The Trailblazers: How Jannis Johannmeier Built a PR Agency with €2.5 Million Revenue and Zero Sales Budget

"Happy Bootstrapping" Volume #45

Jannis Johannmeier – hard to miss on LinkedIn – founded a communications agency right in the middle of the COVID pandemic. Today, The Trailblazers employs about 20 people, serves around 30 partners from Aldi Süd to Viva con Agua, and generates between 2 and 2.5 million euros in revenue. The remarkable part: Not a single euro spent on sales, marketing, or recruiting. Everything came through LinkedIn. A story about storytelling as a craft, why pitches are outdated, and the difference between confetti and real impact.

This is a summary of Episode 156 of the “Happy Bootstrapping” Podcast (German).

The Founding Story

Jannis learned his craft at Bild, Germany’s largest tabloid – “that’s where storytelling was burned into me,” he says. In his early 20s, he experienced the online-first transformation under editor Kai Diekmann. Two years later, he was “ruthlessly sorted out.” His next step led him to the Founders Foundation in Bielefeld, where he helped build a startup ecosystem in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region.

From this combination – storytelling expertise and startup DNA – The Trailblazers emerged in 2020. Founded on October 1st, right in the middle of COVID prime time, together with Christoph and Jule. “Ten out of ten people would have said that an external service provider in marketing and communications during such a crisis is impossible,” Jannis recalls. It worked anyway – and immediately.

“Never take advice from someone you would never ask for feedback.”

After three months, they first looked seriously at the numbers and realized: this could be bigger. “Crises are ultimately founder opportunities anyway,” Jannis summarizes his attitude.

The Product and Business Model

The Trailblazers call themselves a communications agency, but that falls short. “Our work must have strategic business impact,” Jannis explains. They don’t work on campaigns – they work on positioning, narratives, and transformation.

One example: For machinery manufacturer Marantec, they developed the concept “from Hidden Champion to Open Champion.” This influences not just communication, but also sales, recruiting, and company culture. For Third Element Aviation – a drone startup – they staged Germany’s first B2B drone flight over a demolished highway bridge in Lüdenscheid. The result: national evening news instead of the local paper. Another example: The “Döner for Democracy” for Aldi Süd – a campaign that emerged from the positioning “Good for Everyone” and generated nationwide attention.

The business model: No start without a workshop. Then unlimited retainers starting at €6,000 monthly. Four-fifths of partners have unlimited contracts. The agency doesn’t do pitches. “When you have a partnership, it starts at eye level,” says Jannis.

Marketing and Growth

Everything runs through LinkedIn – truly everything. Partners, press, applicants. Jannis “played through the game for himself” and from that, the entire LinkedIn business unit emerged. All press features – Manager Magazin, various portraits – came as a result of his LinkedIn presence.

“Don’t just consider that we have two and a half million euros in revenue. That’s solely the result of stories on LinkedIn.”

The key: self-application. “Most communications agencies don’t live the stuff they preach. We do.” Jannis knows what a critical portrait in Manager Magazin feels like. He wrote a book – “Propaganda for the Good.”

He knows the difference between theory and the consultants with 120 LinkedIn followers who want to explain to others how social media works.

Challenges and Positioning

The Trailblazers filter rigorously. Weapons, alcohol, and certain other industries are excluded. Those not willing to “go to the core” don’t fit. The company must fit their own vision – not the other way around.

What bothers Jannis about the agency market: too much confetti on crappy things. “All these metrics are just created so their marketing guru can tell management how great the numbers were.” He wants impact, not impressions. The distinction: Anyone can build a stage and invite 100,000 people. What matters is what you say on that stage.

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What I Learned in This Interview

LinkedIn is the only sales channel you need: €2.5 million revenue, zero euros for sales, marketing, or recruiting. Everything came through consistent storytelling on LinkedIn.

Pitches are outdated: The Trailblazers don’t do pitches. “When you have a partnership, it starts at eye level and doesn’t begin with you being the victim.”

Self-application separates good consultants from theorists: Those who advise on LinkedIn should have reach themselves. Those who talk about crisis management should have experienced a crisis themselves.

Learnings for Founders

• Unlimited retainers instead of project work: Four-fifths of Trailblazers partners have unlimited contracts. This creates predictability for both sides and real partnerships.

• Crises are founder opportunities: COVID, Ukraine war – the supposed killers for service providers. The Trailblazers kept going through every crisis and grew.

• Story beats budget: If the idea is good enough, it scales on its own. The drone flight over the demolished bridge in Lüdenscheid brought national news instead of local coverage.

• Positioning before tactics: First understand the DNA, then throw confetti. Without a strategic foundation, every campaign fizzles out.

• Visibility is responsibility: Especially in the current times. Those who aren’t visible leave the field to others.

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”.