What is the true value of a Business Developer?

Many companies start new ideas with great enthusiasm:

👉 founding a spin-out,

👉 setting up a subsidiary,

👉 opening an office, hiring staff.

After one year, €500,000 to several million are often burned—frequently for a dead end.

Especially with artificial intelligence, many jump too quickly: a new department, a subsidiary, business plans full of wishful thinking. Pretty Excel sheets with quarterly targets that have little to do with reality. One year later comes the crisis meeting: “Why didn’t it work?”

What is usually overlooked:

• Sales teams need time to gain traction

• First marketing campaigns rarely hit as expected

• Marketing costs more than planned

• Competitors launch similar products at the same time

A Business Developer can clarify in advance:

• What opportunities really exist

• What level of investment is realistic

• Where the major risks lie

• Whether the path is worth pursuing

Example: A foreign subsidiary with 5 employees + managing director costs around €500,000 per year. In development or trade, costs can reach several million. A Business Developer costs only a fraction—yet prevents exactly these costly misinvestments.

👉 The question is not: “Can we afford a Business Developer?”

The question is: “Can we afford not to have one?”