get ready for the next stage before it arrives.

Interestingly, the problems founders bring are rarely the real problems. More often, they’re symptoms that the founder, the leadership team, and the organization are no longer evolving at the same pace. Coaching helps uncover what’s really holding the company back.

The best founders don’t wait until growth exposes weaknesses. They prepare themselves, their leadership team, and their organization six or twelve months before the next stage demands it. That’s one of the biggest differences between reacting to growth and leading it.

Leadership, he says, is deeply personal.

"You can't separate yourself as a person from the role you're in. And your role changes as the company changes."

Unlike leaders in big companies, founders can shape both themselves and the business they're building. The hard part is finding time to invest in their own growth.

"When you think you don't have time to invest in yourself," he says, "something is already going seriously wrong."

His job isn't to tell founders what to do. It's to help them become leaders who can make better decisions on their own.

"Invest in yourself before something breaks."

Beyond capital: what founders really need from investors

As Venture Partner at Robin Capital, Uli believes investors should contribute far more than funding.

The best investors combine capital with experience, networks and trust. They challenge founders when necessary, support them through difficult moments and stay committed long after the investment has been made.

"It's about supporting founders professionally and personally."

That philosophy is one of the reasons Uli chose to join Robin Capital. "What impressed me was this organized support for founders. It's beyond mentoring. It's really investing in growth."

For him, helping founders build stronger businesses starts with helping them become stronger leaders.

"Capital gets companies started. Honest conversations keep them going."

Quick-fire round

A tool you can’t live without?

"My bike helmet. It protects my brain."

How do you recharge?

"I'm an early bird, and I love getting out on my road bike before the city wakes up. It's almost like meditation."

Founder or start-up that you admire:

"James Dyson. He proved there's always a way to enter a market everyone thinks is already saturated. I also admire the combination of engineering and design. One of his quotes has always resonated with me: 'Enjoy failure and learn from it. You never learn from success.'"

Advice that stuck:

"I trained as a rescue diver, and we learned four simple words: Stop. Breathe. Think. Act. I’ve found the same principle applies to leadership: under pressure, your first reaction is rarely your best one."

Leadership is the ultimate competitive advantage

Technology will keep changing. AI will reshape industries, markets will shift, and today's advantages won't last. But after over thirty years with founders, investors, and leadership teams, Uli believes one thing stays true: companies only grow as fast as their leaders.

The founders who build enduring businesses won't simply be those with the best products or the biggest funding rounds. They'll be the ones who continue learning, adapt to each new stage of growth, and invest in themselves as deliberately as they invest in their companies.

As Uli puts it: "The company can only scale as far as its founders are willing to grow." If you want to find out more about Uli and his work with UP Growth Advisory, get in touch.