AndRobin: How Farina Schurzfeld Solves Growth Problems with the "Sidekick Principle"
Volume #21 of "Happy Bootstrapping" Newsletter
Farina Schurzfeld experienced hypergrowth at Groupon, founded two startups of her own, and learned: companies need different competencies for different growth phases. With AndRobin, the serial entrepreneur offers exactly that – temporary operational support for critical growth phases. The boutique consulting firm works with only 2-3 projects in parallel and relies on experienced serial entrepreneurs as "sidekicks."
This is a summary of Episode 132 of the “Happy Bootstrapping” Podcast (German).
From Hypergrowth to Boutique Consulting
Farina's path to AndRobin led through impressive stations: At Groupon in 2009, she experienced growth from 4 to 300 employees in just 14 months in Australia. She then founded Airtasker, a marketplace for services that went public on the Australian stock exchange in 2021. Back in Germany, she founded Selfapy in 2015, a digital health platform for people with mental illnesses that was sold for a double-digit million amount in 2024.
"I had already built houses five times from the beginning – three, four house types, all of them," Farina explains her experience with different company types. This metaphor runs throughout the entire conversation: Groupon was the "skyscraper," Airtasker the "hotel building," and Selfapy a "multi-family housing estate" with initially five parallel business models.
The Business Model: Operational Help Instead of PowerPoint Battles
AndRobin deliberately positions itself not as classic management consulting. The team consists of five full-time employees plus a pool of about 15 experts who are brought in as needed. Projects last between 3 and 18 months, with the sweet spot at 6 months for startups and 12 months for mid-sized companies.
"We are really the speedboat for larger structures," Farina describes the role. The company currently works with 2-3 projects in parallel – a conscious decision for quality over quantity. 50% of clients are startups and scale-ups (10-150 employees), the rest is divided between mid-sized companies and corporations.
Interesting for bootstrappers: About half of the clients are not VC-backed but use alternatives like private equity, family offices, or are completely bootstrapped.
The Challenge of Bootstrapping
As a bootstrapped company itself, Farina knows both sides: "The degree of self-determination" is the biggest advantage for her. She can reject projects – which happens in about 30% of cases – and doesn't have to follow growth pressure.
But the challenges are also there: "My DNA comes more from faster growth than what I'm doing now with AndRobin," she admits. The internal conflict between the desire to scale and conscious, sustainable growth is real.
Marketing Through Expertise Instead of Glossy Brochures
AndRobin's marketing approach is as boutique as the business model itself: mainly referrals, LinkedIn presence, and speaking engagements at conferences. "The cobbler has the worst shoes," Farina confesses regarding their own marketing. With only 2-3 projects in parallel, there's no need for a big marketing push.
What surprised me was that even VCs commission AndRobin – for example, for due diligence reviews of portfolio companies. This shows the value of operational experience versus pure consulting.
Tech Stack: Flexibility Instead of Standard Solutions
Unlike many consultancies, AndRobin doesn't come with pre-made tool recommendations: "It's always a bit case-dependent," Farina explains. Instead of a fixed tech stack, there's a "variety store" of tools from which to choose depending on the client situation. Currently, the team is building up its AI competencies – a focus for Q3 2024.
Learnings from a Serial Entrepreneur
Phase-based competencies: "You usually need different people to build structures than those who then continue the finished structures"
Resilience through experience: "If you've experienced valleys before, you also know that it usually continues somehow"
The right timing: Not every company is ready for external help – especially startups often come when it's "almost too late"
Bootstrapping vs. VC: "You can of course hide some mistakes with capital" – but not every model fits the VC template
Work-life integration: As an expectant mother, she plans 2-3 months of operational time off but wants to "not have to do anything, but be able to do something"
What I Learned as an Interviewer
Farina's openness about the reality of exits surprised me – despite IPO and million-dollar exit, she still has to work because liquidation preferences and lockup periods significantly reduce actual payouts. I was particularly impressed by her conscious decision against rapid growth in favor of quality and self-determination – a courageous decision in the fast-paced startup world.
Happy Bootstrapping is a German podcast where I interview bootstrapped founders, indie hackers, and solopreneurs about their startup journeys.
Over the years, I've connected with many successful entrepreneurs who have built e-commerce shops, SaaS platforms, mobile apps, content businesses, or hybrid models.
Furthermore I am a bootstrapper myself and growing my DevOps-as-a-Sercice and Web Operations Company “We Manage”.